In Loving Memory of ... SSGT. LAWRENCE WOODS.
*** A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery 2014.
*** Per FAG vol. Charles Reed - His awards included the following medals: Airborne, Combat Medic, Purple Heart, Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign.
*** On October 24, 1964, he was a passenger on a Provider Cargo Aircraft (C-123B) which departed from Na Trang, South Vietnam on an aerial resupply mission. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire, crashed and burned. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in me, your brother, sisters and those who knew you and loved you. You will live on because we remember you!
LAWRENCE WOODS - Army - SSGT - E6
Age: 39
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Mar 18, 1925
From: CLARKSVILLE, TN
Religion: CHURCH OF GOD
Marital Status: Married - Francis L. Woods, Lawrence S/Sgt. Oct. 24, 1964, Mrs. Frances L. Woods, wife, Clarksville, Tenn. Lisa C. Szymanski of Fort Myers, Florida, son Steven "Stevie" R. Woods of Clarksville, daughter Deborah A. Secriskey of Hermitage, Tennessee, sister Rozzellar Biniecki of Hammond, Indiana, sister Betty Jewel Tucker of Highland, Indiana, sister Ophelia Willoughby of Huntsville, Alabama and brother William Woods of Dyer, Indiana as well as six grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren...
Parents: Father, William P. Woods and Mother, Sally K. Woods, both from Hammond, Indiana.
****** "LW" was born on March 18, 1925, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He grew up on a farm in a family with four sisters and two brothers. He was the third oldest. When he was 15, he lied about his age to join the Army. A year later they discovered he was under age so they discharged him. Then when he turned 18, he rejoined. He married his neighbor, Francis and they had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The young family lived in several military cities but resided in Clarksville, Tennessee, when he started his tour of duty in Vietnam.
FAG contributor Charles Reed
SSGT - E6 - Army - Regular - Special Forces
His tour began on Oct 24, 1964
Casualty was on Oct 24, 1964
In Cambodia
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army of the United States
Grade at loss: E6
Rank: Staff Sergeant
ID No: 410643101
MOS: 94F4P: Hospital Food Service Specialist (Airborne Qual)
Unit: HHC, 5TH SF GROUP, US ARMY SPT CMD VIETNAM, MACV
CASUALTY DATA
Casualty Date: 10/24/1964
Age at Loss: 39
Location: Quang Duc Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body not recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Fixed Wing - Noncrew
Casualty Detail: Air loss or crash over land
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - NONCREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered - Status:MIA
Panel 01E - Line 68
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
On October 24, 1964, Special Forces SSgt. Lawrence Woods was a passenger on a Fairchild C123 "Provider" which departed Na Trang on an aerial resupply mission near the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia.
The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed.
The aircraft itself was completely destroyed by fire except for the tail section.
No parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft as it crashed.
Subsequent searches of the crash site resulted in the recovery or accounting of seven individuals on board the
aircraft, but Woods was not found.
Lawrence Woods is listed among the missing because his remains were never found.
Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods from Clarksville Tennessee was aboard his C-123 Provider aircraft when it was shot down on 24 October 1964 while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, Vietnam.
Also on board were Air Force service members,
Capt. Valmore W. Bourque
1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski
1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong
Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson
Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips
Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson
Army Pfc. Charles P. Sparks.
Military forces arrived on scene right away and recovered the previous seven but never found Staff Sgt. Woods so the 7 were laid to rest in 1964. In 2010, officials near the crash site unearthed a metal identification tag from the aircraft’s commander and also human remains that were confirmed to be those of Air Force Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods.
********************************************
Remains of MIA special forces soldier identified
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Sept. 20 2013 10:58 a.m. MDT
Updated: 5 hours ago
Lisa Szymanski spent years sleeping with a photo of her father under a pillow, hoping he would return home. Finally, Szymanski's mother ended the practice — and her father never came home.
