Rev. Wayne Woods to speak at Veterans Day event

Oct. 22--MOULTRIE, Ga. -- Colquitt County veterans will forgo their annual Veterans Day breakfast this year due to COVID-19 concerns, but they still plan to gather at the amphitheater on the Courthouse Square for the Veterans Day service.

The event will be held at 11 a.m.Nov. 11 at the Lewis Hill Amphitheater and will feature former First Baptist Church Pastor Wayne Woods as keynote speaker.

Face masks and social distancing precautions are encouraged.

Woods graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975 and served as a naval aviator, but his connection with the military went back farther, to Naval ROTC at Vanderbilt University.

"Our unit was expertly led by Marine Col. McDonald Tweed, whose example was one main reason I decided to apply for admission to the United States Naval Academy," Woods said. "I was fortunate to be accepted and entered with the Class of 1975 in the summer of 1971. I graduated on June 4, 1975, No. 19 in my class of 815, with a B.S. in Engineering Management."

He married his high school sweetheart, June Cash, three days later.

Woods began flight training at Pensacola, Fla., and received his Naval Aviator Wings in September 1976. He was assigned to VP-30 in Jacksonville, Fla., for training in the P-3 Orion, an anti-submarine aircraft. After the training, he was assigned to VP-5, also in Jacksonville, from which he made operational deployments to Sigonella, Sicily; Keflavik, Iceland; and Bermuda.

After his tour at VP-5, he returned to VP-30 as an instructor.

Woods left the service in early 1982 to pursue a career as an engineer, but in 1985 he moved to Memphis, Tenn., to attend seminary and was able to affiliate with the Reserve VP squadron while there.

"Overall I accumulated close to 2,500 hours of flight time -- and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!" he said. "My time in the Navy led me to responsibilities and destinations very few young men my age could have experienced -- not to mention all the wonderful folks I served with."

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