Wedding fireworks trigger stress attack in Vietnam vet

Wedding fireworks trigger stress attack in Vietnam vet
Banquet facility adjoins his yard


By Barbara O’Brien
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
October 8, 2011, 6:32 AM

Denise Woods stands in her backyard, which adjoins the Avanti Mansion, a banquet facility where recent weddings had fireworks.
Derek Gee / Buffalo News

Booming fireworks celebrating a wedding in August signaled the return to the nightmare of the Vietnam War for a Hamburg veteran.

Wedding couples adding an extra zing to their special day contracted for the fireworks Aug. 20, and Sept. 4. at the Avanti Mansion, a banquet facility on South Park Avenue.

But for Bill and Denise Woods, whose backyard on West Highland Parkway adjoins the Avanti property, the unexpected explosions were anything but fun. They and their neighbors had no idea the fireworks would be set off so close to their homes.

Woods served in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division in 1968 and 1969, and nearly lost his leg when a booby trap exploded. He will be 62 next month, and has had other health problems.

He would be the first to say “I buried Vietnam 40 years ago.”

But as he found out in August, some things don’t stay buried.
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