Fallen Palmer son walked the righteous trail

I never met Shane Woods.

The son of Mae and Wayne Woods is among the 4,643 killed in the effort to date to liberate Iraq, while at least 31,431 U.S. troops have also been wounded in action, the Pentagon reports.

Shane Woods was much more than a statistic when he died Aug. 9, 2006. Wayne Woods calls his son a “true son of Palmer,” and on Friday, it was a humbling privilege to watch as the city honored one of its true sons, a third-generation Palmerite.

At the annual Palmer Pride Picnic, Mayor John Combs dedicated the new urban revitalization trail as the “Shane Woods Memorial Trail.”

In Iraq, Army Spec. Shane Woods and other soldiers guard a line separating good from evil, Combs said.

While it may be heart-wrenching to the Woods family to open a healing wound, their courage in attending the dedication was inspirational. It was impossible to hold back the tears when state Sen. Charlie Huggins talked about his own son, Chad, who is also serving in Iraq and was a classmate of Shane’s. They weren’t just friends, he said, Chad “loves Shane. He loves him.”

Like many of us on Sept. 11, 2001, the horrible and historic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a downed jet in Pennsylvania focused Shane Woods’ patriotism.

On that morning, “He looked at the towers and on his face was conviction that, once he finished high school, he was going to be a part of protecting our country,” his mother Mae said in an interview following Shane’s death. “It was a look of sheer determination. I’ll never forget it. It almost scared me.”

It was that unflappable character, molded by a guiding faith, that made Shane Woods an inspirational comrade and leader. Army Spc. Joshua Revak served with Woods in Iraq and made a special trip from his home in Minnesota to attend Friday’s dedication.

“It says in the Bible that iron sharpens iron,” Revak said. “It was always comforting to know we’d be thinking of each other and praying for each other.”

As a father, Wayne Woods said he sometimes felt their roles were reversed, that Shane was the teacher and he the student.

I never met Shane Woods, but his legacy of courage, faith and patriotism is an inspiring one we all can learn from and cherish. I can’t wait until the day I can walk the Shane Woods Memorial Trail and know I can do so because Woods patrolled that line separating good from evil half a world away.

Greg Johnson is a reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Contact him at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.