![]() ![]() During the trip to the airfield, the vehicle that Shifty was in was involved in an accident and he was badly injured. Shifty Powers won this lottery after the rest of Easy Company rigged it in his favor by removing their own names, and he was set to return stateside. Many men serving in the 101st Airborne lacked the minimum points required to return home, so a lottery was put in place. Had he not spotted that enemy weapon, many lives might have been lost. The "tree" was ultimately discovered to be a camouflaged German artillery piece! Shifty's outdoor experience and keen observation abilities allowed him to spot that discrepancy from a distance of nearly a mile away and amongst a literal forest of other trees. The tale was about the time in Bastogne when Shifty mentioned to his commanding officer that he noticed a tree in the distant forest that was not there just the day before. One of his most truly remarkable achievements, and a testament to the extraordinary gifts his backwoods upbringing brought to Easy Company, was the story documented in the Ambrose book, Band of Brothers. He was generally considered to be the best shot in Easy Company. Company members say Powers saved many lives that day. Carwood Lipton, Shifty made a heroic attempt and silenced the German by shooting him right between the eyes with his M1 rifle. ![]() While in Foy, a German sniper shot three members of Easy Company, and everyone ran for cover. Later, he also participated in the Allied force's "Operation Market Garden" in the Netherlands, and in the Battle of the Bulge in Foy, Belgium. He eventually came in contact with Floyd Talbert and the two found their way to Easy Company. Powers jumped into Normandy on D-Day and, like many other paratroopers that day, missed his drop zone. Shifty Powers went to war with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. After he graduated from high school, Shifty volunteered for the paratroopers with his good friend, Robert "Popeye" Wynn. The shooting skill he gained while hunting proved very useful when he became a soldier. As a youth, Shifty spent a great deal of time in the outdoors hunting game. Powers was born on 13 March 1923 in Clinchco, Dickenson County, VA. Shifty's War is a tale of heroism and adventure, of a soldier's blood-filled days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how one man's skills as a sharpshooter propelled him to a life greater than he could have ever imagined.Darrell C. He parachuted into France on D-day and fought for a month in Normandy eighty days in Holland thirty-nine in the harshly cold winter of Bastogne and for nearly thirty more near Haguenau, France, and the Ruhr pocket in Germany. As one of the original men who trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Shifty was one out of only two soldiers in Easy Company to initially earn the coveted expert marksman designation. ![]() Little did Shifty know his finely-tuned skills would one day save his life-and the lives of his fellow paratroopers. His father trained him to listen to the woods, to see without his eyes. ![]() As a boy, Darrell Shifty Powers's goal was to become the best rifle shot he could be. From D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and more, here is the authorized biography of one of the most celebrated paratroopers of Easy Company, Sergeant Shifty Powers, the legendary sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers. ![]()
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