Benjamin Russel Woodworth was born on August 5, 1886 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. On leaving Milton Academy in 1905, Benjamin made his residence in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, traffic department, in Philadelphia. There he remained until 1912, when, finding the confines of an office too irksome, he left for several seasons in the Maine woods.

He spent some time at Cedar Swamp, West Sebois, Maine, following the woodsman's life in all its phases: lumberman, hunter, and guide. In the spring of 1915, drawn by the opportunity for action which the war offered, he enlisted in the American Field Service and joined Section One at Dunkirk in June.

In July, 1916, having served for more than a year with the section, he returned to America. He spent some time in the vicinity of Boston and Philadelphia, getting in touch with old friends, and made a trip to the Pacific Coast to see his mother who resides in San Francisco. While there he was instrumental in collecting the money for an ambulance which he subsequently drove. He reenlisted in October and returned to France, rejoining his old section in the Argonne, and the following March he was appointed Chef while the section was en repos at Vadelaincourt, near Verdun.

His term of leadership was to be brief. Three months later, June 15, 1917, Woodworth was instantly killed while riding as a passenger in a French aeroplane. The accident occurred as he and Chatkoff, a pilot from an escadrille near Muizon where the section was quartered, were leaving the grounds of the Lafayette Escadrille not far from Soissons.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov