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U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 about Joseph P Wood
Name: Joseph P Wood
Birth Year: 1907
Race: White, citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country: New York
State: New York
County or City: Franklin
Enlistment Date: 24 Jul 1942
Enlistment State: New York
Enlistment City: Utica
Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Civil Life
Education: Grammar school
Marital Status: Single, without dependents
Height: 61
Weight: 139
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The Chateaugay Record, Friday, August 10, 1945
Pvt. Joseph P. Wood
2 1-2 Year ETO
Veteran, Home.
Pvt. Joseph P. Wood, son of Mrs. Louis Wood, of Chateaugay, verteran of two and a half years of overseas service and wearer of the Presidential Unit Citation ribbon, one oak leaf cluster, ETO ribbon with seven battle stars and the good conduct ribbon arrived at his home in Chateaugay, Saturday night.
Entering service on August 7, 1942, he took his basic training with members of the Army Air Forces ground crew at Miami Beach, Fla., and volunteering for overseas duty, he left North Carolina on May 13, 1943, arriving overseas at Casablanca, Africa, during the American campaign.
Six months later, still in Africa he and a buddy went to church one Sunday morning in a nearby city. While they were gone the outfit was moved on a one hour's notice to Sicily.
"When we go back to where the camp shoud have been," he said, "we thought the place had been hit by a cyclone. They were quick to inform us that the outfit had left for Sicily. And here my buddy and I were left behind." Five days later a plane came back to the two men and they brought them to their outfit in Sicily.
According to Pvt. Woods [sic] one of the most impressive sights he witnessed overseas was the famed "city in the clouds" which was publicized in Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" recently.
The city is perched on a mountain top which rises between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above sea level.
Pvt. Wood said that his first sight of the city was seen with clouds about 1,000 feet below the city in a white fluffy cloud that gave the ciry almost an unearthly aspect. The only passage to that city is a small narrow, winding road that is impassable to every type vehicle except animals and small autos such as jeeps.
He visited the "City in the Clouds" and found that one of the most impressive sights there were the bodies of centuries old Christian martyrs hung up for public exhibition. The bodies had the appearance of being petrified, he explained. The buildings in the city are of beautiful but unique architecture and the visit to this famed city was one of the highlights of the many sights he saw in Europe.
After six months service in Sicily, during which time he flew to Italy several times, he sailed to England where he unerwent a major operation on his knee. After three months hospitalization he returned to his unit in England and in March, 1945, he was shipped to France and he remained until he sailed for home from Antwerp, Belgium.
Of all the countries he visited including Africa, Sicily, Italy, England, France, Belgium, and Holland, he said he liked Belgium the best, "It was the one country most like the USA. We even saw hundreds of American made automobiles in traffic jams. Nearly every Belgian speaks some English since the language is taught compulsarily in the schools there. But America is still the best of them all," he added proudly.
After V-E day he took a plane trip over France, Germany, Holland, and Belgium flying over the city of Cologne. "The only building in that city that any of us could see left standing was the Cathedral in the center of that city. The place was just flat," he said adding, "In fact the destruction wrought by Allied bombing in Germany is almost unbelievable. City after city has been totally or three fourths destroyed. How the German people stood up under this bombing as long as they did is certainly a mystery."
At the end of his 80 day furlough here he will report for further reprocessing at Greenburg, N.C. Although he has 93 points Pvt. Wood has been listed as essential.
He has one brother in service, Pvt. William L. Wood, infantry, who is still stationed in the ETO. He also has 92 points and is now waiting at a debarkation center for a return passage to the States.
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