Now, Szymanski and her brother know what happened to Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods almost 50 years after he packed up his duffel bag, reported to Fort Campbell and left for Vietnam. The military has found and identified Woods' remains near the site where his plane went down in Cambodia in 1964.
"This is really happening, and they really did find him after all these years," Szymanski told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Fort Myers, Fla.
Bill Costello, a spokesman for the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., which oversees the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, confirmed that officials contacted Szymanski. Officials are trying to work out a date to brief the family about the remains.
"Until that happens, Past Conflicts doesn't consider the case as positively identified," Costello said.
For his son, Steve Woods of Clarksville, Tenn., the news from the military thrilled him.
"This was a great day for me," said Woods, who also linked to a picture on his Facebook page of his father's name on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Lawrence Woods, a member of the 5th Special Forces Group, left his home in Clarksville, Tenn., in 1963. Steve Woods remembers playing on the front porch and seeing his father walking by in full uniform.
"He told me, 'I gotta go,'" Steve Woods said. "That was the last I had seen of him."
The deployment would be the last in a military career that started when Woods was 15 and lied about his age to join the Army in 1940. After being kicked out, Woods signed up again once he reached 18 and, except for a brief period, stayed with the military thereafter.
The family received letters from their father from Vietnam but didn't know exactly what he was doing or when he was coming home.
While in Vietnam, Lawrence Woods served as a cook and medic, sometimes flying resupply flights to troops. On Oct. 24, 1964, a Fairchild C-123 Provider took off from Nha Trang Air Base on the southwest coast of the country. The crew was set to resupply ground forces operating near the border of then-South Vietnam and Cambodia.
Enemy fire struck the plane near the resupply point at Bu Prang about 100 miles northeast of Saigon. The airplane exploded during the crash. Seven crew members from California, Colorado, Maine, New York and Texas were eventually found. Woods remained missing.
"They couldn't find my father's remains because he was in the back of the plane, and that's where the plane blew up," Szymanski said.
After receiving notice of the crash and presumed death, many family members hoped Lawrence Woods would one day come home, said Szymanski, who was 13 when her father deployed.
"We always felt that maybe he was a prisoner of war," Szymanski said.
Steve Woods collected all the photographs, letters, telegrams and memorabilia of his father's in the ensuing years and built a memorial featuring two flagpoles and small plaza on his front lawn for all the soldiers still missing from the Vietnam conflict.
"I built that for my dad, but I did not build it just for him," Steve Woods said.
When the news came that his remains had been identified, memories of the man they last saw five decades ago came flooding back for Szymanski and Woods — tales of how hard he worked in construction, his devotion to the military and his demeanor.
"Oh God, his laugh," Szymanski said. "He laughed a lot."
A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery. Steve Woods doesn't mind the delay and thinks it is appropriate his father be buried with the other crew from the plane. For now, Steve Woods and Szymanski are just glad to know how their father's story ended.
"The book of my dad's life will finally be closed," Steve Woods said.
***********************************************
March 12, 2014
AIRMAN MISSING FROM VIET NAM WAR ACCOUNTED FOR
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, were recently accounted for and
will be buried in a group burial ceremony. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods, 39, of Clarksville, Tenn., will be buried as part of group on March 21, at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. in a ceremony honoring the servicemen who were lost in an aircraft crash on Oct. 24, 1964.
Woods and seven other service members were aboard a C-123 Provider aircraft that
crashed when it was struck by enemy fire while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu
Prang, Vietnam. Also on board the aircraft we re Air Force service members Capt. Valmore W. Bourque, 1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski, 1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong, Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson, Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips, Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson and Army Pfc.
Charles P. Sparks. Shortly after the crash, U.S. for ces arrived at the site and recovered remains of seven of the crew members, but they could not locate Woods. The remains for the seven crew
members were individually identified and the men were laid to rest at that time.
********************************************
Find A Grave contributor meist has sponsored your memorial for Lawrence Woods.
Thank you Meist for your sponsorship...
~Eddieb
*********************************************
.
