Editing Ed Wood (section)

==Early years==
Wood's father worked for the [[United States Post Office]] as a [[janitor|custodian]], and his family relocated numerous times around the United States. Eventually, they settled in [[Poughkeepsie, New York]], where Wood was born in 1924. According to his second wife, Kathy O'Hara, Wood's mother Lillian would dress him in girl's clothing when he was a child because she had always wanted a daughter (Wood had one brother, several years younger than himself).{{sfn|Grey|1994|p=16}} For the rest of his life, Wood [[crossdressed]], infatuated with the feel of [[angora wool|angora]] on his skin.{{sfn|Benshoff|1997|p=157}}{{sfn|Weaver|2004|p=358}}

During his childhood, Wood was interested in the performing arts and pulp fiction. He collected [[comic book]]s and [[pulp magazine]]s, and adored movies, especially [[Westerns]], serials, and the [[occult]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Marija|last=Georgievska|url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/03/29/ed-wood-known-as-the-worst-director-of-all-time-is-today-celebrated-by-many-including-the-movie-director-tim-burton/|title=Ed Wood: Known as the "Worst Director of All Time," is today celebrated by many, including the movie director Tim Burton|website=The Vintage News|date=March 29, 2017|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref> [[Buck Jones]] and [[Bela Lugosi]] were two of his earliest childhood idols. He often skipped school in order to watch motion pictures at the local movie theater, where [[film still|stills]] from last week's films would often be thrown into the trash by theater staff, allowing Wood to salvage the images, and to add to his extensive collection.{{sfn|Grey|1994|p=16}}

On his 12th birthday, in 1936, Wood received as a gift his first movie camera, a [[Kodak]] "Cine Special".<ref name="Bendix">Bendix III, Pablo. ''Dreaming In Angora: The Life and Films of Ed Wood''. Lulu Press, 2015.</ref> One of his first pieces of footage showed the airship ''[[LZ 129 Hindenburg|Hindenburg]]'' passing over the [[Hudson River]] at Poughkeepsie, shortly before its [[Hindenburg disaster|disastrous crash]] at [[Lakehurst, New Jersey]].<ref>Meredith, Jason C.A. (2020) ''[https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1455998/FULLTEXT01.pdf Lost to Bias: Gender fluidity, queer themes, and challenges to heteronormativity in the work of Edward D. Wood, Jr.]'' [Unpublished master's thesis, Stockholm University]. DiVA Portal.</ref> One of Wood's first paid jobs was as a cinema usher, and he also sang and played drums in a band. Subsequently, he formed a quartet called "Eddie Wood's Little Splinters" in which he sang and played multiple stringed instruments.<ref name="Bendix" />

===Military service===
In 1942, Wood enlisted at age 17 in the [[United States Marine Corps]], just months after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. Assigned to the 2nd [[Marine defense battalions|Defense Battalion]], he reached the rank of [[corporal]] before he was discharged in 1946 at age 21.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dunn|first=Brad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddKTf8joKAQC&q=ed+Wood%2C+pearl+harbor&pg=PA170|title=When They Were 22: 100 Famous People at the Turning Point in Their Lives|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=978-0-7407-8681-5|language=en}}</ref> Although Wood reportedly claimed to have faced strenuous combat, including having his front teeth knocked out by a Japanese soldier, his military records reveal that to be false, apart from recovering bodies on [[Betio]] following the [[Battle of Tarawa]], and experiencing minor Japanese bombing raids on Betio and the [[Ellice Islands]]. A recurring [[filariasis]] infection left him performing clerical work for the remainder of his enlistment. His dental extractions were carried out over several months by Navy dentists, unconnected to any combat. Wood had [[false teeth]] that he would slip out from his mouth when he wanted to make his wife Kathy laugh, showing her a big toothless grin.{{sfn|Pontolillo|2017|p=25}}{{sfn|Pontolillo|2017|p=30-37}} Wood later claimed that he feared being wounded in battle more than he feared being killed, mainly because he was afraid a [[combat medic]] would discover him wearing a pink bra and panties under his uniform during the Battle of Tarawa.<ref>Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 117. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.</ref>