Major Tommy Powers
Royal Canadian Regiment

Lieutenant-Colonel Crowe and his party walked right into the enemy area. The Battalion Commander, a corporal and two privates were some distance ahead of the rest of the party when the Germans opened fire. Calling out “RCR,” Lieutenant-Colonel Crowe pressed on hoping to reach his troops. An enemy machine gun then opened fire and wounded him. He proceeded, however, to engage the enemy with a signaller’s rifle, but was killed by another enemy bullet.

 (Maj. T.M. Powers, “The RCR in Sicily,” 79)

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick on 28 October 1911, Thomas Millidge Powers graduated from RMC in 1933 and served in the RCMP marine section until September 1939, when he enlisted in the army. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the RCR, rising to the rank of major. Known in the battalion as “Pappy Powers,” he led the first company to land in Sicily on 10 July 1943.

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