*** A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery 2014.
*** Per FAG vol. Charles Reed - His awards included the following medals: Airborne, Combat Medic, Purple Heart, Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign.
*** On October 24, 1964, he was a passenger on a Provider Cargo Aircraft (C-123B) which departed from Na Trang, South Vietnam on an aerial resupply mission. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire, crashed and burned. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in me, your brother, sisters and those who knew you and loved you. You will live on because we remember you!
LAWRENCE WOODS - Army - SSGT - E6
Age: 39
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Mar 18, 1925
From: CLARKSVILLE, TN
Religion: CHURCH OF GOD
Marital Status: Married - Francis L. Woods, Lawrence S/Sgt. Oct. 24, 1964, Mrs. Frances L. Woods, wife, Clarksville, Tenn. Lisa C. Szymanski of Fort Myers, Florida, son Steven "Stevie" R. Woods of Clarksville, daughter Deborah A. Secriskey of Hermitage, Tennessee, sister Rozzellar Biniecki of Hammond, Indiana, sister Betty Jewel Tucker of Highland, Indiana, sister Ophelia Willoughby of Huntsville, Alabama and brother William Woods of Dyer, Indiana as well as six grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren...
Parents: Father, William P. Woods and Mother, Sally K. Woods, both from Hammond, Indiana.
****** "LW" was born on March 18, 1925, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He grew up on a farm in a family with four sisters and two brothers. He was the third oldest. When he was 15, he lied about his age to join the Army. A year later they discovered he was under age so they discharged him. Then when he turned 18, he rejoined. He married his neighbor, Francis and they had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The young family lived in several military cities but resided in Clarksville, Tennessee, when he started his tour of duty in Vietnam.
FAG contributor Charles Reed
SSGT - E6 - Army - Regular - Special Forces
His tour began on Oct 24, 1964
Casualty was on Oct 24, 1964
In Cambodia
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army of the United States
Grade at loss: E6
Rank: Staff Sergeant
ID No: 410643101
MOS: 94F4P: Hospital Food Service Specialist (Airborne Qual)
Unit: HHC, 5TH SF GROUP, US ARMY SPT CMD VIETNAM, MACV
CASUALTY DATA
Casualty Date: 10/24/1964
Age at Loss: 39
Location: Quang Duc Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body not recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Fixed Wing - Noncrew
Casualty Detail: Air loss or crash over land
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - NONCREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered - Status:MIA
Panel 01E - Line 68
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
On October 24, 1964, Special Forces SSgt. Lawrence Woods was a passenger on a Fairchild C123 "Provider" which departed Na Trang on an aerial resupply mission near the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia.
The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed.
The aircraft itself was completely destroyed by fire except for the tail section.
No parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft as it crashed.
Subsequent searches of the crash site resulted in the recovery or accounting of seven individuals on board the
aircraft, but Woods was not found.
Lawrence Woods is listed among the missing because his remains were never found.
Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods from Clarksville Tennessee was aboard his C-123 Provider aircraft when it was shot down on 24 October 1964 while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, Vietnam.
Also on board were Air Force service members,
Capt. Valmore W. Bourque
1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski
1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong
Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson
Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips
Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson
Army Pfc. Charles P. Sparks.
Military forces arrived on scene right away and recovered the previous seven but never found Staff Sgt. Woods so the 7 were laid to rest in 1964. In 2010, officials near the crash site unearthed a metal identification tag from the aircraft’s commander and also human remains that were confirmed to be those of Air Force Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods.
********************************************
Remains of MIA special forces soldier identified
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Sept. 20 2013 10:58 a.m. MDT
Updated: 5 hours ago
Lisa Szymanski spent years sleeping with a photo of her father under a pillow, hoping he would return home. Finally, Szymanski's mother ended the practice — and her father never came home.
Now, Szymanski and her brother know what happened to Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods almost 50 years after he packed up his duffel bag, reported to Fort Campbell and left for Vietnam. The military has found and identified Woods' remains near the site where his plane went down in Cambodia in 1964.
