Major General Patrick W. Powers, 1978
Patrick W. Powers
Major General, U.S. Army
1924-1989
Biography
August 1984 Biography found in the files of Patrick W. Powers, and probably written by him.
Images of these five original biography pages are posted below.
These are followed by corrections to these biography files,
posted as searchable text in the same type of format.
These files and photographs are the property of Jaye Powers and Laura Powers.
These files and photographs are not to be used for any commercial purposes.
We share these files and photos with the aim of providing accurate information to researchers and parties interested
in the U.S. Army career of Patrick W. Powers, Pershing missile systems history, the Cold War era after World War II,
the Vietnam War, U.S. Army artillery, and other related topics.
See photos from the U.S. Army career of Patrick W. Powers, 1945-1978,
including his important involvment in the Pershing missile systems, at the link below.
Patrick Powers main page with photos
Patrick W. Powers
Major General, U.S. Army
1924-1989
1984 Biography - with a few corrections
August 1984 Biography found in the files of Patrick W. Powers, and probably written by him.
Corrections added by Jaye Powers and Laura Powers in January 2022, along with writing out the biography in searchable text.
Additional content and photos added in January 2022.
These files are the property of Jaye Powers and Laura Powers.
We share these files and photos with the aim of providing accurate information to researchers and parties interested
in the U.S. Army career of Patrick W. Powers, Pershing missile systems history, the Cold War era after World War II,
the Vietnam War, U.S. Army artillery, and other related topics.
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BIOGRAPHY OF PATRICK W. POWERS Major General Patrick W. Powers was born in Honolulu, HI, 21 March 1924. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1942 and graduated as a second lieutenant of field artillery in June 1945. He received an M.S. in engineering from the University of Southern California in 1950. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College (1958) and the Naval War College (1965). He has also completed the Basic Artillery Course and the Artillery Advanced Course, both at Fort Sill, OK. After he was commissioned, MG Powers served with the 404th Field Artillery Battalion, Far East Command (FECOM), in the Philippines, as a battery executive officer and later as a battery commander through August 1946. From then until April 1947, MG Powers served with the 331st Field Artillery Battalion, FECOM, successively as a battery commander and assistant operations officer and, later, as aide-de-camp to the Commanding General, Philippine Ground Forces Command. He later became an assistant S-3 and special services officer for the 2d Major Port, FECOM, in Yokohama, Japan. Following two years of graduate work at the University of Southern California, MG Powers was assigned as an instructor of aero propulsion and guided missile tactics at Fort Bliss, TX. From August 1953 to June 1954, he attended the Artillery Advanced Course at Fort Sill, OK. He served with the 2d Guided Missile Group, Fort Bliss, TX, from July 1954 to February 1955 as a battery commander in the 3rd Guided Missile Battalion and as Chief, Technical Assistance Team, HQ, 2d Guided Missile Group (SSM), from March 1955 to July 1957, in the CORPORAL guided missile program. Major General Powers attended the Command and General Staff College from August 1957 to June 1958. Later he was assigned as Staff Officer, Missile and Space Division, Office of the Chief, Research and Development, Department of the Army, where he served from November 1958 to April 1961. From May 1961 to June 1962, Major General Powers served as Executive Officer, G3, HQ, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea. Following this assignment, he returned to the United States where he assumed command and activated the first PERSHING Missile Battalion, 2d Battalion, 44th Artillery, at Fort Sill, OK, from September 1962 until December 1963. From December 1963 to June 1964, he was assigned as Operations Officer and Executive Officer of the 1st Field Artillery Missile Brigade at Fort Sill, OK. Major General Powers attended the Naval War College from July 1964 to June 1965, after which he was assigned to the U.S. Army Element of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), located near Paris, France. He was Ballistic Missile Staff Officer with SHAPE until June 1967 when he became Commanding Officer of the 56th Artillery Group, U.S. Army Europe. This Group was comprised of three PERSHING missile battalions. He commanded this PERSHING Missile Group until assigned to the Republic of Vietnam in December 1968. He served in various capacities in the Republic of Vietnam from the end of 1968 to the fall of 1970 in a total of six campaigns. He was Secretary, Joint Staff, HQ Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) from December 1968 to June 1969. In January 1970 he returned to Vietnam after a period of hospitalization and was assigned as Commander, 1st Infantry Division Artillery, where he served until April 1970. Upon rotation to CONUS of the "Big Red One," he became Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Operations, HQ, U.S. Army Vietnam. This was followed by his last assignment with the combat forces RVN as Chief of Staff, HQ, I Field Force, until his return to Germany in 1970. In Germany from September 1970 to December 1972, Major General Powers was Commanding General, 56th Field Artillery Brigade, comprised of three PERSHING missile battalions and one infantry battalion. After leaving Germany, Major General Powers served on the Army General Staff in Washington as Director of the PÉRSHING II Special Task Force, under the Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development, DA, from January 1973 to August 1973. Following this assignment, he became Commander of the U.S. Army Readiness Region II, Fort Dix, N.J., supporting National Guard and USAR units in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He was the Commander of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command with headquarters at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, from September 1975 to October 1978. He retired from active duty on 1 November 1978. MG Powers currently is the President of T&E International, Inc., an engineering consulting firm he established in 1979 in Bel Air, Maryland. He has been involved with a variety of programs with U.S. industry and Government, as well as with international clients. In the area of test programs, he has been associated with the COPPERHEAD 155mm laser-guided projectile, the PERSHING II missile system, an air defense/anti-tank missile, the U.S. Army Light Armored Vehicle Program, and the target acquisition and designation system and pilot night vision system for the advanced attack helicopter. In the ammunition area, he supervised the technical portion of the successful GOCO proposal for the Army Ammunition Plant, Hawthorne, Nevada, and is currently engaged in establishing tank ammunition production acceptance testing facilities in Turkey and Pakistan. Other project areas included an automated, simulated test facility called MAINSITE, a battlefield reconnaissance vehicle, the DIVAD gun, an antitank system and aspects of theater nuclear force survivability for the PERSHING missile system. Projects in the proposal stage cover overseas training ranges, ammunition storage facilities, operational tests for the COPPERHEAD system with Allied forces and technical support for military chemical programs. T&E International has project interests in Italy, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and Taiwan. MG Powers has written numerous magazine and encyclopedia articles on military subjects, many of which deal with guided missiles. His book, A Guide to National Defense, has been used extensively as a reference work and has been part of the curriculum at the National War College. He has been involved with R&D and operational aspects of guided missiles, as well as with space developments, especially communications satellite systems. His published design of a miniature supersonic wind tunnel in 1952 was one of the pioneer developments in supersonic wind tunnel aerodynamics in this country and Europe. It has been used by university students in engineering courses and by defense institutes and laboratories toward an increased knowledge of the missile and space fields. MG Powers' awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Air Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters. MG Powers and his wife, Doris, who is also an engineer, have three children, Robert Warren, Patricia Joanne, and Laura Suzanne.
PERSONAL DATA Date and place of birth: 21 March 1924, Honolulu, Hawaii Parents: Father: Patrick Francis Powers (Deceased) (Colonel, USA, Ret.), Marriage Date: 12 November 1950 Wife: The Former Doris Mildred Hurt Children: Robert Warren, Patricia Joanne (Jaye), and Laura Suzanne Official Home Address: 6 McGregor Way Bel Air, Maryland 21014 USA (in 1984) CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PROMOTIONS CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ASSIGNMENTS PUBLICATIONS MEDALS AND AWARDS
Additional Information about Patrick W. Powers:
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Most photos and documents are from the personal files of Patrick W. Powers (1924-1989).
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