John C. Woods



John Clarence Woods (June 5, 1911 – July 21, 1950) was a United States Army Master Sergeant who, with Joseph Malta, carried out the Nuremberg executions of ten former top leaders of the Third Reich on October 16, 1946 after they were sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials. He executed a total of 347 people during his 15-year career. After the Nuremberg executions, Woods stated: "'I hanged those ten Nazis... and I am proud of it... I wasn't nervous.... A fellow can't afford to have nerves in this business.... I want to put in a good word for those G.I.s who helped me... they all did swell.... I am trying to get [them] a promotion.... The way I look at this hanging job, somebody has to do it. I got into it kind of by accident, years ago in the States....'"

He was born in Wichita, Kansas. Woods accidentally electrocuted himself in Eniwetok, Marshall Islands on July 21, 1950. He is buried in Toronto Township Cemetery, Toronto, Kansas.