"This is really happening, and they really did find him after all these years," Szymanski told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Fort Myers, Fla.
Bill Costello, a spokesman for the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., which oversees the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, confirmed that officials contacted Szymanski. Officials are trying to work out a date to brief the family about the remains.
"Until that happens, Past Conflicts doesn't consider the case as positively identified," Costello said.
For his son, Steve Woods of Clarksville, Tenn., the news from the military thrilled him.
"This was a great day for me," said Woods, who also linked to a picture on his Facebook page of his father's name on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Lawrence Woods, a member of the 5th Special Forces Group, left his home in Clarksville, Tenn., in 1963. Steve Woods remembers playing on the front porch and seeing his father walking by in full uniform.
"He told me, 'I gotta go,'" Steve Woods said. "That was the last I had seen of him."
The deployment would be the last in a military career that started when Woods was 15 and lied about his age to join the Army in 1940. After being kicked out, Woods signed up again once he reached 18 and, except for a brief period, stayed with the military thereafter.
The family received letters from their father from Vietnam but didn't know exactly what he was doing or when he was coming home.
While in Vietnam, Lawrence Woods served as a cook and medic, sometimes flying resupply flights to troops. On Oct. 24, 1964, a Fairchild C-123 Provider took off from Nha Trang Air Base on the southwest coast of the country. The crew was set to resupply ground forces operating near the border of then-South Vietnam and Cambodia.
Enemy fire struck the plane near the resupply point at Bu Prang about 100 miles northeast of Saigon. The airplane exploded during the crash. Seven crew members from California, Colorado, Maine, New York and Texas were eventually found. Woods remained missing.
"They couldn't find my father's remains because he was in the back of the plane, and that's where the plane blew up," Szymanski said.
After receiving notice of the crash and presumed death, many family members hoped Lawrence Woods would one day come home, said Szymanski, who was 13 when her father deployed.
"We always felt that maybe he was a prisoner of war," Szymanski said.
Steve Woods collected all the photographs, letters, telegrams and memorabilia of his father's in the ensuing years and built a memorial featuring two flagpoles and small plaza on his front lawn for all the soldiers still missing from the Vietnam conflict.
"I built that for my dad, but I did not build it just for him," Steve Woods said.
When the news came that his remains had been identified, memories of the man they last saw five decades ago came flooding back for Szymanski and Woods — tales of how hard he worked in construction, his devotion to the military and his demeanor.
"Oh God, his laugh," Szymanski said. "He laughed a lot."
A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery. Steve Woods doesn't mind the delay and thinks it is appropriate his father be buried with the other crew from the plane. For now, Steve Woods and Szymanski are just glad to know how their father's story ended.
"The book of my dad's life will finally be closed," Steve Woods said.
***********************************************
March 12, 2014
AIRMAN MISSING FROM VIET NAM WAR ACCOUNTED FOR
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, were recently accounted for and
will be buried in a group burial ceremony. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods, 39, of Clarksville, Tenn., will be buried as part of group on March 21, at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. in a ceremony honoring the servicemen who were lost in an aircraft crash on Oct. 24, 1964.
Woods and seven other service members were aboard a C-123 Provider aircraft that
crashed when it was struck by enemy fire while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu
Prang, Vietnam. Also on board the aircraft we re Air Force service members Capt. Valmore W. Bourque, 1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski, 1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong, Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson, Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips, Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson and Army Pfc.
Charles P. Sparks. Shortly after the crash, U.S. for ces arrived at the site and recovered remains of seven of the crew members, but they could not locate Woods. The remains for the seven crew
members were individually identified and the men were laid to rest at that time.
********************************************
Find A Grave contributor meist has sponsored your memorial for Lawrence Woods.
Thank you Meist for your sponsorship...
~Eddieb
*********************************************
.
In Loving Memory of ... SSGT. LAWRENCE WOODS.
