Alumni Spotlight
Celebrating A National Treasure:
Happy 95th Birthday, Woody!
In 1821, when the founders of The English High School created the idea of a free public high school for the sons of Boston’s working class families, they very well might have pictured young men like Enoch ‘Woody’ Woodhouse II.
The Mission Hill / Roxbury native, now marking his 95th birthday, graduated from EHS in 1944. He’s been around since just after English High’s centennial!
World War II had been raging for four years and most graduates of the Class of 1944 honored their country with military service: They either enlisted or were drafted. Everyone knew someone who was fighting in Europe or the Pacific, or someone who had been wounded or killed.
“Sometimes I think of what Muhammad Ali would say, whenever he was knocked down… He just gets up and starts all over. And that’s my story. That’s the story of English High.”
Lt. Col. Enoch ‘Woody’ Woodhouse II. Tuskegee Airman, US Army; Yale Graduate; Attorney
Woody Woodhouse enlisted in the US Army two days after his graduation from English High in 1944.
The tide was turning as shortly before graduation day, on June 6, 1944, the Allies launched the D-Day invasion of Normandy, one of the most consequential developments of the war, instrumental in defeating the Axis powers. Historians refer to D-Day as the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
Tuskegee Airmen unit in 1943. Photo: National Park Service
Woody, along with 20 of his classmates, enlisted in the Army. He was encouraged to serve by his mother following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Because he was just 17, not old enough to fight, he joined the Army Air Corps and trained as finance officer / paymaster for the group that became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, America’s first all-black combat flying unit. The unit played a pivotal role in the early integration of the US Armed Forces. At the time, unit members weren’t even allowed to be trained alongside white soldiers. Although black soldiers trained as aviators under segregated conditions , their distinguished record played a huge role in President Harry Truman’s decision in 1948 to end discrimination in the military.
When discharged from active duty in the Army Air Corps in 1949, Woody joined the Air Force Reserve and earned his undergraduate degree from Yale in 1952. He then went on to graduate from Boston University’s School of Law. He worked as a trial lawyer in private practice in Boston and as an attorney in the US State Department and for the city for more than 40 years.
Today Woody is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. He speaks extensively of fighting two battles: one defending his country against the Axis, the second against racial discrimination, segregation, and prejudice.
“No matter where you are — you could be on a desert island — but if you are given books, opportunity and above all, the will, not only to survive but to thrive… Sometimes I think of what Muhammad Ali would say, whenever never he was knocked, he just gets up and starts all over. And that’s my story. That’s the story of English High.‘’ – Woody Woodhouse II
President George W. Bush and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi stand amidst 300 Tuskegee Airmen during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony Thursday, March 29, 2007, in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. White House photo by Joyce Boghosian
Woody’s military service earned him numerous awards, most notably the Congressional Gold Medal, bestowed by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions. He and the other Tuskegee Airmen received the medal from President George W. Bush in 2007. Bush said, “I would like to offer a gesture to help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities. On behalf of the office I hold, and a country that honors you, I salute you for the service to the United States of America.”
Woody and fellow EHSA Board member, Joseph Carter ’72, at the American Heritage Museum event honoring Woody’s 95th birthday and the Tuskegee Airmen.
Earlier this year, the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Mass., honored Woody along with his fellow servicemen past and present of the heralded Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots and crews who served in World War II. See photo gallery below. CBS News recently broadcast a feature on the unit.
Woody, with Boston Mayor Kim Janey, at the city’s Juneteenth ceremonies in 2021 where the English High drumline entertained the gathering.
As a member of the English High track team, Woody should have received his ‘E’ sports letter. But for unknown reasons, he never got it. In 2015, the English High School Association surprised Woody with a bomber jacket emblazoned with the official ‘E’ and a patch depicting the P 51 Red Tail, the primary warplane of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Smiling on Woody from above is Samuel Adams Wells, grandson of former Governor Samuel Adams, a visionary founder of EHS, who may be thinking, “EHS was created for people like Woody.” Happy birthday, Woody!
Woody sporting the “E” bomber jacket presented to him by the English High School Association.
Woody Woodhouse in the 1944 English High yearbook.
