One of the orginal 'Band of Brothers' passes--Shifty Powers

timb

timb

New member
Got this in an email today, and the only thing I was able to verify that Shifty did die on June 17th of this year, don't even know if this event did happen.

I am a self-professed Band of Brothers nut--read the book by Stephen Ambrose several times and watched the edited series on A&E and History as many times as it has been on.

Shifty was a country boy from Virginia, and one of the best marksmen of Easy Company. The book chronicled Shifty taking out a German sniper with one shot from his M1 after several men of Easy were pinned down in a town they were taking. It was in the series, but one of his company members said, 'You shouldn't oughta be shootin' at Shifty when he's got a rifle!'.

Enjoy!

Tim

Darrell "Shifty" Powers.

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st
Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History
Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and
Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't
know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having
trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at
the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle", the symbol of the
101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or
if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I
thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many
jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so,
and was in until sometime in 1945 . . . " at which point my heart
skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps
at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you know where
Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.

I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what
D-Day was. At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland,
into Arnhem." I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I
realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said "Yes.
And it's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and
those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart was in my
throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in
Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to
get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward,
I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd
take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are
still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an
old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are
brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on June 17, 2009.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center.

No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

Rest in peace, Shifty

 
America needs men like Shifty, lots of them. He did his duty when called on. He fought & won.

He left the legacy of freedom to us to save.
 
Thanks for the post, Tim.

I am also a B of B's fan, so much so that I bought the boxed DVD set of the HBO series.

I have also been trying to keep up with the various recent books by the 506th Easy men and officers, Like Richard Winter's book, etc.

I just read one a little while back, I'm blanking on the title, sorry, that had a chapter in it by Herbert Sobel's son, Michel, kind of presenting the other side of the Sobel story. It was food for thought because the character as played by David Schwimmer (who Michael Sobel said greatly resembled his dad) was VERY unsympathetic.

The series also did not mention that Sobel rejoined the 506th for the airborne invasion of Holland (Operation Market-Garden) and that he was shot up by a German MG and received the purple heart.

Darrell "Shifty" Powers was a genuine American hero like so many of his generation. RIP Shifty!

Shifty2.jpg

RIP Staff Sgt. Darrell "Shifty" Powers, March 13, 1923–June 17, 2009.
 
Shifty was like many true American heroes. He felt he had a job to do and he did it. He didn't want publicity or notoriety. He was just doing his job.

My father-in-law, who left us 12 years ago was that kind of man. He was a USAF fighter pilot who flew a P51 over Germany in the late days of WWII, a F84 over Korea and finally a F100 in the early days of Viet Nam. He would never talk about his flying career. He would go completely quiet when asked. On one unusual evening after several glasses of good German wine, when the women were off in the kitchen, and it was just the two of us, I heard some of the story.

It is a story, that even today, brings tears to my eyes.

Thank God there have been men like this in the past and in the present who put their lives at risk so that the rest of us can live in freedom.
 
I'm not sure why, but to me there is just somethin a little more special about the heroes from WWII. I can't put my finger on it, and it definately does not take away anything from veterans of other wars and conflicts. But to me they were the most special of all the outstanding men and women of our armed forces. Rest easy Shifty, you have earned it SIR!


Chupa
 
Thank you Shifty for your service, I'm sorry that I'm late in telling you this. Hopefully at sometime in the distant future I'll have a chance to tell you face to face and maybe shake your hand.
 
timb
Thanks for posting..

RIP Shifty.



This hit a little close for me.
Just Sunday I found the last letter my Mother wrote to her Brother Hurbert while laid up after my birth in 44'.
It was a photo copy -Returned to sender- he never saw it.
By the way Shifty's first names is spelled the same as mine.

He'll always be another brother Darrell

Later
DF2
 
Now I'm saddened and pizzed off all over again. Saddened by the loss of Man among men and pizzed off that his passing was treated by the media as a non-event.

I do not sit and watch the talking heads on any channel, I find my info on the web and never found this information. Very maddening, thanks Timb.


ELJ
 
A line from the Band of Brothers movies that has always stuck in my mind ...... "and thank god for Shifty Powers"

I'm not sure as I think the men that fought in WWII were special, they were plain ordinary men that lived in extrordinary times. I think all Americans have a bit of Shifty Powers, Audy Murphy and Richard Winter in them, it just takes a time of need to bring them forward, and they do step forward everyday. The men of WWII are a reflection of what we can be, even what we are. Thank god for the hard men that stand guard for our freedom.
 
Another brother Screaming Eagle for whom the standards are maintained at a razor's edge! Rest easy Sergeant Powers!


SCREAMING EAGLES

We have a rendezvous with destiny;
Our strength and courage strike the spark
That will always make men free.

Assault right down through the skies of blue;
Keep your eyes on the job to be done.
We're the soldiers of the hundred-first;
We'll fight till the battle's won.




Strike Force!

Gordy
 
Gordy, THANK YOU for your service and for honoring another Airborne brother!!!
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God Bless you!

Respectfully,
Tim
 
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