A memorial

[Niner]

I got this email from a guy connected to the 3/506 from Vietnam service. It was a request to send the information on to other veterans in emails. This is what it said:


I got this from a Fellow Brother from my "Comanchero Unit". As a "Currahee" myself this story really touchs me.
PonyTail

Memorial Service: you're invited.

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.

[DuncaninFrance]

Well he has my undivided attention Robert, hope he is with his mates.........................

[Niner]

This might be one of those internet bs stories written for the kneejurk reaction it can cause. I see now, through an internet search of the topic that it has spread fast. Nobody seems to actually know who wrote it although any number of people are possible from Joseph Galloway, the guy who co-wrote We Are Soldiers Still, to a Marine general are given credit for it.

Here's one:

http://chatswood.typepad.com/moneyblog/ ... owers.html

Well..... it got me.

[riptidenj]

IIRC Christopher Wren is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, the plaque marking the spot says in Latin: "Si Monumedtum
Requiris Circumspice"-"If you seek his monument, look around you". The world we have lived in was built by men Like Shifty Powers.

[Niner]

Now General Chuck Yeager has been offered as the one who started it. I will keep my eye on Snopes to see who else is pinned to it.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military ... powers.asp

[TaosBob101]

I knew about his death for a few weeks now. But got that email today...so it's making the rounds.