WOODWORTH, SAMUEL ALEXANDER
Name: Samuel Alexander Woodworth
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O3
Unit:
Date of Birth: 25 September 1930
Home City of Record: MINCO OK
Date of Loss: 17 April 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 174000 North 1054600 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0074
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. Updated 2006.
REMARKS: NO PULL OUT CRASH EXPLODE
MU GIA PASS BORDER KHAMMOUANE/QUANG BINH
JCRC SAYS LAOS OTHERS SAY NORTH VIETNAM
CACCF/CRASH LAOS/PILOT
No further information available at this time.
---------------------
Library of Congress Files:
Laos: DEATH NON-BATTLE
Country: Laos
Name: SAMUEL ALEXANDER WOODWORTH
Subjects: Aircraft downed; Killed
Reel: 154
Page: 18
Type of Document: Casualty Report
Date of Report: 76 03 12
Date of Information: 65 04 17
Originator: USAF
Category: Casualty files
CASUALTY MESSAGE - DEATH IN BATTLE
Name: SAMUEL ALEXANDER WOODWORTH
Subjects: Aircraft downed; Killed
Reel: 154
Page: 4-6
Type of Document: Message
Date of Report: 65 04 17
Date of Information: 65 04 17
Document Number: 171145ZAPR65
Originator: 331 AB SQ TAKHLI VAB THAI
Category: Casualty files
post-1975 Vietnam:Analysis of material evidence associated with case 0074
Country: post-1975 Vietnam
Name: Woodworth, S.A.
Subjects: Ha Tinh; Crash site
Reel: 490
Page: 4-6
Type of Document: Message
Date of Report: 00 02 28
Date of Information: 99 07 16
Document Number: 280800ZFEB00
Originator: JTFFA
Category: MISC PW FILES
post-1975 Vietnam: JOINT FIELD ACTIVITY 95-2L SITUATION REPORT 012
Country: post-1975 Vietnam; Laos
Name: WOODWORTH, S.A.
Subjects: Crash site; Remains
Reel: 466
Page: 485-488
Type of Document: Message
Date of Report: 94 11 16
Date of Information: 94 11 00
Document Number: 160759ZDEC94
Originator: AMEMBASSY Vientiane
Category: MISC PW FILES
=============================
Daily Oklahoman, The (KRT)
July 4, 2006
Fallen troops' sacrifice, legacy live on in memories
Ron Jackson
Capt. Samuel Alexander Woodworth may have had a premonition.
Before boarding an airplane for Vietnam, the Oklahoma fighter pilot turned
to his wife, Nelle, and mentioned the acreage they purchased at Colorado
Springs, Colo., to build their dream house.
"Get rid of it," Woodworth told his wife. "We won't need it."
Fellow U.S. pilots last saw Woodworth's F-105 Thunderbird crash into a hill
April 17, 1965, after making a successful bombing run over enemy territory.
The jet he flew burst into flames on impact, and there was no sign the
34-year-old pilot had ejected from his plane. His body never was recovered.
Today, 41 years after that fateful hour, Woodworth officially still is
listed as missing in action. Yet his family has never doubted that he died
in his cockpit.
"Looking back now, it seems so clear," said Patricia McKelvey, 78,
Woodworth's older sister. "Nelle and I both believe he already knew he
wasn't coming back."
Woodworth's sacrifice and legacy live on, as so many do this Independence
Day through the memories of loved ones and comrades who survived the killing
fields of war. Through them, their stories of courage and valor collectively
define the price of freedom.
'Alex was determined to fly'Calvin Woodworth, Woodworth's younger brother,
understands that price whenever he reflects on the scars of his past. News
of his brother's death still rushes back to him with clarity in quiet
moments.
Calvin was the first to receive the news at his hardware store in downtown
Minco. Minutes later, he relayed the telegram to his father, Marvin.
Father and son carried the news to Woodworth's mother, Vermalois.
"I remember mother said, 'I'd rather have him die this way than to have him
captured and tortured,'" recalled Calvin Woodworth, now 73. "Then my mother
and father knelt by the sofa and prayed."
Woodworth wiped tears from his reddened eyes.
"I don't know what they said," he said, "but I imagine they thanked God for
the time they had Alex." And what a time it was. Alex Woodworth rarely
missed an opportunity to clown for a photograph or to playfully share his
mischievous side. He could also dazzle with his rich, bass voice. But it was
his love of the Lord and flying that truly defined the man he would become.
"As teenagers growing up during World War II, we both loved airplanes,"
Calvin said. "If an airplane ever flew over us we could stop and tell what
make it was.
"Of course, Alex was determined to fly."
Alex Woodworth realized his dream after graduating from Oklahoma State
University and being named a distinguished Air Force ROTC cadet.
Nelle and Alex were already raising a family by then. The couple had three
children -- Marvin, then 9, Kathy, 7, and Alan, 5. Patricia McKelvey and
Calvin Woodworth stay in close contact with their niece and nephews.
Alex remains close in their hearts.
"As the years have passed, I think about Alex every once in a while -- on
special occasions such as his birthday, or the Fourth of July or whenever I
talk to one of the kids," Calvin said. "He was just a good man. If he had a
dollar, everyone had a dollar."
The Woodworth family often has been reminded of their loss through official
government updates. Tidbits of information about the crash site have
trickled in from abroad. In one correspondence, a villager told officials he
buried an arm found at a crash site that corresponded with Woodworth's last
known location.
A road reportedly now covers the burial spot.
"Mother always handled Alex's death very bravely," said McKelvey, whose
mother and father since have died. "She was never bothered by the fact there
was no body. She always said, 'It doesn't matter. I know where he is,'
meaning he was in heaven with the Lord."
McKelvey has her own way of paying respects to her little brother.
"Every time I hear the Pledge of Allegiance or 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' I
always have a tear come to my eyes," McKelvey said with a smile, "and I
think of Alex."