By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (12.239.86.117) on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:24 pm:| By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (12.239.86.117) on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:24 pm: |
Thanks to Jane for finding the photo. Special thanks to Jake Powers for providing the photo.
| By Sheila J Stubbles (Sjstubbles) (195.92.198.74) on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 04:16 am: |
Darrell 'Shifty' Powers came over as a very sincere man who had a job to do and did that job without pleasure or malice but out of duty to his country and comrades. I beleive he personified the feelings of each member of the 101st and in general those who bear arms in order to protect us civilians. These are just words and do not fully portray what I feel inside when I think of what these men went through just to survive. We owe them such a debt.
Sheila J Stubbles
| By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (12.241.64.130) on Monday, August 19, 2002 - 01:10 pm: |
"Shifty" Powers and Carwood Lipton
Courtesy of Tracy
| By Jonathan Jones (Jonjones) (213.1.144.57) on Monday, August 19, 2002 - 06:16 pm: |
During the Battle of the Bulge sequences in BoB, "Shifty" is portrayed wearing a white helmet cover. Something few of the other characters are seen to wear.
Was he lucky to get what the others should have been issued with? Was it related to his portrayed talent of being a good shot (I remember the character saying that he wasn't, but his father certainly had been)?
Or was it "gained" from the enemy?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards to all.
Jonathan Jones (UK)
| By Ilja Buschman (Bobandluzfan) (212.129.207.209) on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 05:51 am: |
one thing that i remember from reading the book was he had very good eyes. In the battle of the bulge he saw from an outpost 1000 meters away a tree what wasnt there the day before. He called Lipton and he did look with his binoculars. He saw a lot of movement around the tree that wasnt there a day before. Lipton get back to the artillery positions and said the positions of the strange tree and the movements. The there were a lot of shells firing on that place. It turned out that the tree was a .88 flak cannon. And they took it out just because one single soldier saw a tree that wasnt there a day before.
Impressive
| By Jonathan Jones (Jonjones) (213.122.231.37) on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 07:12 pm: |
VERY impressive!
My question above still stands about the helmet cover. Any other takers?
Whilst we're at it, was "Shifty" a designated sharpshooter, like a sniper?
Regards to all.
Jonathan Jones (UK)
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.170.2.67) on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 11:11 pm: |
Jonathan, i think they just covered their helmets with white cloth or something? I'm not sure though. But yes, Shifty was a sniper in Easy. 
Ilja, thanks for sharing th
| By Ilja Buschman (Bobandluzfan) (212.129.207.209) on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 06:50 am: |
shifty was a sniper? I didnt know. But he didnt carry a sniper gun with him. He got the m1 garand or carbine just like anybody else.
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.170.2.67) on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 09:44 am: |
Oh my...i didn't realize something was missing in my post. i meant to say thanks to Ilha for sharing that one, i still haven't got to that part of the book yet.
| By Jonathan Jones (Jonjones) (213.123.13.102) on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 01:25 pm: |
Thanks for the comments, folks. I'm not so sure about a "sniper gun", though. Granted, having handled both, the M1 carbine would not exactly be in the same calibre (no pun intended) as a Lee Enfield or Mauser. And as much as both the latter were normal issue to the troops of other nations and used by their snipers, also, perhaps it was thus the case with the Garand?
Regards to All
JonathanJones (UK)
| By steve lundy (Breechblock) (216.209.164.125) on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 09:23 pm: |
Hi everyone,
One of the fellas I really enjoy in the series, even though it's in the later part, is Shifty. What a great nick name.
I never seen Shifty with a sniper rifle in the movie, all I heard him say that he wasn't a very good shot, but his dad could shoot the wings off of a fly. And that accent to go along with his character, fantastic!
Now I've done a lot of shooting myself, from Lee-Enfields, M1-Garands, Carbines and Mausers, from 700 metres with open sites and the Lee-Enfield wins hands down every time. Well we didn't fire the carbine at that distance, but everything else we did. A close second was the Mauser and also the the 1903 springfield. Now all the rifles were bought from gun stores and none of them had been modified in any way so we tried to keep the everything as honest as possible.
