One of the youngest Conscientious Objectors to face conscription in 1916, Woolf was the son of Russian immigrants and a socialist CO. In 1916 he accepted the Non-Combatant Corps and joined the army under the guarantee that he would not be forced to fight and kill his fellow worker. He was soon sent to France to work in the 3rd Eastern Battalion of the NCC. However, when the end of the war came, the NCC were not demobilised quickly and Woolf deserted in February and returned home. As a registered "enemy alien serving overseas" this caused panic in the NCC, but Woolf successfully managed to stay one step ahead, refusing to let himself be drawn back into the army as a conscript.