*** A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery 2014.
*** Per FAG vol. Charles Reed - His awards included the following medals: Airborne, Combat Medic, Purple Heart, Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign.
*** On October 24, 1964, he was a passenger on a Provider Cargo Aircraft (C-123B) which departed from Na Trang, South Vietnam on an aerial resupply mission. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire, crashed and burned. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in me, your brother, sisters and those who knew you and loved you. You will live on because we remember you!
LAWRENCE WOODS - Army - SSGT - E6
Age: 39
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Mar 18, 1925
From: CLARKSVILLE, TN
Religion: CHURCH OF GOD
Marital Status: Married - Francis L. Woods, Lawrence S/Sgt. Oct. 24, 1964, Mrs. Frances L. Woods, wife, Clarksville, Tenn. Lisa C. Szymanski of Fort Myers, Florida, son Steven "Stevie" R. Woods of Clarksville, daughter Deborah A. Secriskey of Hermitage, Tennessee, sister Rozzellar Biniecki of Hammond, Indiana, sister Betty Jewel Tucker of Highland, Indiana, sister Ophelia Willoughby of Huntsville, Alabama and brother William Woods of Dyer, Indiana as well as six grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren...
Parents: Father, William P. Woods and Mother, Sally K. Woods, both from Hammond, Indiana.
****** "LW" was born on March 18, 1925, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He grew up on a farm in a family with four sisters and two brothers. He was the third oldest. When he was 15, he lied about his age to join the Army. A year later they discovered he was under age so they discharged him. Then when he turned 18, he rejoined. He married his neighbor, Francis and they had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The young family lived in several military cities but resided in Clarksville, Tennessee, when he started his tour of duty in Vietnam.
FAG contributor Charles Reed
SSGT - E6 - Army - Regular - Special Forces
His tour began on Oct 24, 1964
Casualty was on Oct 24, 1964
In Cambodia
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army of the United States
Grade at loss: E6
Rank: Staff Sergeant
ID No: 410643101
MOS: 94F4P: Hospital Food Service Specialist (Airborne Qual)
Unit: HHC, 5TH SF GROUP, US ARMY SPT CMD VIETNAM, MACV
CASUALTY DATA
Casualty Date: 10/24/1964
Age at Loss: 39
Location: Quang Duc Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body not recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Fixed Wing - Noncrew
Casualty Detail: Air loss or crash over land
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - NONCREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered - Status:MIA
Panel 01E - Line 68
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
On October 24, 1964, Special Forces SSgt. Lawrence Woods was a passenger on a Fairchild C123 "Provider" which departed Na Trang on an aerial resupply mission near the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia.
The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed.
The aircraft itself was completely destroyed by fire except for the tail section.
No parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft as it crashed.
Subsequent searches of the crash site resulted in the recovery or accounting of seven individuals on board the
aircraft, but Woods was not found.
Lawrence Woods is listed among the missing because his remains were never found.
Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods from Clarksville Tennessee was aboard his C-123 Provider aircraft when it was shot down on 24 October 1964 while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, Vietnam.
Also on board were Air Force service members,
Capt. Valmore W. Bourque
1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski
1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong
Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson
Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips
Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson
Army Pfc. Charles P. Sparks.
Military forces arrived on scene right away and recovered the previous seven but never found Staff Sgt. Woods so the 7 were laid to rest in 1964. In 2010, officials near the crash site unearthed a metal identification tag from the aircraft’s commander and also human remains that were confirmed to be those of Air Force Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods.
********************************************
Remains of MIA special forces soldier identified
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Sept. 20 2013 10:58 a.m. MDT
Updated: 5 hours ago
Lisa Szymanski spent years sleeping with a photo of her father under a pillow, hoping he would return home. Finally, Szymanski's mother ended the practice — and her father never came home.
Now, Szymanski and her brother know what happened to Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods almost 50 years after he packed up his duffel bag, reported to Fort Campbell and left for Vietnam. The military has found and identified Woods' remains near the site where his plane went down in Cambodia in 1964.