Afterwards we fired not just for accuracy but in a senario where as enemy were advancing on your position in mass. So then we had to cycle as many rounds as possible on our targets in a course of a few minutes then check for hits.
Well let me tell you, the M1-Garand kicked the crap out of them all, and at 100 metres the little carbine with a 15 round mag was just as impressive, not the same punch as a Garand of course buit with lots of hits.
Anyways back to Shifty. He is most likely one of those individuals who understands the fundamentals of shooting and especially knows how to line his target through his sights properly in order to hit it.
He must have had a good teacher when he was younger.
My Grandfather was a first war vet and when I was around 8 years old he figured it was time to learn how to shoot. He gave me my first rifle which was a 25 stevens single shot and away we went to the back of our farm. After some time and some pretty good coaching, I was finally hitting my targets and soon to be the infamous woodchucks!
The point I am making is that Shifty was a country boy and even when I was in the army, the guys from the country almost always outshot the city boys.
Those are just my thoughts.
Hope everyone is well,
Steve
| By homefront41 (Homefront41) (198.81.26.142) on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 10:29 pm: |
Steve, You are right on the money. Darryl "Shifty" Powers still resides in the very southwestern corner of Virgina where he was reared and where indeed his "daddy could shoot the wings off a fly." There were a few troopers like him in Company E who had grown up in the country and had the senses of a woodsman. His buddies still sing his praises, but Shifty will be the first to tell you that Earl "One Lung" McClung was the man. Earl hails from eastern Washington State and his heritage includes Native American ancestry to which the vets of Easy have always attributed his extraordinary intuitive skills.
You're quite right. There were probably many more soldiers in WWII than now who had skills needed in the country that put them ahead of the city kids.
If you haven't yet read the book, Band of Brothers, may I recommend it? It will fill in the blanks on the backgrounds of lots of the men. BK
| By steve lundy (Breechblock) (216.209.141.2) on Saturday, November 02, 2002 - 04:48 pm: |
BK,
Hows things. I haven't read the book yet, I still can't get past the movie. But this week I intend to make a trip to the book store and try to find a copy.
Just for grins sake I took my Garand out today to blow the dust out of her. I think I shot over a 100 rounds, and to add to the flavor of the day to say, I went out after watching the battle of Foy, and it to was snowing here on my farm. Gave me goose bumps!
Have a good one,
Steve
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.170.2.76) on Saturday, November 02, 2002 - 10:34 pm: |
Oh, i do recommend the book too. You'll enjoy it as much as you're enjoying the series Steve. Gave me goose bumps when i read it. Lots of things there which weren't in the series. Both are actually great, the series and the book. Hope you have it soon Steve.
gold
| By Senne Verschoren (Sen) (217.136.52.133) on Sunday, December 22, 2002 - 06:25 pm: |
Hi
I would like to expresse my aprecciations for mr powers. I think he has a great personallity and a good view about fighting the enemy. I mean that I think that what he sais in the beginning of episode 9 is very good after losing so many friends in the war.
"That man and I could have been good friends" is a very wise thing to say. I think it helps to calm down and to make shure that you won't go shooting enemy soldiers who where only doing what they had to do.
Greeting
Senne from Belgium
| By mitsky (Mitsky) (61.9.60.18) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 02:21 am: |
hi
i was watching the tenth episode of the series (again)a few days back..the episode during the lottery...for the first time i noticed that after harry welsh picked up the paper with shifty's name on it, the helmet was empty...i may be wrong but i'm pretty sure the camera sort of made sure that the viewers notice that ...like to let us in on the secret...i could also be wrong on this but when chuck grant was holding up the helmet for harry welsh, i could have sworn i saw some sort of understanding between them...was the lottery rigged?did the men chose shifty to go home?
or is this one of those scenes "modifed for dramatic purposes"?because if it is well, i didn't get in on the secret...
i apologize if this matter had already been brought up somewhere in here...
| By mitsky (Mitsky) (61.9.60.18) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 02:21 am: |
hi
i was watching the tenth episode of the series (again)a few days back..the episode during the lottery...for the first time i noticed that after harry welsh picked up the paper with shifty's name on it, the helmet was empty...i may be wrong but i'm pretty sure the camera sort of made sure that the viewers notice that ...like to let us in on the secret...i could also be wrong on this but when the man (talbert?) was holding up the helmet for harry welsh, i could have sworn i saw some sort of understanding between them...was the lottery rigged ?
or is this one of those scenes "modifed for dramatic purposes"?because if it is well, i didn't get in on the secret...
i apologize if this matter had already been brought up somewhere in here...
