We're hearing a lot lately about the big, splashy memorial services for entertainers and actors, and politicians. Why not a nationwide memorial service for this hero...Darrell "Shifty" Powers and other veterans who, with true grit, laid their lives on the line to defend this nations freedoms? "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 in the military. 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 knew exactly where Normandy was, and I knew 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. 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. It's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, many are not able to make the trip." My heart was in my throat. I didn't know what to say. I helped Shifty walk down the jet way onto the plane. When I realized he was sitting in Coach seating, while I was in First Class, I asked the flight attendant to bring him to First Class, because I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and asked him to sit down, that I'd take his seat in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some folks who remember what us veterans did, and still care, is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it. Shifty died on June 17, after battling cancer. There was no parade. There was no back to back, continuous 24/7, multi-media news coverage, or any extravagant, expensive, public spectacle in Staples Center with police to control the crowds at taxpayer’s expense! No throngs of unconsolable, weeping, fans to be watched on every television channel.