LTC William "Bill" Edward Powers (USAF Ret)

LTC William Edward Powers (USAF Ret), known to all as “Bill,” died in San Diego on May 27, 2023 at the age of 99. He was born to Ethel Pearl (MacDonald) and Patrick Francis Powers on May 1, 1924 in Boston, MA. Bill was their only child. He lost his mother to TB when he was four years old. He relied on relatives to care for him while his father served in the US Navy. Bill spent several years in military school in San Diego in the 1930s while his father was assigned to vessels based out of Long Beach.

The summer of his high school graduation in 1943, when his father could no longer prevent him from joining the war effort, he enlisted in the Navy. He served on the USS Teton, a task force flagship in the battle of Okinawa. He was in Tokyo Bay on the Teton at the time of the ceremony of Japan’s surrender.

Upon his return to the US, he attended Tufts University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree, thanks to the GI Bill. More importantly, he met a local teenager at a frat party, who years later would become his wife.

Bill also fell in love with flying while in college and decided to become an Air Force pilot. He accomplished this career goal just in time to participate in the Korean War where he flew 132 combat missions. He transitioned from the P-51 to the F-86 on combat duty in Korea and was credited with downing a MIG-15. Later, during the Viet Nam War, he would fly 487 more combat missions. During his career, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross four times. He flew many military and civilian aircraft, but the standouts were: P-51, F-86, F-106, A-1, and the OV-10. Bill was a highly dedicated military officer.

He married Joan Ryan on June 25, 1953, in Somerville, MA. They began their Air Force life together at Mitchell Field on Long Island and retired from his last station at Bergstrom AFB (now the local airport) in Austin, Texas. Along the way, they had three children and enjoyed living overseas in the Philippines and Thailand. Bill and Joan were married for 53 years until her death in 2007.

Upon retirement, Bill was fortunate to join a wing of the Commemorative Air Force which allowed him to continue flying WWII-era aircraft. He was hired as a stunt pilot for the filming of “Pearl Harbor” in Hawaii in 2001 and played a Japanese kamikaze pilot. His children still talk about this enduring brush with movie stardom.

At the age of 91, Bill gave up flying and moved from Austin to San Diego to live next door to his son, where he mellowed into an attentive grandfather, committed dog owner, good neighbor, ardent supporter of Ukraine freedom, and a lover of slapstick humor that would sometimes make him laugh to the point of tears.

Bill will be buried at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego at 1:15 pm on June 20, 2023. The interment is being organized by El Camino Memorial of San Diego.