Latest news with #JoeWoods
BBC News
09-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
The Oxfordshire prisoner of war freed just before VE Day
Joe Woods was freed from the Stalag IV-F prisoner of war camp in eastern Germany on 7 May 1945, the day before VE Day marked the end of the Second World War in camp's liberation, which came on his 24th birthday, brought an end to his four years under German imprisonment."I shall make up for what I have lost," he wrote in a letter to his sister Josie after the camp was letter has been shared with the BBC by his family, who live in Chilton in Oxfordshire, as the UK marks eight decades since the end of war in Europe. Joe's son Keith said to mark the occasion he would "dig out" the archive of his father's time during the war and "have a look through it"."There's always something that reminds you of what's going on, so all these things are good archive to have," he said. Among the collection is Joe's letter to his sister - one of the first he had been able to send as a free man."I was freed on my birthday, and met up with the yanks [American troops] the following day," he wrote."The Russians were in the next village to ours, it was a great laugh to see the Germans scared stiff of our allies."Having lied about his age to enlist in 1939, he had been in Libya in November 1941 when he was taken prisoner and shipped across the Mediterranean alongside fellow captured soldiers. But the ship he was on never made it to its destination. It was sunk during an attack by a British Joe being unable to swim, he "luckily managed to cling to some driftwood" and washed ashore in Greece, his granddaughter Lucy Woods explained."It's quite incredible that he managed to survive that," she arrived back in Europe, Joe was soon recaptured by Axis forces and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner."Myself I am not too bad, a bit weak from the lack of grub as you might know that when I was in German hands we could not write what we wanted to tell," he wrote after he was the letter to his sister, he said: "I close now with all my love to you dear." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Raiders hire familiar face as defensive pass game coordinator
For the better part of the past eight years Joe Woods has been an NFL Defensive Coordinator. But his career started as a defensive backs coach and among his early NFL jobs was with the Raiders. Now he's back with the Raiders, given the title of defensive pass game coordinator. Former #Saints DC Joe Woods is joining Pete Carroll's #Raiders staff as defensive pass-game coordinator, per source. Woods, a two-time defensive coordinator, is traveling to Las Vegas today. — Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 6, 2025 Woods was the DC in New Orleans the past two seasons under Dennis Allen. It was under Allen in 2014 that Woods worked for the Raiders. And so he has twice seen Allen get fired midseason and had to move on. Between his time with the Raiders and the Saints, Woods was a DB coach and then defensive coordinator in Denver, then defensive passing game coordinator in San Francisco while Robert Saleh was the DC and the 49ers made the Super Bowl that year. After that, Woods was named DC in Cleveland (2020-22) before heading to the Saints in 2023.