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.160.183.79) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 - 07:51 am: |
Mitsky, yes the helmet was empty, i guess you could say the scene was "modifed for dramatic purposes"
gold
| By Sharron McElhinney (Sharron) (159.134.56.141) on Friday, January 31, 2003 - 04:28 pm: |
Hi, does anyone know how 'Shifty' got his nickname?
| By homefront41 (Homefront41) (198.81.20.34) on Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 02:50 pm: |
It was acquired because of his basketball skill and ability to maneuver around opponents. BK
| By m mercurio (Ems) (203.172.8.187) on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 07:56 pm: |
Hi. Before i go on, i'm aware that most messages here have been posted like a year ago but i just found aout about this site so, apologies.
About the white helmet cover "Shifty" is wearing on the series. I assume that they're supposed to be issued with those along with white clothing for the entire body (whatever it is called) for camouflage. But owing to the decisions prior to Operation Market Garden, winter clothing and supplies weren't available because they expected the war to be over before winter. Anyway i'm sure you know that.
I'm just going to share that in some divisions, men used bed sheets they got from Belgian houses for camouflage. They would wear the sheets over their clothing. Well, unless "Shifty" in the series found his way to a house somewhere, i was thinking maybe the supply drop had a few of those and he was lucky to get one. Or more probably he got it from The Germans as they seemed to be well equipped with winter clothing and stuff. (Can anyone ask Mr Hanks?)
And Gold, about the drawing of names, i was thinking that maybe this could be true and that the Mr. Hanks could have gotten this with his own interviews with the vets? No? thanks gold...
(It's so frustrating that the series could be so real-life based, and yet...Peace everyone!(M)
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.160.183.79) on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 09:48 pm: |
hello and welcome m. I'm not really a hundred percent sure about that draw but it was never mentioned in the book that the helmet was actually empty.
Better late than never m so enjoy the site
gold
| By mercurio, michelle (Mmercurio) (61.9.60.20) on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 12:25 am: |
Hi Gold. Thanks for welcoming me. In case you noticed, yes, i registered another. I hope it's not get me into trouble or anything.
Anyway, i'm glad i found this site. Although I've only been here a few times, I'm very grateful for it and to the people here especially those who seem very enthusiatic in takng time and sharing what they know and what they have.
| By Evelyn Kathleen K (Evelyn18kk) (66.46.60.94) on Monday, February 17, 2003 - 03:51 pm: |
I think the helment was empty on purpose...do you not remember the scene where everyone was talking about their points? Wasn't it Shifty saying something that he didn't have enough points?? or was that another character?
I'm confuzzeled again...
Evelyn
| By cias (Cias) (208.148.113.133) on Monday, February 17, 2003 - 04:09 pm: |
Evelyn
From what I remember of the mini-series version, when Shifty and the others were hunting, the topic of points came up. The others assumed that he had a lot but he said he had only 75 points because he had never been wounded. I saw one piece of paper come out of the helmet, which supposedly had his name and serial number on it. The officers were grinning as the helmet was tilted showing that it was now empty.
Gary
| By Evelyn Kathleen K (Evelyn18kk) (66.46.60.94) on Monday, February 17, 2003 - 04:15 pm: |
Ok, so I did have part of it right...I'm going to want to watch to remember it now!
Thanks Gary!
Evelyn
| By Gareth Bennett-Ryan (Garethgazz) (62.254.0.7) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 09:33 am: |
Might have already been said but i'm just replying quick.
I think he got the helmet from a dead German because the Germans were issued with white camoflaged winter clothing including a white helmet.
About the gun, i think it was the same as everyone else except he was just a brilliant shot.
And that tree, i'm sure he saved many lives that day with his eagle eyes!