"This is really happening, and they really did find him after all these years," Szymanski told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Fort Myers, Fla.
Bill Costello, a spokesman for the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., which oversees the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, confirmed that officials contacted Szymanski. Officials are trying to work out a date to brief the family about the remains.
"Until that happens, Past Conflicts doesn't consider the case as positively identified," Costello said.
For his son, Steve Woods of Clarksville, Tenn., the news from the military thrilled him.
"This was a great day for me," said Woods, who also linked to a picture on his Facebook page of his father's name on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Lawrence Woods, a member of the 5th Special Forces Group, left his home in Clarksville, Tenn., in 1963. Steve Woods remembers playing on the front porch and seeing his father walking by in full uniform.
"He told me, 'I gotta go,'" Steve Woods said. "That was the last I had seen of him."
The deployment would be the last in a military career that started when Woods was 15 and lied about his age to join the Army in 1940. After being kicked out, Woods signed up again once he reached 18 and, except for a brief period, stayed with the military thereafter.
The family received letters from their father from Vietnam but didn't know exactly what he was doing or when he was coming home.
While in Vietnam, Lawrence Woods served as a cook and medic, sometimes flying resupply flights to troops. On Oct. 24, 1964, a Fairchild C-123 Provider took off from Nha Trang Air Base on the southwest coast of the country. The crew was set to resupply ground forces operating near the border of then-South Vietnam and Cambodia.
Enemy fire struck the plane near the resupply point at Bu Prang about 100 miles northeast of Saigon. The airplane exploded during the crash. Seven crew members from California, Colorado, Maine, New York and Texas were eventually found. Woods remained missing.
"They couldn't find my father's remains because he was in the back of the plane, and that's where the plane blew up," Szymanski said.
After receiving notice of the crash and presumed death, many family members hoped Lawrence Woods would one day come home, said Szymanski, who was 13 when her father deployed.
"We always felt that maybe he was a prisoner of war," Szymanski said.
Steve Woods collected all the photographs, letters, telegrams and memorabilia of his father's in the ensuing years and built a memorial featuring two flagpoles and small plaza on his front lawn for all the soldiers still missing from the Vietnam conflict.
"I built that for my dad, but I did not build it just for him," Steve Woods said.
When the news came that his remains had been identified, memories of the man they last saw five decades ago came flooding back for Szymanski and Woods — tales of how hard he worked in construction, his devotion to the military and his demeanor.
"Oh God, his laugh," Szymanski said. "He laughed a lot."
A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery. Steve Woods doesn't mind the delay and thinks it is appropriate his father be buried with the other crew from the plane. For now, Steve Woods and Szymanski are just glad to know how their father's story ended.
"The book of my dad's life will finally be closed," Steve Woods said.
***********************************************
March 12, 2014
AIRMAN MISSING FROM VIET NAM WAR ACCOUNTED FOR
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, were recently accounted for and
will be buried in a group burial ceremony. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods, 39, of Clarksville, Tenn., will be buried as part of group on March 21, at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. in a ceremony honoring the servicemen who were lost in an aircraft crash on Oct. 24, 1964.
Woods and seven other service members were aboard a C-123 Provider aircraft that
crashed when it was struck by enemy fire while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu
Prang, Vietnam. Also on board the aircraft we re Air Force service members Capt. Valmore W. Bourque, 1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski, 1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong, Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson, Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips, Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson and Army Pfc.
Charles P. Sparks. Shortly after the crash, U.S. for ces arrived at the site and recovered remains of seven of the crew members, but they could not locate Woods. The remains for the seven crew
members were individually identified and the men were laid to rest at that time.
********************************************
Find A Grave contributor meist has sponsored your memorial for Lawrence Woods.
Thank you Meist for your sponsorship...
~Eddieb
*********************************************
.
*** A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery 2014.
*** Per FAG vol. Charles Reed - His awards included the following medals: Airborne, Combat Medic, Purple Heart, Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign.
