It’s great to see an Eagle Scout project that not only adds to a community, but memorializes a local hero for their service to the nation.

Jack Riggio, a Scout with Mars Boy Scout Troop 400, drove the effort to place a memorial for Carl J. Woods Jr., a Tuskegee Airman from Mars who was killed in World War II, which was installed Saturday, March 29. Riggio commented at the ceremony that Woods was more than just a war hero, he was a trailblazer for being part of the first military unit made up of African Americans.

The Tuskegee program was expanded to become the center for Black aviation during World War II. The Tuskegee Army Air Field continued to train new airmen until 1946, according to Tuskegee Airmen Inc.

Woods was born in March 1923 in Mars. His parents were employed at Trees Farms and lived in a house on the property. Woods attended Mars Area High School from 1938 to 1941, where he played football. He registered for the draft after two years of school at Penn State University, and reported to Keesler Field in Mississippi for training. He joined the Tuskegee Airmen, military pilots who fought in WWII. Woods then deployed to Italy.

Woods was last seen on Oct. 7, 1944, during a mission escorting bombers to an oil refinery in Vienna, Austria. He was reported missing on the way to the target area, and ultimately was declared dead.

Not only did Woods not make it home alive, his story has not been widely shared, according to Riggio. The fact that this young man found Woods — a person from his community without much, if any, recognition in history books — made it his service project to honor him, speaks volumes about the people growing up in Scouting programs.

We should applaud Riggio for going the extra mile to learn about a person born more than a hundred years ago, and sharing his story with his community and everyone who sees the new plaque.

If you get a chance, go check out the new Carl J. Woods Jr. plaque, which is near the Mars Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7505, 331 Mars Valencia Road in Adams Township. You might learn a little something.

—ET