Celebrate the Life of a Real Hero

I’m fixing to celebrate the life of a real hero.
He never made any hit records or was ever a big movie star, however he was portrayed by Peter Youngblood in 10 episodes of an HBO miniseries.

He never wrote any great books, but he did contribute to the 2009 book We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers.

He was never elected to any political office, held any grand titles in academia, nor was he any kind of political activist, but he did serve his country in the military.

What’s wrong with us as a nation when we celebrate the death of singers and movie stars, who merely entertain us, and not the real heroes who make it possible for us to be entertained?

When one of them departs this old world the mainstream media only whispers the news when they should be shouting it.

Darrell “Shifty” Powers passed away recently and there were no parades, no nationwide memorial services, nor weeks long TV and newspaper coverage of his death and his accomplishments, yet he was one of the greatest among us.

Shifty was a former U.S. Army non commissioned officer during World War II who served with the famed Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles,” which I had the honor to serve with during the Viet Nam era.

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.

Shifty was from a small town in Virginia. He volunteered for the paratroopers with his good friend, “Popeye” Wynn in 1941 and served through 1945.

He jumped into Normandy behind enemy lines on D-Day, he jumped into Holland and he participated in the assault of Carentan, Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and contributed in every major battle Easy Company was involved with until the end of the war, and was considered to be one of the best shots in the company.

Shifty was 86. There was no parade, no weeping fans on TV and no 24 hour news coverage, but as you can see, I know who my heroes are fixing to be.

If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise, then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.