*** On October 24, 1964, he was a passenger on a Provider Cargo Aircraft (C-123B) which departed from Na Trang, South Vietnam on an aerial resupply mission. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire, crashed and burned. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in me, your brother, sisters and those who knew you and loved you. You will live on because we remember you!
LAWRENCE WOODS - Army - SSGT - E6
Age: 39
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Mar 18, 1925
From: CLARKSVILLE, TN
Religion: CHURCH OF GOD
Marital Status: Married - Francis L. Woods, Lawrence S/Sgt. Oct. 24, 1964, Mrs. Frances L. Woods, wife, Clarksville, Tenn. Lisa C. Szymanski of Fort Myers, Florida, son Steven "Stevie" R. Woods of Clarksville, daughter Deborah A. Secriskey of Hermitage, Tennessee, sister Rozzellar Biniecki of Hammond, Indiana, sister Betty Jewel Tucker of Highland, Indiana, sister Ophelia Willoughby of Huntsville, Alabama and brother William Woods of Dyer, Indiana as well as six grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren...
Parents: Father, William P. Woods and Mother, Sally K. Woods, both from Hammond, Indiana.
****** "LW" was born on March 18, 1925, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He grew up on a farm in a family with four sisters and two brothers. He was the third oldest. When he was 15, he lied about his age to join the Army. A year later they discovered he was under age so they discharged him. Then when he turned 18, he rejoined. He married his neighbor, Francis and they had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The young family lived in several military cities but resided in Clarksville, Tennessee, when he started his tour of duty in Vietnam.
FAG contributor Charles Reed
SSGT - E6 - Army - Regular - Special Forces
His tour began on Oct 24, 1964
Casualty was on Oct 24, 1964
In Cambodia
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army of the United States
Grade at loss: E6
Rank: Staff Sergeant
ID No: 410643101
MOS: 94F4P: Hospital Food Service Specialist (Airborne Qual)
Unit: HHC, 5TH SF GROUP, US ARMY SPT CMD VIETNAM, MACV
CASUALTY DATA
Casualty Date: 10/24/1964
Age at Loss: 39
Location: Quang Duc Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body not recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Fixed Wing - Noncrew
Casualty Detail: Air loss or crash over land
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - NONCREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered - Status:MIA
Panel 01E - Line 68
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
On October 24, 1964, Special Forces SSgt. Lawrence Woods was a passenger on a Fairchild C123 "Provider" which departed Na Trang on an aerial resupply mission near the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia.
The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed.
The aircraft itself was completely destroyed by fire except for the tail section.
No parachutes were seen to leave the aircraft as it crashed.
Subsequent searches of the crash site resulted in the recovery or accounting of seven individuals on board the
aircraft, but Woods was not found.
Lawrence Woods is listed among the missing because his remains were never found.
Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods from Clarksville Tennessee was aboard his C-123 Provider aircraft when it was shot down on 24 October 1964 while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, Vietnam.
Also on board were Air Force service members,
Capt. Valmore W. Bourque
1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski
1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong
Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson
Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips
Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson
Army Pfc. Charles P. Sparks.
Military forces arrived on scene right away and recovered the previous seven but never found Staff Sgt. Woods so the 7 were laid to rest in 1964. In 2010, officials near the crash site unearthed a metal identification tag from the aircraft’s commander and also human remains that were confirmed to be those of Air Force Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods.
********************************************
Remains of MIA special forces soldier identified
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Sept. 20 2013 10:58 a.m. MDT
Updated: 5 hours ago
Lisa Szymanski spent years sleeping with a photo of her father under a pillow, hoping he would return home. Finally, Szymanski's mother ended the practice — and her father never came home.
Now, Szymanski and her brother know what happened to Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods almost 50 years after he packed up his duffel bag, reported to Fort Campbell and left for Vietnam. The military has found and identified Woods' remains near the site where his plane went down in Cambodia in 1964.
"This is really happening, and they really did find him after all these years," Szymanski told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Fort Myers, Fla.
