Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Corporal Colin Woods (Service No:45813) enlisted in the RAAF on 9 October 1941 as an Aircraftman I attached to 4 Recruit Depot Pearce. He attended 6 Service Flying Training School Mallala and Armament School in Hamilton. In August 1942 he Mustered as an Armourer with the Bomb Disposal Unit and served in the Northern Territory (Birdum, Darwin, Gorrie, 57 Mile and Batchelor) with 55 and 52 Operational Base Units and 18 Squadron, and the Security Guard Unit in Darwin.  Described in his Attestation Papers (NAA) as 'intelligent, frank and generally suitable', Corporal Woods was attached to 1 Engineering School when he was Discharged on 7 September 1945. Brother Donald (LAC; Service No:84507) and step brother Albert Saggers (Service No:406904) served in the RAAF in WWII and father Joseph Mervyn Woods (Corporal; Service No:1628) served in WWI.

Born in 1923 in Bunbury WA, Colin was the second of three children of Joseph Mervyn Woods (b1895 in Picton, WA) and Muriel Saggers (nee Brittain; b1893 in Bunbury, WA). Mervyn (a Mechanical Engineer) and Muriel (a Widow with a young son) married in 1920 in Bunbury WA where they lived and Mervyn worked as a Mechanical Engineer until his death in 1926.

Colin started work in Bunbury WA as a Shop Assistant and was a Plasterboard Fixer working for HB Brady and Co in Kalgoorlie WA when he enlisted in the RAAF in 1941. Following his Discharge, Colin settled in Bunbury WA and was working as a Plasterer in 1946 when he married Iris Ellen Cocks (b1923 in Collie, WA). Colin and Iris settled in Bunbury WA where they raised their family and Colin worked as a Plasterer, Wood Merchant, Cartage Contractor and Cray Fisherman. Colin died in 1987 and Iris in 1988.