Gareth
| By william marshall (Will) (80.235.140.42) on Friday, March 28, 2003 - 01:00 pm: |
Hi
fellow BOB fans. Im kinda new to this site but I thought I would issue my message of respect of Darrel shifty Powers first. Shifty in my eyes and I bet in many others is a true hero along with the rest of Easy company.
I have been a huge BOB fan since the fist episode of BOB screened in the uk on the 5th of october 2001.
Its good that there are role models like shifty for a young man like me to look up to. I hold Easy members in the highst respect.
Will
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.160.161.234) on Friday, March 28, 2003 - 11:43 pm: |
Welcome Will. You're not alone ;)
Enjoy the site...
gold
| By Matthew Mabe (Mattmabe) (208.61.83.167) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 06:46 pm: |
Recently I had the great privledge to speak with Mr. Powers. He was very friendly and he was kind enough to give me some more insight into himself and Easy Company. He said that when he was young he would shine shoes in order to earn money to purchase 22 shells. He became such a good shot that according to him, he could throw a large coin and shoot it with his 22.
Another iteresting tidbit that I found out was that, when he was young he worked in the Navy Yard in Norfolk, VA. He worked there with "Popeye" Wynn. It was there that he and Popeye signed up to become paratroopers.
At Toccoa, everything was as hard as it was portrayed. He said that that had to do countless marches in which, upon completion, they would have to empty their canteens. He remained close friends with Popeye at Toccoa.
He also went into detail about how he was such a fine shot. He talked about spending time sizing things up in his sight, judging distances, and how to breathe when you are about to shoot. He said that he wished he could have had a rifle with a scope, but that the M-1 Garand worked well for him.
Shifty Powers is still doing well, and he remains in contact with his fellow Easy Company members, especially with Earl McClung and Paul Rogers. His story is one of many stories of bravery and courage under pressure, and he is truly and great guy.
- Matt
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.190.70.251) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 08:26 am: |
Wow! Thank you very much for sharing that with us Matt, that was really very interesting. Wish I had the same privelege as you did
gold
| By Luke Pollard (Lukepollard) (195.92.67.69) on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 11:02 am: |
Hi, My name is Luke and I would really like to contact any the surviving members of EASY COMPANY. I am 14 years old and I live in England. I am really interested in WW2. If anyone has any contact addresses could they please send them to my mums e-mail - alison@pollard1955.freeserve.co.uk
Thankyou
Luke Pollard
| By Cappelle Pieter (Snakehit) (80.201.24.151) on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 05:41 am: |
Hi,
Can somebody give me the adress of Shifty.
I want to write him a letter with some questions.
Is there anybody how haves he's adress?
Cappelle Pieter
Belguim
| By Adam Berry (Bez) (217.159.42.97) on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 02:04 pm: |
Shifty was a hell of a shot!...
| By James S. A. Brown, III (Jsabrown) (68.32.106.23) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 12:45 am: |
Regarding the white helmet... in my reading, I've seen that, at the beginning of the Bulge, US troopers went into winter combat w/o proper winter camo. This is fairly common knowledge.
Somebody got the bright idea to snag sheets from civilian homes, which brought complaints from the civies to the brass. Brass, in turn, put out a directive that such thievery was unacceptable and some fellows got in trouble... until they explained the motivations. Then the behavior was encouraged.
I don't know how accurate what I've related is, or how high the brass was that gave the GIs heck. However, I've seen the story in several sources, including the excellent _A Time for Trumpets_. Ambrose's _Citizen Soldiers_ may also mention it.
| By Marc Brand (Marcfire) (62.59.236.10) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 05:11 am: |
Mr. Powers had hawk eyes.
I was in Bastogne last week and overlooked the towns of Foy and Noville from the forrest Bois Jacques where Easy was during the battle of Bastogne. In the BoB book someone said that one day, Shifty saw a tree near Noville that wasn't there before. When others looked at it with binoculars, it turned out that the germans used it to hide their 88mm guns. They called in artillery and silenced those guns forever. Well i was in that forrest where Shifty was standing and i can say that he really had the best eyes cause it was really hard to see something that far away. This just proves that Shifty was an incredible man and many thank their lives to him and ofcourse also to the other Easy members.
