[4] Woods was intermittently employed "in a variety of construction and farm-related jobs in Greenwood and Woodson counties during the Great Depression.

"[5] Before being inducted into the United States Army in August 1943, he was working part-time at a feed-store in Eureka, Kansas, when he was registered for Selective Service in 1940.

He later told newspaper reporters that his career as an executioner had started when he "attended a hanging as a witness, and the hangman asked me if I wouldn't mind helping.

"[6] There is no evidence that the U.S. Army made any attempt to verify Woods's claims—if they had checked, it would have been easy to prove that he was lying; the states of Texas and Oklahoma had both switched to electrocution during the period he claimed to be a hangman.

[citation needed] Woods also participated in the execution of about 45 war criminals at various locations which included Rheinbach, Bruchsal, Landsberg, and Nuremberg.

"[9] In the case of Julius Streicher, reporter Howard K. Smith wrote that the initial drop was not fatal, and that "witnesses could hear him groaning",[10] upon which "Woods came down from the platform and disappeared behind the black curtain that concealed the dying man.

"[10] According to Lieutenant Stanley Tilles, who was charged with co-ordinating the hangings at Nuremberg, "Woods had deliberately placed the coils of Streicher's noose off-center"[10] to ensure that he would not experience a quick death.

Smith believed that "Woods hated Germans",[10] and that "a small smile cross[ed] his lips as he pulled the hang-man's handle.

I got into it kind of by accident, years ago in the States.Woods later claimed in newspaper interviews that he "never saw a hanging go off any better",[13] and that the assignment at Nuremberg was one he "really wanted to do",[13] so much so that he had apparently insisted on remaining in Germany rather than returning home.

"[9] However, Woods also told reporters that he might return to Germany in some capacity, stating that there were more than 120 war criminals still waiting to be hanged, including 43 sentenced for their part in the Malmedy Massacre.

[16] His biographer, Colonel French Maclean, asserts that Woods's "death may not have been an accident",[5] citing the large population of German scientists and engineers working on the island "as part of Operation Paperclip in an effort to develop the U.S. aerospace, atomic weapons and military aircraft industries.