Bill Costello, a spokesman for the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., which oversees the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, confirmed that officials contacted Szymanski. Officials are trying to work out a date to brief the family about the remains.
"Until that happens, Past Conflicts doesn't consider the case as positively identified," Costello said.
For his son, Steve Woods of Clarksville, Tenn., the news from the military thrilled him.
"This was a great day for me," said Woods, who also linked to a picture on his Facebook page of his father's name on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Lawrence Woods, a member of the 5th Special Forces Group, left his home in Clarksville, Tenn., in 1963. Steve Woods remembers playing on the front porch and seeing his father walking by in full uniform.
"He told me, 'I gotta go,'" Steve Woods said. "That was the last I had seen of him."
The deployment would be the last in a military career that started when Woods was 15 and lied about his age to join the Army in 1940. After being kicked out, Woods signed up again once he reached 18 and, except for a brief period, stayed with the military thereafter.
The family received letters from their father from Vietnam but didn't know exactly what he was doing or when he was coming home.
While in Vietnam, Lawrence Woods served as a cook and medic, sometimes flying resupply flights to troops. On Oct. 24, 1964, a Fairchild C-123 Provider took off from Nha Trang Air Base on the southwest coast of the country. The crew was set to resupply ground forces operating near the border of then-South Vietnam and Cambodia.
Enemy fire struck the plane near the resupply point at Bu Prang about 100 miles northeast of Saigon. The airplane exploded during the crash. Seven crew members from California, Colorado, Maine, New York and Texas were eventually found. Woods remained missing.
"They couldn't find my father's remains because he was in the back of the plane, and that's where the plane blew up," Szymanski said.
After receiving notice of the crash and presumed death, many family members hoped Lawrence Woods would one day come home, said Szymanski, who was 13 when her father deployed.
"We always felt that maybe he was a prisoner of war," Szymanski said.
Steve Woods collected all the photographs, letters, telegrams and memorabilia of his father's in the ensuing years and built a memorial featuring two flagpoles and small plaza on his front lawn for all the soldiers still missing from the Vietnam conflict.
"I built that for my dad, but I did not build it just for him," Steve Woods said.
When the news came that his remains had been identified, memories of the man they last saw five decades ago came flooding back for Szymanski and Woods — tales of how hard he worked in construction, his devotion to the military and his demeanor.
"Oh God, his laugh," Szymanski said. "He laughed a lot."
A funeral for Lawrence Woods is set for the spring at Arlington National Cemetery. Steve Woods doesn't mind the delay and thinks it is appropriate his father be buried with the other crew from the plane. For now, Steve Woods and Szymanski are just glad to know how their father's story ended.
"The book of my dad's life will finally be closed," Steve Woods said.
***********************************************
March 12, 2014
AIRMAN MISSING FROM VIET NAM WAR ACCOUNTED FOR
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, were recently accounted for and
will be buried in a group burial ceremony. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Woods, 39, of Clarksville, Tenn., will be buried as part of group on March 21, at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. in a ceremony honoring the servicemen who were lost in an aircraft crash on Oct. 24, 1964.
Woods and seven other service members were aboard a C-123 Provider aircraft that
crashed when it was struck by enemy fire while resupplying the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu
Prang, Vietnam. Also on board the aircraft we re Air Force service members Capt. Valmore W. Bourque, 1st Lt. Edward J. Krukowiski, 1st Lt. Robert G. Armstrong, Staff Sgt. Ernest J. Halvorson, Staff Sgt. Theodore B. Phillips, Airman 1st Class Eugene Richardson and Army Pfc.
Charles P. Sparks. Shortly after the crash, U.S. for ces arrived at the site and recovered remains of seven of the crew members, but they could not locate Woods. The remains for the seven crew
members were individually identified and the men were laid to rest at that time.
********************************************
Find A Grave contributor meist has sponsored your memorial for Lawrence Woods.
Thank you Meist for your sponsorship...
~Eddieb
*********************************************
.
