Posted by matthew e. schmidt on December 23, 2010:

i wish i could describe the emotion and love my brothers and sisters had for "woody". the best way to fully understand would be to watch a 13 second film clip my dad (robert c.h. schmidt, u.s.m.a. class 1955) made of woody when he came for a sunday visit after church one day. he often came on sunday and many other days of the week. the film clip shows woody coming up over the hill from the chapel at west point near the old running track. he was wearing a suit, when my brothers and sisters swarm him in front of our home at grey ghost. woody would hold out his arms...and extend his thumbs. the "game" was to grab both of his thumbs... woody would hoist you up close to his face...the object of this fun was to touch your nose to his and wiggle your face. he made you do a chin up to cover the last few inches between your nose and his. this always made woody laugh...because of the grunting expressions on our faces as we struggled to cover those last few inches. you should see this film clip. just 13 seconds long....but its all there ....warmth .... selflessness ... laughter ...happiness and love. my dad did not tell us about woodys death until after he did his tour in vietnam five years later. mark, my brother, and i stayed up late that night talking about it. we cried. it made us so sad to think we couldnt ever see woody again. just yesterday i was watching our family movies and that 13 second long section of film played....i watched woody...and started to feel sad....but at the same time, there was something different .......the way he played so joyfully...and the happy smiles in all the players faces. that was all the same...the way i remembered it, but what was different was that he looked more familiar to me....like i knew him better than i ever had in the past. then i realized what looked so familiar about him... was that it reminded me of the way i felt and acted toward my son nick...and my wife dee...warmth...selfless ...laughter...happiness ... and love

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