Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Nov 20, 2010--Elton Mitchell, right, greats Lt. Bobby Woods Saturday as family and friends gather at Woods' parents' home in Rising Fawn, Ga.RISING FAWN, Ga. -- Thanksgiving arrived Saturday for the Woods family when they brought home wounded U.S. Army 1st Lt. Bobby Woods for a visit.
Rumbling motorcycles led the way Saturday to the front of a white antebellum-style house where crowds of people waited. Woods' parents, retired Brig. Gen. Robert Woods and Nadine, operate the home as a bed and breakfast called the General Woods Inn.
A banner reading "Thank you Lieutenant Bobby Woods 'Man of Steel'" on a patio wall was flanked by military flags, decorated quilts and a University of Georgia Bulldogs flag.
Wearing civilian clothes and flip-flops, Woods appeared relaxed as he got out of the car and moved to hug and greet people on the patio.
Woods said he wanted to have the open house to meet those who'd prayed for and supported him and his family through this ordeal.
"I got tons of mail from people I never even knew and church groups I've never even heard of ... so it definitely will be good to thank everyone."
Woods, 25, was shot in the head by enemy fighters in early August while on foot patrol with the 101st Airborne Division near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He spent nearly two months at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and still faces a long recovery.
Doctors removed part of his front skull during treatment. He has to wear a protective helmet when he rides in a car and cannot drive until the bone is replaced. That surgery is scheduled for January in Bethesda.
His cousin, Candy Duvall, remembered harrowing hours in August when she thought Woods might have died. Walking into his home and greeting him was almost overwhelming, she said.
"You just can't describe the feeling, you can't describe him walking in, you just can't describe that," she said.
Woods expected some kind of welcome but said the turnout surprised him, especially how events grew from the original plan.
"My mom asked me, 'Can we do something for when you get back? Like just have some people over to the house?'" he said.
"Sure," he told her.
"'Hey, can the Patriot Guard guys, like, escort you in?'" she later asked.
"Well, okay," he replied.
"Next thing you know they've got us doing a tour of the square down there (Trenton)," he laughed.
Woods visited Dade County, Ga., in summers and on holidays as he grew up on Army bases across the country, but throngs of people waving flags and snapping photos in downtown Trenton and along his path home treated him like a native son.
"This is homecoming in every true sense of the word, because we've been in the hospital environment since about the eighth of August," said his father. "What happened this morning will be a lifelong memory, and we're so grateful to have everybody here in our home, and it's going to be a great respite for Bobby here for a while."
Through the afternoon guests were invited to come talk with the soldier and his family. Leather-clad bikers grilled hot dogs and cracked open massive cans of chili while Bobby's father moved tables outside to accommodate the steady flow of people greeting his son.
Woods will learn in the next few days whether he will receive therapy and monitoring at a hospital in Birmingham, Ala., which means he could stay in Dade County, or if he'll move back to his unit's home base in Fort Campbell, Ky., and go to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for treatment.
Nadine Woods hopes for Birmingham, not only because he could stay home but also because doctors at his most recent hospital in Tampa, Fla., spoke highly of the Alabama center.
She and others have called Woods' recovery miraculous. He speaks clearly and normally. Other than the visibly sunken portion of his forehead, it would be hard to tell he had been wounded so severely.
But Nadine said he has trouble with certain words and though he writes and comprehends at a normal adult level, those skills are not as proficient as before the wound.
"He's testing right now at average, even in the areas of the brain that were damaged, but other areas of his brain test so much higher that they know there's still a deficit," she said.
Woods says his Army future is unknown.
A long-term military career was never in his plans, so he said if he can't go back to the infantry, he'll probably leave the Army when he fulfills his obligation.
Contact staff writer Todd South at tsouth@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347.