When John A. Powers was born on July 3, 1924, in Peoria, Illinois, his father, George, was 31 and his mother, Ruth, was 30. He had five brothers and four sisters. He entered the military service in Illinois. He served in the U.S. Army during the Normandy Invasion of World War II as a Private in A Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He died on June 5, 1994 and is now buried in Swan Lake Memory Gardens, Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois, USA.