Powers, William Maxwell, SP 5

Date of Birth January 27, 1945
 
Caucasian
Single (Never Married)
Church of God
 
Parents:
Father – Mr. Daniel Maxwell Powers (1925 - 1955), DuBois, Pennsylvania
Mother – Mrs. Virginia L. Lundberg, Erie, Pennsylvania

Served in the U.S. Army a few weeks less than four years.
Vietnam Tour of Duty Started March 21, 1966
23rd ARVN Division, HQ, MACV Advisors, MACV Team 33
 
Extract From Service Record at the National Personnel Records Center, St Louis, Missouri for William Maxwell Powers obtained from the Coffelt Database of Vietnam Casualties:
 

• 15 June 1964   910.0 Medical Corpsman 7th Field Hospital, Ft Knox, Kentucky
• 18 Sep 1964    911.10 Battery Aidman 1st Missile Battalion, 57th Artillery, Sukiran, Okinawa
• 15 Feb 1965    911.20 Senior Medical Aidman 1st Missile Battalion, 57th Artillery, Sukiran, Okinawa
• 15 Apr 1965    91B20 Medical Aidman1st Missile Battalion, 57th Artillery, Sukiran, Okinawa
• 24 Mar 1966    91B20 Medical Aidman US Military Assistance Command (SD-5891),Vietnam USARPAC
• 19 May 1966   91B4H Medical Specialist Advisor, ARVN Division Advisor Detachment II Corp Advisory Group, USMACV, Vietnam USARPAC

Died due to hostile gun fire, near Buon Dlung in the Darlac (Dar Lac) Province, U.S. Military Region 2, Republic of South Vietnam, while assigned to Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV / Field Advisory Element) and serving as a U.S. Army Medic with the South Vietnamese Army in the 23rd ARVN Division.  Dar Lac Province in 1967 and currently as of 2012, is Dak Lak Province.

Age at Death 22.

Find A Grave Memorial #67765365
 

SP5 William Powers is mentioned several times in the following two books.  Both authors personally knew Powers in Vietnam.

• ....doing his Vietnam tour with MILPHAP (Military Provincial Hospital Augmentation Program) which was a U.S. State Department program, not a U.S. Army Medical Corps program.  Dr. Climo worked under the authority of the South Vietnamese Ministry of Health out of Saigon.  The MILPHAP teams were composed of three physicians, one medical administrative officer and twelve enlisted (non-officer) technicians; all U.S. Army personnel.  The teams were assigned to specific provincial hospitals where they would work under the supervision of that province's chief of medicine (RVN doctor). These MILPHAP teams were detachment units of MACV.  Climo's team was the 734th Medical Detachment, MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) Advisory Team 33.  He was the number two officer in charge of this team.  This MILPHAP team was assigned to the city of Ban Me Thuot, Dar Lac (Darlac) Province in the Central Highlands of U.S. Military Region (Zone) II, or II Corps.  Ban Me Thuot was the capital of Dar Lac Province during his time in South Vietnam, November 1965 - October 1966.  SP5 Powers was assigned to a smaller village, Buon Ho, which was a little north of Ban Me Thuot.  Dr. Climo made trips to the Buon Ho District hospital / clinic, also in the Dar Lac Province, from his assigned South Vietnamese clinic at the Dar Lac Province Hospital in Ban Me Thuot.  This is how Climo and Powers meet.  SP5 Powers obtained his medical supplies from MACV in Ban Me Thuot.

• …….Charles Burns ……… when he (MACV Captain Charles Burns), Spec. 5 William Powers, the camp medic, and Y Duc, the Montagnard intelligence sergeant traveled beyond Buon Ho to where, about a kilometer away, Vietcong were reputed to be.  They found none.  They drank rice wine with the hamlet chief and bought some trade goods. [p. 108].

• A Specialist 5 William Maxwell Powers from Pennsylvania proved a helpful, reliable, and affable soldier nearing the end of his four-year enlistment, who readily contributed to our project. [p. 150].

• …….. (This became an issue for me when my friend, Spec. 5 Powers, days before his tour was up, was killed in a subsequent combat operation believed to have been against the V.C. but that, in reality, was against North Vietnamese Army regulars from the NVA 3rd battalion, 33rd regiment.)  [p. 152].

