page_title: Louis E. Woods
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Louis E. Woods / Biography / Marine Corps service / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Brigadier general Merritt A. Edson, Commanding General Service Command Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Major general DeWitt Peck (CG 1st Marine Division), Louis E. Woods (CG 1st Marine Aircraft Wing), Tientsin, September 1945
context_page_description: Lieutenant General Louis Earnest Woods, one of the Marine Corps' outstanding aviators, served as commanding general, aircraft, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, prior to his retirement. During World War II, he commanded the Cactus Air Force at Guadalcanal during November and December, 1942, and later, at Okinawa, was commanding general, Tactical Air Force, Tenth Army, and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
  For outstanding services rendered in the former named position he was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a third Legion of Merit, and in the second capacity a Distinguished Service Medal. His citation for the latter reads in part, "…Continually exposed to terrific fire from enemy ship and shore batteries, as well as bombing and strafing attacks by hostile aircraft, Brigadier General Woods directed the operations of his forces with such daring skill and tenacious determination that a total of twenty-two Japanese surface craft was sunk and sixty-five planes destroyed.
context_section_description: Upon graduation in May 1941, he joined the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. He accompanied the Wing to the South Pacific in September 1942, where he participated in the Battle of Guadalcanal as the chief of staff for, then major general, Roy Geiger. He would become commander of the Cactus Air Force on November 7, 1942 and lead the men through the lowest point in the campaign until he turned the command over to Brigadier General Francis P. Mulcahy on December 26, 1942.
  He returned to the United States and assumed duties as director, Division of Aviation, Headquarters, Marine Corps in June 1943, where he received a Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit.
  He went to the war in the Pacific for the second time when he assumed command of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing based in the Marshall-Gilbert Area and was commander, Shore Base Force. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his outstanding service in this area.
  In 1944, Wood also had the distinction of sending off to war a 42-year-old pilot named Charles Lindbergh. All but disgraced by his pro-German comments and behavior before World War II, the legendary but tainted Lindbergh had previously been denied returning to the Army Air Corps when he had volunteered after Pearl Harbor. Now in his role as civilian test pilot for United Aircraft, Lindbergh convinced Wood that he could properly test the company's new Vought F4U Corsair fighter planes only by flying them in actual combat conditions. Wood agreed, Lindbergh was soon cleared, and he quickly head off to the Solomon Islands. where he would fly 50 combat missions.
  On June 11, 1945, he succeeded Mulcahy, who was in ill health, as commanding general of the Tactical Air Force, Tenth Army and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, for which he was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of his Third Legion of Merit.
caption: Brigadier general Merritt A. Edson, Commanding General Service Command Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Major general Dewitt Peck (CG 1st Marine Division), Louis E. Woods (CG 1st Marine Aircraft Wing), Tientsin, September 1945.
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