Another One! Every time a man served under Patton he states “I was in Patton’s Army”.   There is this sense of Pride that sets all who served under George Patton to say this, and so it was when I spoke to 91 year old Robert Morse Wood on June 20, 2011.
 
Robert Morse Wood sent me two veteran forms on his cousins Alan Wood Richenaker and John Frederick Richenaker, along with a hand written letter saying that he was anxious to see the names of his cousins' put up on this website because he is the only "survivor" as he put it, from that era.  In the letter, he also mentioned that his sister, Marion Morse Wood, was a WAC (Women’s Army Corp) during
World War II.  Robert Morse Wood also included his mailing address and phone number which I called on June 20, 2011.
       
Robert Morse Wood told me he had graduated from Hackensack High School in 1938 and went to Brown University until June 1939.  He was accepted into West Point and began school there in July of 1939.  He graduated from West Point in January of 1943 at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.  Robert Morse Wood was sent overseas with 15,000 other troops on board the ship Queen Mary.  Upon arriving overseas, he was placed with Patton’s 3rd Army.  Robert Morse Wood was in the Armored Corp of Engineers with the combat unit and he was involved in building the bridge over the Sene River by Paris.
 
Robert Morse Wood said they landed on Omaha Beach a month or so after the invasion on June 6, 1944. 
Robert Morse Wood said he was involved with the Battle of the Bulge.  Robert Morse Wood said that his division was transferred to the 9th Army under Great Britain’s Commander Montgomery and they fought for the last bridge into Germany which was over the Rhine River, but were unable to take it under the British Command.  Robert Morse Wood said he was wounded, which means he received the Purple Heart, while in Holland from shrapnel, which hit him in the face and neck.  He was sent home from his wounds and actually got to spend a couple weeks with his wife.  After it was confirmed his injuries were not life threatening, he was sent back overseas on board the
Queen Elizabeth.   
        
An interesting comment he made as we concluded our conversation:
I asked him if he knew who Admiral H. Kent Hewitt was and he said “of course, my father Charles Wood was very good friends with him.”  He also said that two relatives, George Dewey Wood and Evan Paine Morse, both served during World War I and were from Hackensack.  He said that George Dewey Wood was gassed and was never the same after returning home from the War.  

Written by:
 Bob Meli
 June 21, 2011