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I received the “Shifty Powers” email story from my father, a WWII veteran and military lifer, and felt compelled to share this wonderful tribute.

The past few years an e-mail written in tribute to the passing of a humble World War II veteran has gone viral, spurring a slew of memorial pages on Facebook and other social media sites, including a flurry of Twitter tweets and calls for a special online memorial day Monday June 17.

Immortalized in the pages of Stephen Ambrose’s “Band of Brothers” and the subsequent mini-series, Darrell “Shifty” Powers jumped into Normandy with the 101st Airborne Division and fought through some of the grittiest battles of World War II. His nickname came from the basketball courts, his family says, not from running moonshine, as one of his battle buddies liked to joke.

He was buried quietly near his hometown in rural Virginia. He was 86 and had spent many of his last years visiting troops and faithfully attending reunions with his dwindling band of “Easy Company” brothers.

The email that follows relates a chance meeting in an airport between Mark Pfeifer and the World War II hero. This email has been attributed to several people, including retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager and newspaper columnist Joseph L. Galloway. An editor of Yeager’s website, said that the famed Air Force pilot definitely did not write it.

Mr. Pfeifer has stated that after being overwhelmed by all the attention lavished on Michael Jackson, he sat down July 7, 2009 and wrote an e-mail to about a half-dozen friends in praise of Powers and lamenting the dearth of homage paid to passing heroes. “I had no idea it would take on a life of its own,” said Pfeifer.

Pfeifer wrote about meeting Powers boarding a flight out Philadelphia a few years ago. He tried to give the veteran his first class seat, but Powers 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,” Pfeifer wrote. “His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this.”

ABC News has reportedly spoken with Powers’ daughter Margo Johnson and confirmed both Pfeifer’s authorship and the broad details of the airport encounter in Philadelphia.

Fwd: Band of Brothers Hero

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, 2009 after fighting cancer.
There was no parade.
No big event in Staples Center.
No wall to wall back to back 24×7 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.

Mark Pfeifer

Darrell “Shifty” Powers died of cancer on June 17, 2009. He served as a U.S. Army paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, “Easy Company” during World War II. Known by his fellow soldiers as both a quiet man and an excellent sharpshooter, Shifty Powers was among those who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. By the time he was discharged from the Army in 1945, he had been awarded an Expert Rifleman Badge, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Presidential Unit Citation, and two Bronze Stars. And he was indeed one of the “Band of Brothers” portrayed in the Stephen Ambrose book and HBO miniseries of the same name. The word “hero” is consistently used to describe him.

To ALL who serve:  We care and we remember!  -  THANK YOU!