A man who lost his son in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, has moved to Bigfork.

Retired attorney Charles Woods and his family moved to the area in August from eastern Oregon.

His son, Ty Woods, a government security contractor and former Navy SEAL, was one of four Americans killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.

Bigfork is a new beginning of sorts for the Woods family. Charles and his wife, Charlene, plan to raise their three daughters — Joy, Faith and Hope — there.

Charles Woods wants his son’s life to be an inspiration because he helped rescue 30-plus Americans during the Benghazi incident.

The attack on the consulate by a force of al-Qaida-linked militants claimed the lives of Ty Woods, Ambassador Chris Stevens, security worker and former Navy SEAL Glenn Doherty and information management officer Sean Smith.

Charles said his son had been in Libya two months working for the CIA and had six days left in that country before the fatal firefight.

He recalled the last conversation he had with his son before he left. Charles said he told Ty he didn’t worry about him during the 20 years he served in the Navy, but this time he was concerned. “I said, “This time I don’t feel comfortable.’”

Charles remembers his son’s reply: “If I don’t go, who will?”

He said he had a premonition his son would come back injured.

“He was going to do the right thing no matter the cost,” Charles said, adding that Ty’s principle was, “As long as I have one drop of blood, I will rescue my comrades.”

As events unfolded in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, Ty asked to help the Americans who were besieged by the terrorist attack at the consulate.

“He was told to stand down twice. The third time he went anyway,” Charles said, noting that Ambassador Stevens was still alive when Ty was told to stand down the first two times.  

The U.S. consulate was a half-mile from the CIA annex where Ty was stationed. Ty and others drove and fought their way there.

According to his father, Ty scaled the back wall at the consulate and started firing at the attackers.

Those inside were put into armored vehicles and moved to the CIA annex. “They fought their way back” while al-Qaida were shooting at windows and tossing grenades under vehicles, Charles said.

The battle lasted seven to eight hours. Ty killed about 60 attackers and captured some too, Charles said. At one point he was on the roof of the CIA annex when he pinpointed the origin of mortar fire with a laser, Charles said. That act exposed the enemy and himself.

“His last words were, ‘Where the [expletive] is the Spectre?’” Charles said, possibly referring to the AC-130H Spectre, an Air Force gunship. Doherty was killed by a mortar round just before Ty was killed.

Charles was in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 19 for a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He testified along with Patricia Smith, the mother of foreign service officer Sean Smith, one of the other Benghazi victims.

Both told the committee they have plenty of questions about the Benghazi debacle — and both said they are having trouble getting answers from the U.S. government.

The biggest question Charles has is who gave the order for his son to stand down.

“I want the truth to come out,” Charles said Thursday. “I’ve forgiven everyone involved. I would love to see them in heaven, but obviously they would have to change the direction of their lives,” he said of those involved in what he calls the Benghazi cover-up.  

“There are two ways to do a cover-up: passive and active,” Charles said. He explained that a passive cover-up involves giving no information. An active cover-up involves lies or disinformation.

“The U.S. government has done both,” he said. “I don’t want this to be political, but truth and justice are important, forgiveness as well.”

In spite of the unanswered questions, Charles said that Ty’s life can inspire others to be heroes “if you stand by your principles, no matter the cost. If he could inspire people, that’s what he would want.”

Asked about how he copes with the loss of his son, Charles answered: “God is loving in all his ways and he’s sovereign.” He also referred to a Bible verse about God knowing when each sparrow falls, a verse that gives him comfort.

Charles recalled that Ty was “made to be a SEAL,” the elite Navy-trained fighting unit.

“When he was 5 he would be gone all day with his .22 shooting ground squirrels,” Charles said. Ty was a certified scuba diver in junior high school.

Woods said that while Ty was in Navy boot camp, he swam to where the SEALs were swimming and passed their swimming test. “They were surprised at first, but liked his gung-ho attitude and said, ‘You’re with us,’” Charles said.

Ty served 20 years in the Navy and retired in 2010, then continued working as a government security contractor, Charles said.

He could bench press more than 500 pounds and was described by those who worked with him as a SEALs’ SEAL and an Alpha male among Alpha males, Charles said.

Soptelean is a reporter at the Bigfork Eagle. He can be reached at reporter@bigforkeagle.com.