Vernon Woodard graduated from law school in June of 1941, and was working as a lawyer for the Department of Army Ordinance Corps when the United States entered World War II. Woodard enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He completed basic training in Nashville, Tennessee, preflight school at Maxwell Field in Alabama, and primary flight training at Thunderbird Field in Glendale, Arizona. He was deployed to the Pacific Theater and assigned to the 13th Air Force 394th squadron at Koli Field on Guadalcanal.    While on a bombing run to Yap Island a 20 mm shell exploded inside Woodard’s plane.  He was injured, and spent a month in an evacuation hospital in New Guinea before returning to duty. Woodard flew reconnaissance and bombing missions in Micronesia and Oceania until spring of 1945, when he was rotated back to the states. He spent the remainder of his time in service with the 4th Ferry Command in Memphis, Tennessee.

Transcript Number 024 Title: Vernon Woodard: Remembering World War II Interviewee: Vernon Woodard Interviewer: Andrew Dutka Date of Interview: February 12, 1999 Location of Interview: Plantation Village, Wilmington, N.C. Description: 1 VHS Cassette Tape (c.140 min); sd., col. Documentation: 1 Typed Transcript Series: Wartime Wilmington Commemoration Project Series: Voices of Experience