07-13-2009, 07:39
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Red State
Posts: 3,774
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Darrell "Shifty" Powers
We're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.
I want a nationwide memorial service for 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 after fighting cancer.
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.
And that's not right.
Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.
Rest in peace, Shifty.
I got this from another list and thought it worthy of posting.
BMT
__________________
Don't mess with old farts...age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.
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BMT (RIP) is offline
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07-13-2009, 07:49
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#2
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: VA
Posts: 859
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Thank you for posting this Sir. It's a crying shame that the public eye is so far skewed. Rest in peace Mr. Powers.
__________________
"1000 days of evasion are better than one day in captivity"
"Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completion, satisfies me."- Richard Proenneke
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BryanK is offline
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07-13-2009, 08:12
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#3
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: The Nam
Posts: 777
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Thank you for posting this BMT Sir! I had goosebumps while reading it, a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
Rest in Peace, Shifty! Thank you for your heroism and service!
__________________
A tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny ~ Aesops Fables; The Lamb and the Wolf
Am fear nach gleidh na h-airm san t-sith, cha bhi iad aige 'n am a' chogaidh
"He that keeps not his arms in time of peace will have none in time of war" Old Gaelic
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them. Thomas Paine
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Saoirse is offline
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07-13-2009, 08:25
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#4
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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He'll be honored - and in a much higher way than the pop star crowd ever will - as a faithful citizen and veteran - honored with a military funeral and an American flag presented on behalf of a grateful nation and the rendering of Taps - and to be laid to rest amongst those who truly cared. Don't mourn for Shifty - continue to honor his memory by remembering him and those like him who, when called, exhibit that time-honored sense of duty above oneself to comrades, friends, family, community, and nation - all performed without the audience, the glitz, the $$, the fame...in other words, the trivial. I'm pretty sure SSG Powers would have wanted it that way, too.
RIP, soldier - and "AIR-BORNE!" 
Richard's $.02 
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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Richard is offline
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07-13-2009, 08:49
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Sneaking back and forth across the Border
Posts: 6,697
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Rest in Peace..... You are one of the real Hero's of our nation and will be remembered by all........
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SF_BHT is offline
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07-13-2009, 08:56
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#6
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Georgetown, SC
Posts: 4,204
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SSG Powers is a true American hero. He shall be missed.
__________________
"I took a different route from most and came into Special Forces..." - Col. Nick Rowe
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ZonieDiver is offline
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07-13-2009, 10:46
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#7
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Quiet Professional (RIP)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SF_BHT
Rest in Peace..... You are one of the real Hero's of our nation and will be remembered by all........
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Amen,I say to that...........  A true warrior.........  It sounds like he made his "cherry jump" in Normandy,just after getting out of jump school............
Big Teddy
__________________
I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver
SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney
SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII
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greenberetTFS is offline
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07-14-2009, 04:46
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
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RIP Shifty, Vaya con Dios..
__________________
Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh
"May you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead"
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JJ_BPK is offline
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07-14-2009, 05:49
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#9
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: PA
Posts: 419
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A true Hero.... RIP Sir
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Sometimes you must do dark things to get to the light. "unknown"
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FMF DOC is offline
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07-14-2009, 07:01
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#10
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,751
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Do not doubt that SSG Powers will be forever honored and remembered. What he volunteered for and accomplished is memorialized in the world we have today. What the world might have become if Fascism was not confronted is unimaginable for us. Not so for SSG Powers and his comrades.
We get confused in this nation with the meaning of words sometimes. Hero and celebrity are not interchangable. Celebrities like to be referred to as heroes. Yet Heroes never use the word to describe themselves -- reserving Hero only for those who were not as fortunate to survive.
Watch Band of Brothers and say "Incredible and thank you" You will remember it forever. Watch a music video and say "Cool, what's next?"
Do not confuse awesome with entertaining.
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Dozer523 is offline
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07-14-2009, 07:16
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#11
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Ohio
Posts: 590
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RIP
__________________
LOYALTY - HONOR - INTEGRITY
Understand the problem; pull your weight. Appreciate. Be completely honest and trustworthy in all things. - Jeff Cooper
Practice honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place. Jer 22:3
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke
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Rogue is offline
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07-14-2009, 10:25
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#12
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: south western pa.
Posts: 692
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R.I.P Staff Sergeant Powers.
Quote:
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The heroes we choose as a nation provides the greatest insight into our collective character. You have touched on the core problem, the lack of character and the worshipping of celebrities who lack substance.
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"Poor is the nation that has no heroes. Shameful is the one having them....forgets"...............Unknown
"Their ranks are growing thinner now, as they each begin to answer the call.
But we who honor them will never forget their sacrifices, it is our duty to remember, and give our thanks to each one and all".
T. MONO.........2009
__________________
Special Forces Association A-593 Life
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Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
________________________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
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swpa19 is offline
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07-14-2009, 11:49
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#13
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Area Commander
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Hobbiton
Posts: 1,211
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You truly earned your rest Sergeant
RIP
S
__________________
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks."
-- Phillip Brooks
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp"
-- Robert Browning
"Hooah! Pushing thru the shit til Daisies grow, Sir"
-- Me
"Malo mori quam foedari"
"Death before Dishonour"
-- Family Coat-of-Arms Maxim
"Mārohirohi! Kia Kaha!"
"Be strong! Drive-on!"
-- Māori saying
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Scimitar is offline
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09-09-2009, 23:31
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#14
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Quiet Professional (RIP)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
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Real Hero, WW2 has died.............
One of the "Band of Brothers" soldiers died on June 17, 2009.
Harvey Shackelford
We're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.
I want a nationwide memorial service for 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 after fighting cancer.
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.
And that's not right.
Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.
Rest in peace, Shifty.
"A nation without heroes is nothing."
Roberto Clemente
Big Teddy
__________________
I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver
SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney
SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII
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greenberetTFS is offline
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09-10-2009, 00:00
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#15
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NM
Posts: 207
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Rest in Peace, Sergeant Powers. History will never forget what you have done for our country.
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SF0 is offline
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