Marc
| By Joost van Nunen (Wapenbroeders) (195.240.71.171) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 02:39 pm: |
hi,
I share the same opinions as you all have.
Shifty Powers did save many lives as said.
I remember of the miniserie:
When they had taken in Foy, suddenly a German sniper took out a few man of them.. and he was going to shoot more men down. Then.. i guess it was Carwood Lipton.. told shifty to take out the sniper. Carwood Lipton would take the German sniper's attention so shifty could shoot him.
Lipton ran in the field and the German fired at him . Shifty took him out with a fine shot.
Another example i got from the book:
A sniper had a road blocked down and had already shot a few men. Shifty took out the German from far away. Later some men of Easy found the German with a bullet in his head..
The most respect for Mr Powers as a great shooter AND person..
Currahee,
Joost
| By Marc Brand (Marcfire) (62.59.236.10) on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 04:26 pm: |
That was also in Foy Joost, he did a good job taking out those snipers overthere. He saved the lives of some of his best buddies.
Marc
| By Joost van Nunen (Wapenbroeders) (195.240.71.171) on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 04:59 am: |
Marc,
You're totally right.
We cannot measure what he did, but i also think that his presence saved lots of lives.
It must have been a great help to be among such great men, who always had your back covered.
Currahee,
Joost
| By Richard W. Copenhaver (Mizzouproud) (67.74.191.16) on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 09:41 pm: |
I have become very close friends with Shifty and his family. In May of this year my wife and I spent 5 days with Shifty and his family in Tennessee and Virginia. If you can imagine, we shot Garands off his deck. A more humble, gracious man does exist, unless it would be Major Winters. Shifty's eyesight is failing but he maintains a pace that most younger men would be hard pressed to maintain. There were no bad shots in E Co., but Shifty, Buck Taylor, Paul Rogers and McClung were, according to what Shifty has said, were among the best. Through my conversations with Shifty, I have gained so much insight as to how much we owe these fine men.
| By Richard W. Copenhaver (Mizzouproud) (67.74.191.16) on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 09:43 pm: |
I have become very close friends with Shifty and his family. In May of this year my wife and I spent 5 days with Shifty and his family in Tennessee and Virginia. If you can imagine, we shot Garands off his deck. A more humble, gracious man does exist, unless it would be Major Winters. Shifty's eyesight is failing but he maintains a pace that most younger men would be hard pressed to maintain. There were no bad shots in E Co., but Shifty, Buck Taylor, Paul Rogers and McClung were, according to what Shifty has said, among the best. Through my conversations with Shifty, I have gained so much insight as to how much we owe these fine men.
| By Marc Brand (Marcfire) (194.138.137.11) on Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 02:13 am: |
Wow Richard, you are very fortunate to be so close to such a fine man. When you see him, please say many many thanks from me, for all he and his palls have done in those days. I admire him a lot and recently i was in the same spot in Bastogne, from where he saw a strange tree near Noville. It turned out to be Germans who put it there. Due to his unbelieveble sight those Germans a** got kicked.
Marc (a guy from Holland)
| By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (4.42.202.200) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 01:11 pm: |
Older article sent to me...
MOUNTAIN EMPIRE COMMUNITY COLLEGE - The tall, distinguished older man strode quietly into the Goodloe Center auditorium and was immediately surrounded by admirers waiting to hear him speak. His face was a mass of creases, his hands battered by decades of wresting with machinery. But Darrell "Shifty" Powers could still wear a paratrooper's jump suit and boots with the authority of the warrior he had been 60 years earlier. His hard, steady gaze could still lock on with the intensity of an expert rifleman finding his target. Audience members stood up to shake his hand, to get his autograph, to stand close to a man whose story became the stuff of prime time television legend.
They already knew a lot about Powers before he spoke the first word into the microphone at the podium.
They knew he and his comrades-in-arms had helped drive German forces off the Normandy coast on D-Day, beginning the 1944 Allied liberation of Europe. They knew Powers and his buddies had fought their way from France to Adolf Hitler's Bavarian mountain retreat, the Eagle's Nest. They knew Powers and millions of men like him had helped save the world from tyranny 60 years ago.
