THE WALL OF FACES

William is buried at Restland Cemetery, Gatesville, Coryell County,TX. DFC AM PH

If I should die, and leave you here awhile, be not like others, sore undone, who keep long vigils by the silent dust, and weep...for MY sake, turn again to life, and smile...Nerving thy heart, and trembling hand to do something to comfort other hearts than thine...Complete these dear, unfinished tasks of mine...and I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

I recently visited the Memorial for war dead at my Alma Mater, Texas Christian University. Elmo's name is on the plaque along with that of my brother Terry and 16 other brave Horned Frogs. I was an ROTC graduate as was Elmo and I am proud to be associated with these heroes through our military Training at TCU. Thank you Elmo for your service and thank you Charley for your moving tribute to your brother.

Captain William Elmo Powell
 
10 December 1942
17 August 1968
 
Captain William Elmo Powell, “Elmo” to all who knew him, was born December 10, 1942, the 2nd son of Charles C. and Nancy Lou (Tincy) Powell of Gatesville. Elmo spent his childhood and formative years in Gatesville with his family, which also included his older brother Charley, where he attended Gatesville schools. He graduated in 1961 from Gatesville High School, where he was also a member of the 1960 regional champion Gatesville Hornets football team, considered at the time to be one of Gatesville’s best teams ever. “Mo” then followed his brother, as well as upholding a longstanding family tradition dating back to his grandmother, and attended Texas Christian University (TCU) in Ft. Worth, Texas. At TCU he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity as well as the Air Force ROTC program, where he first developed his love of flying. Upon his graduation from TCU in 1965, Mo received his Air Force commission. He was awarded his pilot’s wings at Laredo Air Force Base and was assigned to the 7th Air Force’s famed 555th Fighter Squadron stationed out of Udorn Air Base in Thailand where he flew the F-4D Phantom. The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2), and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission type). The F-4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at both low and high altitudes. Capt. Powell was the pilot of an F-4D assigned a combat mission over North Vietnam on August 17, 1968. His Bombardier/Navigator on the flight was Capt. Arthur T. (Art) Hoffson.
 
During the mission, the aircraft was struck by enemy fire and the crew was forced to eject from the plane. Hoffson, as backseater, ejected first, according to procedure, and was captured by the Vietnamese. The fate of Capt. Powell was uncertain. He was declared Missing in Action. When Arthur T. Hoffson was released with 590 other Americans in Operation Homecoming in the spring of 1973, Powell was not with him. The Vietnamese denied any knowledge of Capt. William E. Powell. However, shortly after his return home, Capt. Hoffson visited the Powell family in Gatesville. He told them that during the last minutes of the flight, shortly after Elmo had told him to eject from the aircraft, he had been unable to reach him via radio and believed that he may have been incapacitated, perhaps by enemy ground fire. After ejection and while parachuting to the ground under heavy enemy fire, Hoffson had witnessed a horrific explosion as the wounded aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain. He was certain that Elmo had been unable to eject safely and had gone down with the plane
 
In late 1985, the Vietnamese "discovered" and returned to U.S. control the remains of Capt. William Elmo Powell. Two years later, the U.S. announced that the identity of these remains had been authenticated and they were turned over to the Powell family for burial. That burial took place, with full military honors including an Air Force fly-over in the missing man formation, on a beautiful spring day, April 23, 1988, at Restland Cemetery in Gatesville. Elmo Powell was buried beside his parents, longtime pillars of the Gatesville community, both of whom had died within weeks of one another the preceding fall. One of the speakers at that moving service was Art Hoffson, Elmo’s longtime friend and co-pilot who said, “ When I think of Elmo, as I have often done these past few years, I think of the very best that this country has ever had to offer. He was a leader by action, not words. He had courage in the face of danger…always determined to be a son that Texas and the nation could be proud of.”