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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Veteran hurt in close shave with speeding car

Allan Wood, left, visits with Father Arnold Schoffelmeer in February 2011. Both were in the same place in Holland, in 1944, when the Allies launched an invasion called "Market Garden" to drive out the German military. Wood was a young paratrooper and Schoffelmeer was a seminary student. Wood was nearly struck by a speeding car earlier this week in downtown Spokane. He fell and was injured. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
By Kevin Graman kevingr@spokesman.com
Allan Wood survived Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, but a stroll across Riverside Avenue earlier this week nearly did him in. The 90-year-old veteran of World War II was nearly run down by a driver speeding around the corner from Monroe Street as Wood and his wife, Flo, crossed the avenue in front of the Masonic Center after a Kiwanis meeting at the Spokane Club about 1 p.m. Tuesday. The vehicle missed Wood, who walks with the help of cane. But in trying to move out of its way, he fell and knocked himself out. “The driver slowed down after he fell, looked at him, and then drove off,” Flo Wood said. The Fire Department was called and Wood was taken by ambulance to the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center emergency room, where the couple spent the rest of the afternoon. Wood said Thursday the whole side of his face is black and blue, his knee is cracked and his elbow may be, too. Wood was the subject of a Spokesman-Review article, “An Uncommon Bond,” on Feb. 20 that told of his chance meeting in a Spokane hospital room with a Dutch priest he helped liberate 67 years ago while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. The priest, Arnold Schoffelmeer, was a seminary student at the time in Nijmegen, Holland. “You saved my town. You saved my life,” Schoffelmeer told Wood, who received the Bronze Star for combat valor and a Purple Heart. Though Tuesday’s accident fell short of a hit-and-run, the Woods think the driver “needs to be responsible.” “I didn’t get her car license, but I got a good look at the car and a good look at her,” Flo Wood said. A Police Department spokeswoman said there is no video of the incident and really nothing that can be done in the matter. Officer Jennifer DeRuwe reminded the public to use crosswalks. The Spokane Regional Health District is conducting a pedestrian safety campaign. For information, click here. Wood is recovering at home. “You can’t hold a World War II veteran down,” his wife said.