Audience members knew Powers before they met him, having seen an actor portray the Clinchco man in Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's acclaimed 2001 HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers."
But the target of such hero worship never felt comfortable with the recognition. For him, the heroes are the men who didn't get to come home. For him, war stories were never meant to be told around the family dinner table.
For him, World War II wasn't a path to glory. It was a job that had to be done by ordinary Americans - on the battlefield and on the home front.
"My name's Darrell 'Shifty' Powers," he said to the audience, simply and quietly, before telling his story in his own words.
BECOMING A SOLDIER
Like most veterans, Powers didn't spout a string of colorfully dramatic battle tales for his audience. He simply began with the beginning.
Powers was 18 and a machinist trainee in Norfolk when he enlisted in the Army in 1942 during the war's early days.
He was assigned to the newly formed 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and began training at Camp Toccoa, Ga. There, the new regiment earned its nickname, "Currahee," a Cherokee word meaning "stand alone."
Each day, their training officer, Herbert Sobel, forced the recruits to run six miles up and down Currahee Mountain. Trainees would hike 20 miles without water. Sobel would nitpick the young men constantly, gradually transforming them into one of the Army's toughest fighting units.
After four months, the 506th's 2nd Battalion marched 116 miles from northeast Georgia to Atlanta, then boarded trains for parachute school at Ft. Benning, Powers said.
In their third week at Ft. Benning, the soldiers learned how to pack their own parachutes, he explained. "I'd lie awake at night, wondering if I'd done it right."
Trainees were required to complete four daylight parachute jumps and one night jump to qualify for their parachutist badge, Powers said. Soon, they began practicing night combat jumps with a rifle, grenades, a helmet, an entrenching tool, a canteen and three days of rations.
It takes three things to survive in combat, Powers said - a helmet to protect your head, a rifle to fight back and an entrenching tool to dig a hole where you can withstand enemy mortar attacks.
"You can go without food and water for a long time," he said. "We tried it."
In mid-1943, the 506th was attached to the 101st Airborne Division. Three months later, the troops boarded ships for the 12-day cruise to England, where they would spend a year preparing to invade the European continent.
Powers remembered seeing residents of a nearby town practice their own brand of warfare. They would conduct defensive drills, grabbing rakes, hoes, anything close at hand with which they could pummel invading German troops.
D-DAY
At about 1 a.m. on June 6, 1944, Powers and other members of his unit, Easy Company, rode a plane across the Normandy coastline and prepared to parachute into German fortified positions.
"I could hear bullets and shrapnel hitting the plane," he said. "As I jumped out the door, I could see that the left motor was on fire."
Powers landed in a pasture under a full moon, then hid with two other men in the giant hedgerows which divided French farmers' lands. They soon realized they were a day's walk away from their intended drop zone.
Powers and other men spent the night at an 82nd Airborne Division roadblock, then tried to extract a jeep from a crash-landed glider on the beach to speed their trip to rejoin Easy Company. The jeep was stuck. They tried to blast it free with explosives, but all the wreckage caught fire. "We kept on walking."
Airborne troops spent almost a week fighting at Carentan and battling German troops just a few feet away from them on the other side of hedgerows, Powers said. Then the 506th was sent back to England to prepare for an invasion of Holland.
THE DOOR TO GERMANY
On a beautiful, sunny day in mid-September, 1944, the 506th parachuted into Holland with elements of the 82nd and Polish and English divisions. They were to secure a road for tanks and supply shipments, preparing for a push across the Rhine River into Germany. But the plan didn't work, Powers said.
The English troops landed in the midst of a German tank division. "They were slaughtered," he said.
Easy Company spent three months fighting for control of the same road, Powers explained, laying low during the day and moving at night.
One night, he was on patrol, with orders to shoot anyone he saw. He froze at the sound of a person moving in the darkness, but figured the noise wasn't big enough for German troops.
Bracing to shoot if necessary, Powers said a password, "thunder," and got the correct reply, "flash." The intruder turned out to be his buddy Bill King, who had been wounded but left the hospital without authorization to rejoin the unit.
HITLER COUNTERATTACKS
From late November until a few days before Christmas, Easy Company rested and resupplied in France.
