MEMORIAL ARTICLE Published Assembly Oct '89 Alvyn Lofton Woods, Jr.  No. 16100  Class of 1946  Died 8 August 1946 at Williams Field, Arizona, aged 21 years. Interment: Saint Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Paulina, LA

  THE CLASS OF 1946 graduated on 4 June. After graduation leave, half of the newly commissioned second lieutenants, US Army Air Corps, reported on 20 July to Williams Field near Mesa, Arizona, for fighter transition training. One of these was Al Woods. It was an exciting time for Al. Not only was he finally realizing his lifelong ambition of becoming a fighter pilot, but he was busy making plans to be married to his fiancée, Miss Betty Lindsey, of Fort Worth, Texas, who was in Arizona seeing to the final details. The wedding was scheduled for 14 August 1946. On 8 August, Al's father telephoned Williams Field to discuss the wedding plans with Al. When the call was completed to Williams, instead of Al, it was his commanding officer on the line. He informed Al's father that Al had died just two hours previously as a result of injuries suffered when his P-51 crashed as he was preparing for a landing. Thus, 69 days after graduation, Alvyn L. Woods, Jr. became the first of our class to join the Long Gray Line.

  Al was born on 8 June 1925 at Lutcher, Louisiana, midway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Lutcher was small town, remaining after the Lutcher and Moore lumber company left the area after cutting out the local cypress trees. Al began to show his exceptional talents at an early age, He started school at age four and graduated from Lutcher High School at age 14. During his school years, Al exhibited a rare musical gift. At age 11, he played the saxophone and clarinet in the school band. His mastery of musical instruments is illustrated by in incident with his sister, who was taking accordion lessons 40 miles from home in New Orleans. It was the middle of the depression, so only one member of the family could travel to New Orleans for the lessons. One morning Al's mother heard beautiful accordion music coming from Al's bedroom and thought his sister was finally progressing in her studies. To her surprise, she found it was Al playing his sister's accordion. But, music wasn't Al's first love. It was aviation. All during grade and high school, Al's consuming interest was in flying. He spent his meager spare money on model airplanes; building and flying them. Even with the inefficient gasoline engines used in the 30's and early 40's to power model planes, Al managed to build a gasoline-powered model. His first job during summers in high school was working in his father's Spanish moss gin. The highlight of this job was that one moss collection route passed by a dirt landing strip near New Orleans. Al would spend his entire week's pay to fly with the barnstormers who operated there. It was this fierce interest in flying that first sparked Al's desire to go to West Point. He realized that he could combine flying with a lifetime career in the service of his country. So, after he graduated from high school in 1940, he spent the next three years further preparing himself to get into West Point. He stayed an extra year at Lutcher High taking advanced work, then he spent a year at Georgia Military Academy, where he excelled in the military part of the curriculum. Al then spent a year at Millard's Prep School to further his goal of getting into the Academy. This goal was reached when he entered on 1 July 1943.

  As a cadet, Al was almost derailed by plebe math, but he managed to squeak through, and he was off and running towards his goal of becoming an aviator. His superb athletic ability provided him with a vehicle to make his years on the Hudson as enjoyable as they could be. He was a Corps Squad gymnast each year, with the parallel bars being his specialty. His classmates were universal in their assessment of Al as someone to look up to, possessing high ideals, the first to extend himself to help someone, an all-around fine southern gentleman. When he was selected for Air Corps training, his ultimate goal was in sight. His innate ability, superb athleticism and motivation translated into assignment to fighter training upon graduation.

 After graduation leave, Al reported to Williams Field, Arizona where he took fighter transition in the P-51 Mustang. Again Al's superb coordination, athletic ability and desire came to the fore, and he was one of the first in the class to solo the P-51. It was this solo ride, that resulted in a stall upon landing and the crash that cost Al his life. His classmates at Williams learned of Al's death, at the Officer's Club at lunch that 8th day of August 1946. This fateful news filtered out to Ajo, Enid, Benning, Knox, and Sill, and as each member of the Class of 1946 learned that the first of us had lost his life, we individually had a moment of contemplation in memory of Al, and in reflection upon the career we had chosen. Who knows what wondrous things Al could have accomplished had not the vagaries of fate ended his career on that fateful day in August 1946?

Personal Eulogy

 
 
 
 

deceased