His Mother
Olive
Youngest of seven. Grew up without electricity or indoor plumbing, went on to business school, and worked throughout her life keeping the accounts for various companies.
“Mom was kindness personified.”
HomeHis Journey
His Journey · In His Own Words
My Journey
“Come with me on My Journey, through life and around the world, and see where it took me.”
From the introduction · Bruce L. Woodyard
Prologue
In order to know a person, or at least to understand them, you must know something about where he or she comes from - how and where they grew up, what their family and childhood were like, and how that impacted who they became as an adult.
I firmly believe that a person should never forget where they came from, should always remember their roots, and should never get too important to acknowledge their heritage. While one may travel far and have many experiences in life, it is important to remember one’s roots, family, heritage, and values.
Bruce L. WoodyardFrom the manuscript
Chapter I
Roots
Both of his parents grew up in poor farm families in the Midwest during the 1920s and 1930s.
His Father
Earl
Left school after the 8th grade to support his mother, then spent over 40 years on the railroad, becoming switchman and foreman of the rail yard and depot in Red Oak, Iowa.
“Dad had an amazing head for numbers.”
“Whatever they had in life, and whatever they became, they got by working for it.”
Chapter II
The Dream of Flight
“While the train experience was great, what I really wanted to do was to fly.”
Boyhood
Read about the aviators of World Wars I and II and built model airplanes.
The 1960s
Watched the Gemini space walks and the developing space program with awe.
July 1969
Stayed up late with the rest of the world to watch the Apollo 11 moon landing.
An Inspiration · Uncle Roy
Chief Master Sergeant Leroy Jackson, USAF
His mother’s youngest brother, and the uncle he was named for. Joined the Army Air Corps before the US entered World War II, served as a crewman on B-24s and B-29s, and stayed in service for many years afterward. He was laid to rest with a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.
“He was, and still is, one of my personal heroes.”
Chapter III · August 1966
Stanton, Iowa
A seven-year-old in an open pasture at the edge of a small farm town, a Welsh Corgi herding sheep, and an aircraft passing overhead.
“…a large silver aircraft came flying overhead very low. It was a big, twin-engine propeller plane, and it flew by low enough that I could see one of the crew looking out the large round observation window aft of the wing. I waved to him, and he returned the gesture. As it turned to fly away, I saw the word N A V Y spelled out in large letters on the fuselage.”
“I will never know what a Navy aircraft was doing flying low over a small farm town in southwestern Iowa that day, but that image stuck with me.”
Chapter IV
Full Circle
Offutt Air Force Base, Bellevue, Nebraska.
Then · A high-school visit
The B-52 cockpit
On a trip to the base, he climbed up the landing gear of the B-52 Stratofortress on display at the museum and made his way to the pilot’s seat.
“I was awestruck.”
Later · Last assignment
U.S. Strategic Command
His last assignment was at US Strategic Command on Offutt AFB, the successor to the Strategic Air Command his Uncle Roy served in for years. Today he lives just a few miles from that same base.
Chapter V
The Old Globe
As a boy he would spin an old globe, its map already out of date, and wonder what it would be like to visit the countries on it.
“Growing up in small towns in the middle of the US, it was hard to see past the horizon, but my imagination took me far away.”
50+Countries visited
“How did that all happen?
How did I get here?”
The rest of the journey is being written in Beyond the Call.
Quotations are from Bruce L. Woodyard’s manuscript introduction.