• Instead of melting back into the jungle like the V.C. the NVN soldiers stood their ground and fought. They were wiped out.  There were jet strikes and napalm. 42 enemy dead by body count.  But my friend, Spec. 5 Powers, the medic at Buon Ho, was killed by machine-gun fire.  [p. 185].

• This advisory team consists of a U.S. Army Major, a Captain (Burns), two Sergeants, a Private and SP5 Powers, the team's medic. [p. 27].

• Powers, a Specialist Five, raised by his mother, is from a small town in Pennsylvania.  He enlisted and is now heading towards his four-year enlistment’s end.  His ambition is to be a doctor – he subscribes to medical book clubs and journals and constantly reads them.  He even looks like a doctor, wearing thick black horn rimmed glasses, a white smock over his fatigues, a stethoscope hanging from his neck as he treats his daily patient load at the District hospital.  Running the District hospital, he is as close as he will ever come to being a real doctor, for now he is Doc to everyone in the District.  He talks about leaving the Army but all know he has found his home. [p. 27].

• The mess hall also has an abundant supply of SPAM; luckily Powers loves it and eats all we get. [p. 61].

• One of the women, continuing to wail, runs over to a small bunker in the hut’s back.  Reaching in she pulls out a small boy, about four years old. He is untouched.  While pulling the hooch apart Powers noticed that the ground in front feels funny when walked on.  It is soft and neatly raked, not beaten hard like the ground around it.  Captain Yee orders the Popular Force to dig up the ground.  Pots, pans, plates and silverware are uncovered.  Enough to feed a platoon.  The items are destroyed. [p. 67].

• Powers works every day in the vacant District hospital, a large multi-wing cement building built by USAID.  There is no doctor.  The District medical personnel, two midwives and a health worker trained in first aid may or may not be there.  Powers and Stedman (a private – radio operator) go to the hospital and handle sick call each weekday.  Stedman provides security and acts as a translator.  Both spend most days there.  The patients form long lines in the hallway.  Powers, assisted by the health worker, sees each in turn in a small room, the one room used in the hospital.  He gives advice on sanitation, cleans wounds and pumps vitamins and antibiotics USAID provides into the sick.  Sometimes American Army doctors come out to the hospital or visit the hamlets (such as CPT Lawrence Climo, M.D.)  [p. 111].

• Powers, a corpsman, accomplishes more, dealing with medical problems in practical terms and the people in human terms.  Powers at least knows he is doing good.  Extremely ill patients are sent to the hospital in Ban Me Thuot or go home if they decide they will die. [p. 112].

• …….going to Hawaii on R&R. [p.119].

• Both Stedman and Powers return from Hawaii in love.  They meet two young things upon arriving in Hawaii.  Both are due to rotate stateside within two months.  Stedman is reluctant (to extend his VN tour) saying he will think it over. Powers having no reason to go stateside tells (Major) Douglas (a new MACV team leader) he probably will extend. [p. 124].

• The column is moving in file, the point almost to the crest, about fifty meters away, not far from our blocking position.  Powers, who believes in the combat part of combat medic, is walking as he normally does, near the point.  Stedman carrying the radio and I (Burns) follow behind the lead platoon.  Suddenly shots sound to our front.  The Viet Cong are gone into thick brush, leaving a trail of broken grass.  The imprint where they laid in the grass can be seen.  There were five.  The wounded point man, a Sergeant and former CIDG, who speaks English, lies nearby shot in the leg.  Powers is bandaging him.  The Viet Cong knew we were coming. [p. 126].

• Powers and Stedman are jubilant.  Scheduled to go home soon, they have finally seen real action. [p. 128].

