US Navy Chief Aviation Machinist Mate William "Billy" Alpha Powers was born in Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana on March 13, 1918, the son of William Louis Powers (1886-1961) and Elda Lena Yount (1888-1979). His parents were both from Iowa and married there in 1910 in Franklin, Linn County, Iowa where his father was a clerk at the post office. Ten years later, his father was a salesman for a motor company in Bozeman, Montana. By 1930, the family had relocated to Sheridan, Wyoming where his father became a manager of a retail washing machine company. In 1940, his father may have been retired but his mother was working as a teacher for the government's WPA program.
His son Billy would pick different direction than his father by enlisting in the US Navy on April 15, 1934. On April 16, 1941, he was stationed in Pensacola when he reenlisted for another hitch. It was here that he met a young Pensacola girl by the name of Miss Mildred Marie May (1918-1959). She was the daughter of a local house carpenter, Herman May (1891-1947) and Warren Caldwell (1897-1938). The couple were married in Pensacola in 1940 with one child resulting from the union, Miss Elda Marie Powers (1941-).
After Pearl Harbor, Billy was sent to sea aboard the most famous of America's fleet carriers, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a Chief Aviation Machinist Mate. Many in Washington felt that "with the fate of the Enterprise goes the fate of the war effort!" And so it went on October 26, 1944, that the Japanese had been unable to defeat the Americans on Guadalcanal after three months of bitter fighting. Growing desperate they concocted a plan that entailed a coordinated land-based and naval attack for late October 1942. The plan first called for a diversionary ground attack against Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. Once captured a huge Japanese naval force would fall upon any U.S. warships that came to the Marine's rescue. The enemy fleet would include four carriers along with a combined force of 200 aircraft, surrounded by four battleships, eight heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 28 destroyers.
As the enemy fleet was waiting for their plan to develop, Admiral Bull Halsey's task force was sailing on October 26, 1942, for the Santa Cruz Islands in search for the Japanese. With him were the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet along with one battleship, three heavy and three light cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Suddenly, Halsey's patrol planes found the Japanese fleet causing Halsey to launch a full air strike against them. With the battle of Santa Cruz now fully engaged, enemy air strikes began arriving in full force to attack the Enterprise and Hornet. Sailing next to the Enterprise was the destroyer USS Smith to protect her during the battle with their antiaircraft fire. In the midst of the fight, Japanese bombers struck the carrier with two bombs killing 44 sailors and wounding 75 others. Twenty minutes later sixteen Japanese torpedo planes again attacked the Enterprise. One was set on fire by an American Wildcat fighter and the enemy pilot tried to crash into the Enterprise but struck the destroyer USS Smith instead. The destroyer's forecastle burst into flames from the planes spraying aviation fuel. In the middle of the conflagration, the burning plane's torpedo subsequently exploded causing further death and destruction. It was there that Pensacolian Robert Floyd Wise was killed by the explosion aboard the Smith.
At the time Wise was dying on the USS Smith, Chief Billy Powers was doing the same on the Enterprise. Whereas Wise was never recovered, the remains of Chief Powers was collected and buried at sea along with his comrades on October 27.
During the fight, the Navy lost the carrier "Hornet" plus the destroyer USS Porter but was only able to heavily damage two of the four enemy carriers. Having failed to sink a single Japanese ship, they were consoled with the fact that the two damaged Japanese carriers were now out of action for almost a year. However, when the smoke cleared the US was left with only the damaged Enterprise as America's only aircraft carrier afloat in the area. But the Japanese had lost 97 aircraft versus 81 for the US and 148 enemy aircrewmen compared with 24 US. Fortunately, the Enterprise was able to land many of the Hornets planes and crews thus leaving them to fight another day. So, together with Japan's failure to capture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, the battle became an American strategic victory.
Back home, Mildred was notified that Billy had been killed and had been buried at sea. She would never remarry after Billy's death and dedicated her life to raising their daughter. Upon her premature death on August 29, 1958, she was buried in Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
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