Best friends reunited for first time 43 years after serving in Vietnam

LELAND, N.C. -- More than 40 years after two best friends saw each other for the last time while serving in the Vietnam War, they reunited for the first time in Leland, North Carolina this week.

In 1974, Danny Cherry and Earle Glenn Wood met on the USS Oriskany as 18-year-olds, reported WWAY.

For more than two years, they traveled the world together along with two other good friends. When they got off the ship, Cherry said they went separate ways and had no way to contact each other.

Cherry now lives in California and Wood lives in South Carolina. Last year, Cherry's wife went looking for "Woody" on Facebook. Cherry said it was the tattoo they got together that confirmed everything.

"When she was talking to him on the phone, he said, 'Is this the Danny Cherry that went with me to get a tattoo of Woody Woodpecker on my back?" Cherry said.

"I didn't think for sure that he was the right person and then, his wife Gail asked me about the tattoo on my back and I said, 'Yep that's Danny. That's him,'" Wood said.

They have been talking about this reunion for more than a year now. Cherry was in the North Carolina to see family, so they found a meeting place in Leland. Wood drove up from Pelion, South Carolina for the meeting on Thursday.