The Honor Is All His After 60-year wait, vet has Bronze Star on chest by Sara Withee HOPEDALE - Having fought for his country and survived one of the deadliest of battles, William Wood returned home from World War II a hero, with his commander nominating him for a prestigious Bronze Star. The then-21 year old Hopedale native never followed up on the commander's nomination and the years turned into decades. Sixty years later, the 81-year-old Wood finally gets to wear the medal for the first time Monday, as he takes center stage in the hometown's Memorial Day festivities. The Hopedale Board of Selectmen voted this week to designate the holiday William D. Wood Day, and the veteran has also been named Honorary Grand Marshal of Hopedale's Memorial Day parade. "The whole thing is just amazing to me," said his nephew, Jim Wood. "I still haven't gotten the whole story about what he did." It was only recently the younger Wood even learned his uncle had been awarded the Bronze Star, the U.S. Army's third highest medal. The older Wood suspects the Bronze Star paperwork got lost in an Army building fire years ago, letting him avoid a difficult subject and keep the extent of his service to himself. "He gets very emotional about that time period," Jim Wood said. The stage was set for disclosure a few years ago, when Wood became choked up after seeing Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" and began discussing his service with his nephew. Then, his sister's funeral brought out longtime family members and friends who let word slip that Wood had been put in for the Bronze Star. "I didn't know that," his nephew said. "I don't know why it wasn't told." But once told, Wood's nephew urged him to follow up on the paperwork. "I just said to him, 'You deserve it. You should get it. You can apply for it,'" Jim Wood said. Wood began the process more than a year ago and the Bronze Star, along with four other medals and an honorable service pin, arrived five weeks ago. "It's nice to get, but I don't consider myself a hero," Wood said. "The heroes are the dead, the ones who got badly wounded." While Wood said he never even suffered a nosebleed during his service, he saw plenty of gunfire and lives lost. The 1942 Hopedale High School graduate - whose two brothers also served - said he was in the Army from March 1943 to November 1945 He arrived in Normandy two weeks after D-Day and served in five European major campaigns, including the Battle of the Bulge, where 19,000 Allied soldiers were killed and 47,000 were wounded. Wood's unit played a critical role in holding a major road intersection vital to Nazi tanks for over two weeks during the 44-day conflict. He recalls seeing a close friend killed just feet away from him and times when he looked up and saw planes soaring across the sky. Jim Wood said he wants to learn more about how his uncle earned the Bronze Star. "I hope to get to that someday," he said. "You have bits and pieces. It's all very interesting to me." So much is still unknown about all the soldiers, Jim Wood said. "These guys went off to war and they were gone for years," he said. "You didn't have the press coverage, the news coverage, the movie coverage. If you had a letter every few weeks, that was nice." Milford Daily News, May 27, 2005. Bronze Star vet honored in Hopedale By Danielle Williamson HOPEDALE - William Wood doesn-t consider himself a hero. The 500 people who honored him at the town's Memorial Day celebration, however, would likely disagree. A survivor of the Battle of the Bulge, one of the deadliest battles in World War II history, Wood wore his Bronze Star for the first time yesterday. Nominated for the honor more than 60 years ago, the 81-year-old only received the medal this year. "I'm not a hero," the softspoken Wood said after a ceremony at Hopedale Village Cemetery. "The ones who went through the war that didn't get back are the heroes." Wood was honorary grand marshal of Hopedale's Memorial Day parade. Judge Francis Larkin, the parade's coordinator, praised the veteran for his service during the Battle of the Bulge before Wood's nephew, Jim Wood, pinned the Bronze Star on his uncle's coat. Wood served in the Army from March 1943 to November 1945. In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, his unit played a critical role in defending a major road intersection against the Nazi advance. Wood and two other men were the only members of their unit who survived, Larkin noted. Wood's commander nominated him for the Bronze Star - a tidbit Wood told his nephew only three years ago. "This gentleman was so humble - that he just went back to work. There were no ceremonies, and for 60 years the medal he so richly earned never arrived," Larkin said. The family found out Wood had been nominated for the Bronze Star, when he choked up after watching "Saving Private Ryan," and began talking about his military service. Jim Wood urged his uncle to follow up on the paperwork, which the older Wood suspects got lost years ago in an Army building fire. The medal arrived five weeks ago. "This morning a great injustice is remedied," Larkin said, as the younger Wood pinned the medal on his uncle. Among Wood's admirers yesterday, was 11-year-old Erin Sutton, a fifth-grade student at Hopedale Memorial School. Sutton, who wore a sundress with a red, white and blue flag pattern, stepped up to the microphone to read a "letter to a veteran." The thoughtful youngster posed a couple of rhetorical questions, including, "How did it feel to leave your family, and how did it feel to hurt someone you didn't even know because they were your enemy?" I know a lot of kids don't appreciate you, and some just don't understand," Sutton read, adding that she, as well as others in Hopedale, cared. Milford Daily News, May 31, 2005. . |