• ……..shortly after one (a.m.), Sergeant Bozilov wakes me yelling that Ha Lan is under attack.  Getting up, I hear the distant rumble of sustained gunfire. With first light, Hoy leads out the Regional Force company and a Popular Force platoon in trucks to Ha Lan.  During the night, Yen had the Popular Force in Buon Trieng secure the road. Douglas (Major) is going with Hoy, taking Powers, Stedman and Nomura.  As he leaves I (Charles Burns) remind him to walk cross-country to Buon Dlung, avoid the road. A favorite Viet Cong tactic is to hit a fortified position to draw a relief force into an ambush. The remaining Popular Force platoons along with Bozilov, Yen, and I stay in the compound.  I act as radio relay between Stedman (who is with the major) with the column and Ban Me Thuot. Stedman gives routine progress reports.  The column arrives at Ha Lan; it starts to Buon Dlung.  Shortly Stedman reports they have reached the Buon Dlung.  There is no contact.  The attackers have withdrawn (from the area of Ha Lan).  Several minutes elapse, then Stedman screams over the radio that they are receiving fire and pinned down.  Abruptly his radio goes off, I cannot raise him.  Bozilov and I, with Yen driving, load into Yen’s 3/4-ton and move out.  As we move, I tell An Loc to relay to Province that our relief force has been ambushed and request a FAC (forward air controller) and MEDEVAC.  As Yen drives down Highway 14, Stedman finally comes back up on the radio.  The gunfire in the background has stopped.  Stedman reports that he is now back in the Buon Dlung.  They were ambushed and ran back into the Buon.  Several are wounded; no one knows where Powers is.  Others are missing.  Silence.  Then firing erupts and rises into a crescendo, small arms and explosions.  Stedman screams, They are throwing grenades. A long pause, then the Major is on the radio. Excitedly, he yells, The cowards are running, they won’t stand.  The Regional Force Chef de Platoon is on the ground. (dead).  A few feet from him is a dead machine gun crew member, face down, his hand still gripping the tripod. (dead)……further along the wood line; there is a wounded soldier, gut shot; someone bandaged him.  All weapons and equipment are gone.  The Viet Cong were here.  I still have not found Powers.  Two trails intersect where the platoon Sergeant (Chef de Platoon) lies. One runs along the clearing to the Buon, the other runs into the woods towards the cemetery.  Scuff marks are all over the second trail.  I walk with caution down this trail into the woods.  Power’s looted medical bag is on the ground before a bend in the trail.  Walking around the bend, Powers lies face down in the trail.  No need to look, he is dead.  A MEDEVAC comes back to pick up the bodies.  Douglas still upset, walks over to Powers’ body, taking off his field jacket.  He covers Power’s face. [p. 133-143 paraphrased].

• Though the North Vietnamese Army took a licking, (due gunships, bombings, etc. after the ambush) MACV is not happy.  Division is angry because Powers is the first advisor killed in the division area.  They want to know why a medic was killed.  Stedman packs Power’s gear to send to his mother.  Douglas writes Power’s mother a letter saying Powers died a hero.  Powers died a few days before his tour was up. [p. 150].

Remembrances From The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and The Vietnam Veterans Memorial – The Wall USA:
 
'Doc' was the easy going medic on our 6 man advisory team for Buon Ho district. When not running the hospital he would be on operations. On operations, because he walked fast, he had a tendency to float to the head of the column. On 02/22/1967 Buon Dlung was attacked, he went with the reaction force. It was ambushed. I went with the relief force and overran the ambush site. His body was not there. I followed some scuff marks further into the woods, eventually finding his medic bag and then, further on, him. Near him was the Regional Force (RF) point man, wounded. Powers was dead. I went back and had some RF move Powers and the wounded RF into the Buon and then they were evacuated by chopper. The battle lasted the rest of the day as they had been ambushed by NVA and not local force VC.
Charles P. Burns 2012
[Note: Burns is author & self publisher of his book, Our War, Buon Ho, Vietnam 1966 - 1967. Published 2008].
 
It has been forty years since Specialist Powers was killed in action. He was a medic assigned to a sub-sector of the MACV advisory team for Darlac Province in the Vietnamese Central Highlands. The principal duty of these Provincial Teams was to work with Regional Force and Popular Force units, local village and hamlet self-defense militias. I was an Intelligence Advisor on the Darlac Sector team and became Specialist Powers’ “Summary Court Officer”, the person charged with gathering and inventorying his personal effects for shipment home. I also reviewed for inclusion the personal condolence letter that the Senior Sector Advisor had written to his parents. I met Specialist Powers only once while he was alive. My link to him is on-going. His body was found alongside the bodies of the Vietnamese and Montagnard soldiers whose wounds he had been treating. I thought it was important that you know these things and maybe remember them. I will.
Ted Valand (1LT, Military Intelligence Officer)
2007
 
I was also assigned to the ARVN 23rd Infantry Division
We laughed together
I would meet SP5 Powers when he returned to Advisory Team 33 headquarters in Ban Me Thout (Darlac Province). I never served with him in the field, but we shared many a laugh in the NCO pub. He was always smiling and we shared many a beer and story. He was the first person I knew that was killed in Vietnam and his memory has never left my mind. He was a really nice guy.
Richard Ottalagana (OTTO)
2009