Staff Sergeant Darrell “Shifty” Powers, of Clinchco, Virginia, enlisted with the US Army on August 14, 1942 in Richmond Virginia. Shifty was 19 years old. He enlisted with his friend Robert "Popeye" Wynn and both men were assigned to Easy Company at Camp Toccoa and received training under Captain Herbert Sobel. Shifty was with Easy Company from start to finish.

Missing his drop zone on D-Day, Powers joined up with Easy Company in time for the Battle of Carentan. As a veteran of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, Staff Sergeant Darrell Powers was one of the few men to remain uninjured during his service. During the Battle of the Bulge, Shifty's skill as an outdoorsman and marksman was remarkable. On January 13, 1945 when Easy Company was under attack in the city of Foy Power's marksmanship and quick thinking saved many of his brothers when he eliminated an enemy sniper. Always humble, Darrell made the near impossible shot with ease. At the Battle of the Bulge on December 29, 1944, when Easy company was staying the woods, Powers noticed a tree standing there that had not been there the day before and reported it to his First Sergeant Lipton. The "tree" was discovered to be a part of a camouflage  the Germans put up for there anti-aircraft battery. Lipton got permission to fire on the battery, despite low ammunitions. The area was evacuated within an hour. "Shifty " Powers noticing the tree and using his skills brought about the deployment of the German unit.

At the closing of the ETO Shifty did not have enough points to return home. Even though he served his time; he was never injured in action thus coming up short for the requirement. Consequently he was chosen via lottery to receive an early furlough. On his way to the airport Staff Sergeant Powers was severely injured in an automobile accident. Spending many months convalescing, he returned to the United States well after many of the men in his Company. After the war Shifty returned to Virginia and married Dorothy Lenore Stamper. The couple were married for 60 years. After a brief career as a machinist in California the Powers returned to Virginia where Shifty worked as a machinist with Clinchfield Coal Corporation for more than twenty years. Darrell Shifty Powers was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Peter Youngblood Hills. Staff Sergeant Powers passed away on June 17, 2009 at the age of 86. He lies in rest at Temple Memorial Park in Castlewood Virginia. Courtesy of WW II uncovered