Captain Akers was a fighter pilot on a F-80C Shooting Star fighter-interceptor with Headquarters Squadron, 8th Fighter Bomber Wing, U.S. Air Force. On 4 October 1951, during a weapons training flight, his aircraft crashed into the ocean inverted about 10 miles west of Pyongtaek Airfield (K-6), South Korea. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

For his leadership and valor, Captain Akers was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal with 7 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.