"In every conceivable manner, the family is linked to our past, bridge to our future" Alex Haley 1921 - 1992

Captain Everett Austin Wood Jr

	Everett was born on 31st July 1916 in Trinidad, Colorado. His wartime career began in 1940 when he joined the Army Air Corps, and after getting his wings became a flight instructor. After flying a number of patrol missions from Hawai, he led a flight of twenty-four B24s to Australia where he joined the 90th Bomb Group being assigned to the 321st Squadron. He carried out 32 missions and in 1943 returned to the USA. However in November of the following year he rejoined the Squadron and by the end of the war had flown a total of 66 missions. During that second tour he was often Command Pilot of the Squadron and usually flew as the instructor for new pilots. Everett was discharged on Pearl Harbour Day in 1946, and in 1967 retired from the Air Force Reserve with the rank of Lt.Col. A book article written some time ago says that - "Everett was not your archetypal military hero. Freckled, small of stature, with a prematurely receding shock of reddish hair, he had a friendly easy-going manner, an impish humour, and a cheerful disdain for the conventions of authoritarianism. Partly as a result of these proclivities, I suppose, he remained a Captain and never assumed the reins of his 321st Squadron. Wood and his wife Frances settled in Stillwater, Oklahoma where they raised a family of five." Everett died on 24th January 1987.
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