The “tree” was ultimately discovered to be part of the camouflage the Germans put up for their antiaircraft battery. On 29-12-1944, when Easy Company was staying in the wood, Powers noticed a tree that was not there just the day before and reported it the First Sergeant Clifford Carwood Lipton. Powers also fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. Bill Kiehn was killed in action, age 23 on 10-02-1945 in Hagenau. Powers participated in the Allied military operation Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. He found Buck Taylor and later sergeant William F “Bill” Kiehn and the three linked up with Easy Company, with Frederick “Fritz” Niland,Īnd Forrest Guth, several days later to fight in Carentan. Powers jumped into Normandy on D-Day, missing his drop zone. He thought it would have been a massacre if the Germans had indeed invaded Aldbourne. He was shocked to see that the residents there were prepared to defend themselves against the Germans with only garden implements. Wynn grinned, ‘Then give me my damn five dollars back.’ Powers followed Easy Company to station in Aldbourne, England. Powers counted the money, and it was more than what he would need. Here – I’m going to start it with five dollars.’ Everybody else threw in some money. He said, ‘Shifty’s got three days off and doesn’t have enough money to get home. Wynn took a helmet with him and walked through the barracks. Powers wanted to go home, but did not have enough money. Buck Taylor died old age 90 on 24-08-2011 in Orange City, Florida. No services were held for Sobel after his death. In Camp Toccoa, Powers was one of the two members in Easy Company that were made expert riflemen, the other one was sergeant Amos J “Buck” Taylor Jr. Sobel resided there for his last seventeen years until his death due to malnutrition on 30-09-1987, age 75. He was later moved to a VA assisted living facility in Waukegan, Illinois. This severed his optic nerves and left him blind. The bullet entered his left temple, passed behind his eyes, and exited out the other side of his head. In the late 1960s, Sobel shot himself in the head with a small-caliber pistol. under command of Lieutenant General Robert Sink, They received training in Camp Toccoa, Georgia under Captain Herbert Maxwell Sobel Powers and Wynn both volunteered for the paratroopers, and became members of Easy Company. Darrell Powers’s nickname ‘Shifty’ originated from his basketball days and his ability to be ‘shifty’ on his feet. His older brothers Barney and Jimmy became marines and they all survived the war. Powers enlisted on 14-08-1942, at Richmond, Virginia. When they found out that they were about to be frozen to the jobs, they went to sign up for the army. Wynn died age 78 on 18-03-2000 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. There he befriended Robert “Popeye” Wynn, and the two went to work in the shipyards in Portsmouth after finishing the course. Powers graduated from high school and took a machinist course in a vocational school in Norfolk. He learned most of his shooting during this period of time, and he got to the point where he could throw a coin in the air and hit it with a rifle. This experience proved useful later as many of the skills he obtained helped him as a soldier. Shifty spent a great deal of time in the outdoors hunting game prior to joining the service. His father was an excellent rifle and pistol shot, and taught him how to shoot when he was young. After graduating from the local high school, Powers decided to go to technical school. In fact, he got his nickname, “Shifty,” from his outstanding basketball play. Powers liked school because got to play basketball. Powers, Darrell Clay “Shifty”, born 13-03-1923 in Chinchco, Dickenson County, Virginia.
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