The Email Said "You Should Know Darrell "Shifty" Powers"

I received an email this week from two completely different unrelated sources telling about a war hero who had recently passed away.

I haven't studied war history, and I don't particularly watch television, so I hadn't heard of Darrell "Shifty" Powers.

Since the subject line said "you should know Darrell "Shifty" Powers", my curiosity was piqued.

I decided to conduct a little research online and found that this particular email is circulating like wildfire and for a while no one seemed to know who the author was. This link claims to know who the author is.

The email appears to be written by someone who met Shifty Powers in a Philadelphia airport several years ago although he didn't know who he was at the time. He just seemed to be an ordinary elderly man who was having some difficulty reading his ticket. The author then begins to pick up on clues, first a "screaming eagle" symbol of the 101st Airborne on his hat, then various aspects of his involvement in WWII crop up in their conversation. Each time, this causes the author's heart to skip a beat. As the elderly gentleman begins to talk about D-day and Normandy it dawns on him that he's talking to a genuine war hero who has just come back from Normandy, France on the anniversary of D-day. The author of the email claims he offered to switch seats with Shifty Powers who was sitting in coach but he refused saying that it was just nice knowing someone still cared and remembered what the 101st airborne had done. The author goes on to say that Darrell "Shifty" Powers died without all of the fanfare and parades and 24/7 news coverage. He urged others to forward this email and to give Shifty his own online Memorial Service.

From my research online, primarily via Wikipedia, I found out the following about Darrell "Shifty" Powers:

• Name: Darrell "Shifty" Powers
• Born: March 13, 1923 in Clinchco, Virginia
• Died: June 17, 2009, of natural causes in Virginia
• Served in the United States Army during World War II in the famed E Co/2/506 of the 101st Airborne Division (the Band of Brothers). He was an original member of Easy Company, training at Camp Toccoa,
• Jumped into Normandy, France on D-Day missing his drop zone.
• Participated in the assault of Carentan, France and every major battle Easy Company was involved with until the end of the war.
• Considered by many to be the best shot in Easy Company
• Was badly injured in an accident on his way to the airfield to be sent stateside on a trip he won in a rigged lottery and spent months recuperating overseas while his buddies arrived home before he did
• Was honorably discharged

• Listed as one of 20 men from Easy Company who contributed to the 2009 book We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers, published by Penguin/Berkley-Caliber.

• Shifty is portrayed byPeter Youngblood Hills in all 10 episodes of Band of Brothers, a 2001 WWII miniseries based ona book by Stephen Ambrose. The program was executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks after their successful collaboration on the 1998 Academy Award-winning World War II film Saving Private Ryan.

Regardless of who authored this email and why, I'm grateful that it found my inbox and I took a little time to get to know a little bit about a man who so richly deserves our respect and admiration. Rest in peace "Shifty" and thank you for your service to our country.