On Dec. 18, the unit was awaiting dinner when they learned that German troops had counterattacked the long, thin line of Allied defenders on the front in Belgium's Ardennes forest. The 506th was sent to defend the town of Bastogne with little food and no winter clothing.
For nearly a week, the troops fought off a much larger, encircling German force. Clouds prevented the air corps from dropping in fresh supplies.
"I can't describe how miserable it was," Powers said. "It was the worst battle we had. The wind would cut you in two. The warmest place you had was your foxhole."
Hungry troops once managed to find a stash of brown beans, Powers said. "They were seasoned real good. They had worms in them."
Nowadays, when snow covers the ground in Clinchco, Powers said he often sits in front of a fire and finds himself thinking, "Man, I'm glad I'm not in Bastogne."
Easy Company lost 24 men during the Normandy invasion and lost another nine in Holland, he said. But that week of fighting at Bastogne cost the company 16 men.
Hitler's forces were finally pushed back by mid-January. Slightly more than a month later, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower met the 101st Airborne in France and awarded it the Distinguished Unit Citation for holding Bastogne.
THE ENDGAME
The last days of the war were relatively quiet for Easy Company, as allied forces rapidly pushed the Germans backward across their own homeland in retreat. In early May 1945, the 506th got its final combat assignment of the war - capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest - but they knew by then that their victory was all but official.
Powers didn't go to the Eagle's Nest. "I was too busy celebrating," he joked.
Soon, he had earned enough combat points to rotate off the front lines and come home.
Powers had emerged relatively unscathed from nearly a year of fighting, but he was lucky to survive the trip out of combat.
He was riding in a truck that collided head-on with another Army truck, killing one soldier. Powers was badly skinned up, with broken bones. He woke up in a hospital, feeling sorry for himself.
"Then I looked around the room and saw another guy. He was in a full body cast, head to toe, with only a couple little eye holes. That cured me."
After the war, Powers worked as a machinist in California for a few years, then worked for Clinchfield Coal Co. for 33 years.
He had boxed up his memories of combat. Powers didn't discuss the war with his family or acquaintances until Hanks and Spielberg immortalized Easy Company on the television screen.
Even during his Oct. 9 public speaking engagement at MECC, Powers refrained from telling the worst of it - the smell of decaying bodies, the knowledge that your bullet killed the man lying in front of you, the grief of watching friends die.
But an audience member summed up Powers' experience from her own perspective.
Jacqueline Havaux Bowers, the wife of retired Big Stone Gap minister Hugh Bowers, stood up. She explained that she was a little Belgian girl living under Nazi occupation near Bastogne during the war, and followed the progress of the battle on her father's map. "I was one of those kids who would ask GIs for cigarettes and chocolate."
Bowers came to the podium to hug Powers.
"I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did for us," she said. "I wouldn't be here at all, my family wouldn't be here at all, if it wasn't for him."
| By ferris (Dayoffirstse) (216.190.241.87) on Friday, November 21, 2003 - 03:11 pm: |
does anyone know how he got the nickname shifty?and if the sniper scene in foy actually happened?
ferris
| By Kevin Francis (Aceofspades) (205.188.208.134) on Monday, December 01, 2003 - 01:44 pm: |
Chris,
Great article, great information! Do you know if Shifty does many speaking engagements. He does not come across as the type that does. If he is going to do anymore do you have any info on them? Shifty has got to be one of my favorite elisted men in E-company.
Kevin
| By Amanda Franche (Cfmedic) (216.209.144.77) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 03:38 pm: |
About the helmet cover. The reason it is white is to blend in with the snow seening how the helmets are green and the enemy would spot their helmets. That why in one espiosde when they were taking Foy the Germans had on white uniforms to blend in with the snow of Bastogne
| By Adam Berry (Bez) (217.44.102.158) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 06:17 pm: |
Ferris,
Yes the sniper incident in foy actually happened, he saved many more lives with that shot. Acording to reports, other soldiers in E/co went to look at the body of the sniper and shiftys bullet hole was right between the eyes.
Bez
| By cfuzwvsylyx (174.129.11.4) on Sunday, December 20, 2009 - 09:13 am: |