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Roderick “Rod” Powers, 63, died Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 at Rainbow Hospice In Patient Center in Johnson Creek, Wis.
Rod was born Nov. 3, 1948, in Greensburg, Kan., son of the late Ralph and Eva (Hickman) Powers. He graduated from Garden City high school in in 1966 and briefly attended Garden City Community College.
He entered the Air Force on Oct. 18, 1967 and served in Vietnam War from July 25, 1968, to July 20, 1969. He was stationed in Nha Trang Air Force Base near Saigon as a weapons mechanic in the Munitions Maintenance Branch, 14th Field Maintenance Squadron. He received the U.S. Air Force Commendation Medal for meritorious service while in South Vietnam. He was one of the first technicians to install a laser- guided-munitions on a F4 Phantom. He was honorably discharged with a rank of Sergeant on Oct. 15, 1971.
He worked for Butler in Garden City, Kan., where he met Mary Margaret Greer. The two wed Oct. 19, 1974. They moved to Fort Atkinson in 1984 where he was a customer service representative for J-Star Industries for more than 30 years.
Powers was a skilled wood worker, handyman and vehicle maintenance expert. He was a collector of toy model cars, tools and coins. He also cherished time he had spent watching and teaching children especially his grandchildren — his only boys.
Survivors include his wife Mary; daughters Rebecca Garcia and husband Cesar of Fort Atkinson, Rachel Dearinger and husband Steven of Burleson, Texas; three grandchildren Max Dearinger, Jack Garcia and one on the way; brother Richard Powers and wife Sheila of Garden City, Kan.; sister Rita Johnson and husband Robert of Las Vegas. A brother Ralph Dean Powers Jr. preceded him in death.
He was member of the Edwin Frohmader VFW Post 1879 in Fort Atkinson and lifetime member of the Handyman Club of America.
A prayer service will be at noon Friday, Feb. 17 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Brian Wilk officiating. Friends may call from 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the church until time of service. Burial will take place at St. Joseph Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Rainbow Hospice Care or the VA Hospital.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase V Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
July / 1968
To Month/Year
November / 1968
Description This period was from November 1, 1968-February 22, 1969.
Following the cessation of bombing on October 3,. 1968, the United States for the next 4 years restricted flights over North Vietnam primarily to reconnaissance missions. The Air Force diverted airpower resources committed to the campaign over North Vietnam to the air campaign in Laos in an attempt to slow the flow of suppliesfrom North Vietnam down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This interdiction effort covered an area in the Laotian panhandle from about the 16th to the 18th parallel and focused on the Laotian/North Vietnamese border near the Keo Nua, Mu Ola, and Ban Karai Passes. Much information about targets on the l-lo Chi Minh Trail came from air-dropped electronic sensors. When American bombing choked the major transportation arteries. the North Vietnamese directed truck convoys along secondary roads where they became more vulnerable to tactical air strikes. Throughout November and December 1968 U.S. tactical aircraft and B-52s attacked targets in the Laotian panhandle. AC-130 gunships, flying at night and relying on infrared, radar, and other sensors. proved especially effective in destroying trucks. To counter the intense air attacks, the North Vietnamese quadrupled the number of anti-aircraft guns along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, while adding logistical personnel in Laos for repair work and transport duties.
The USAF also provided close air support to hard-pressed Royal and irregular Laotian forces in northem Laos, where on December 25, North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troops launched a strong offensive. By late February 1969 the enemy had driven the Laotian forces back across the Plain of Jars to Na Khang.
In South Vietnam, meanwhile. the Viet Cong suffered temporary setbacks under Allied air and ground attacks. On November 1, 1968, the Republic of Vietnam began a military and civic pacification program intended to bring most of the onuttry quickly under government control. Two operations underscored Allied military approaches to pacification.
In the first, the Allies learrted of a large enemy force moving into the Savy Rieng Province, Cambodia. the so-called “Parrot's Beak" that jutted deep into South Vietnam northwest of Saigon. To thwart this penetration, between October 18 and November 11, 1968, the U.S. Air Force airlifted 11,500 men of the U.S. lst Cavalry Division and 3,400 tons of cargo in C-130s over 500 miles from Quang Tri Province in the north to Tay Ninh. Binh Long. and Phuoc Long Provinces. northwest of Saigon. Until the tum of the year, these U.S. Army forces. working with the South Vietnamese, conducted operations in the Cambodian/South Vietnamese border area along the Parrot‘s Beak between the Vam Co Tay and Vam Co Dong Rivers. The USAF supported these operations with tactical aircraft and B-52s flying air support and interdiction missions against troop concentrations, base areas, logistics complexes and transportation lines. In the second major winter operation. starting the first week of December. the Seventh Air Force launched another air campaign in the A Shau Valley, located near the Cambodian border some 30 miles southwest of Hue. Afterward, in January 1969. U.S. Marines entered the valley and found large amounts of materiel that the Communists had abandoned unable to move it during the sustained air attacks. After months of negotiations on January 18, 1969, representatives of the government of South Vietnam and of the National Liberation Front. the Communist political branch in South Vietnam joined the United States and North Vietnam in the Paris peace talks. While negotiations continued in France, the Communist forces in Vietnam launched their first offensive of the new year.
