A Tale of Three Uncles - # Three

 The picture on the left is Guy Ashford Wood Jr. in April, 1945 (age 28) on a 30-day leave from the Royal Canadian Air Force.  He was a Flight Lieutenant.  He's pictured in the backyard of his parents, Esther and Guy Wood, in Ann Arbor, MI.  He tried to join the U.S. Army Air Corps (later became the Air Force) early in 1941, months before the U.S. engaged in World War II.  However, Guy was color-blind, so was not considered eligible for service.

When he crossed the Canadian border to try again, Guy was welcomed with open arms by the RCAF.  Canada, as part of the British Empire, had been at war for two years by then.  Guy was a fighter pilot, mainly in North Africa, and was never shot down.

When on leave in Capetown, South Africa, he met his future wife, Edna Smith, who worked at the hospital.  At the time the family was told that Guy was hospitalized because he was hit by a car while riding a bike.  It was only months ago that my cousin, also named Guy Wood, told me that his father had been in a bar fight!  Guy must have changed the bar fight to a bike because some of the family, my father among them, did not drink, nor did they believe anyone else should do so.

The picture on the right was taken at the Wood's home in Ann Arbor in 1938.  My father, John Kellogg (age 39), and his step-brother, Guy Wood (age 21),  are shown with Esther Webb Kellogg Wood in the back-ground.  Each man looks like his own father, so appear very different from each other. Uncle Guy was actually my step-uncle.

Though the people in this post are mentioned in Pieces of a Life, these pictures and this story are new.