Wood served in the Crimean War during the siege of Sebastopol, in Captain William Peel’s 1,400 strong naval brigade, whose job was to man some guns on a ridge opposite Sebastopol. He was at Inkerman and aged 16, was Peel's aide de camp in the assault on the Redan on 18 June 1855, having risen from his sickbed to join the attack. He was seriously wounded and almost lost his left arm, which doctors wanted to amputate. Wood was mentioned in despatches and received his first, but unsuccessful, recommendation for a VC.