Biography from a campaign sheet from Mr. Woods during his 1992 run for United States President:
Biography of Charles Woods
Charles Woods was born Charles Arthur Morris on August 31, 1921, in a shack on a red clay hill about 35 miles outside of Birmingham, Alabama. His divorced mother was unable to support her two young sons so she placed them in a state orphanage when Charles was five years old. He never saw her again. At the age of six, Charles was adopted by the P. A. Woods family of Headland, Alabama. He attended grammar school, junior high school and high school in Hollywood, California, where his family had moved, and also, in Headland, Alabama.
After graduating from high school in 1939, he was too young to join the United States Army Air Corp, so he went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) where he trained as a fighter pilot. Then in December, 1941, he went to England where he served with the Royal Air Force. In North Africa, he transferred to the United States Army Air Corps on December 1, 1942.
On December 22, 1944, twenty-three year old Charles Woods (his active duty rank was Major) was taking off from Northeast India for China over the Himalayan mountains "commonly called the Hump." His four engine bomber loaded with gasoline in the bomb bays crashed and exploded in a fiery fire ball. Charles was the sole survivor. With third degree burns to the face and hands, he spent the next five years in military hospitals undergoing over sixty plastic surgery operations.
After being released from the United States Air Force in 1950, Charles started a construction company and built nearly a thousand homes in Alabama and Florida. In 1955 he put his first television station on the air in Dothan, Alabama. In 1969, he was named "American of the Year" at the American Super Bowl Game in Tampa, Florida. In 1977, he bought a square block of buildings in downtown San Diego which he sold in 1983.
Today Charles Woods currently owns 5 full power television stations, 5 low power television stations, 3 radio stations and a large cattle ranch in northwest Nevada. He and his wife have a four year old daughter named Scarlet. Their home is at Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
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Charles Woods
Fire-scarred serial office-seeker
He describes himself as a "businessman, World War II veteran and frequent candidate." Seems pretty accurate. First came his runs for governor and lieutenant governor of Alabama in the '70s. Then he came to Nevada and memorably ran for Senate against Harry Reid in 1992. Add to that his run for president, also in 1992. And his run in 1994 to unseat Sen. Richard Bryan. Then there was the go at Alabama's House of Representatives in 2000 and 2002. He hasn't won yet, but the 83-year-old disfigured veteran still seems unwilling or unable to give up. Despite the profound and openminded comments of the American public:
"Seeing his campaign commercials was one of the more scary memories of my childhood," said one observer. "I dunno about Woods," responded another, "you almost have to admire someone that mutilated running for public office. Or maybe pity is the word ..."
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