Woodall's ogran

USS OAKLAND CL-95

Commissioned 17 July 1943 - Decommissioned 01 July 1949

Photo taken upon her final port call to

San Diego, California
20 November 1947.

The 8 gold stars divider bar represents the 8 battle stars
earned by USS Oakland while Chaplain Woodall was aboard.

Nick name: Flying "O"

This is an insignia that I created with 10 stars
forming a large "O" with the word "Flying" above it.
Each star represents the 10 campaigns that
USS Oakland CL-95 participated in during WW 2.

The Chaplain's flag was flown from
the main mast during Chapel services.

CHAPLAIN WOODALL'S ORGAN

In 2004 the little organ was given to Panhandle Plains Historical Museum at Canyon, Texas. As you can see it has received plenty of fair wear and tear over the last 65 years.

Bluebonnet
State Flower of Texas

Acknowledgments:

The only way that I find out information about USS Oakland and my former shipmates
is through their children, their friends or from friends of the Internet and I thank all of
them. Here is a fine example of what can happen from a gentleman seeking information
about a little organ and our first Chaplain, LT. Isadore O. Woodall. The true historical
facts may never be uncovered but we shall try our best to do so. (Webmaster)

To: William Elton Green, Ph. D.
Curator of History
Panhandle Plains Historical Museum
Canyon, Texas 79015

William Green is a "Navy Brat" he was born in 1943 and his father, Elton E. Green was
in the US Navy from 1942-1945. He was stationed at Norman, Oklahoma from the time
he finished basic training in late 1942 until the end of the war. He was a machinist and
taught machining at Norman. He's 87 and still quite active and lucid, but he regrets not
ever being more involved in World War 2.

Dr. William E. Green, Curator of History, has been seeking information about Chaplain
Woodall and the organ. On 8 July, 2008 he held a Internet search for Chaplain Woodall and it led to the USS Oakland web site. Since then he has been going full speed ahead
with his research. Here is what I believed might have happen and he is doing all the hard work investigating all the possibilities.

He would like to thank our OAKLAND web site for its help and interest. The museum
has an excellent web page at www.panhandleplains.org and he would hope you will visit it and when in the area please visit Panhandle Plains Historical Museum.

It started with this e-mail sent to me:

Bill Green [mailto:BGreen@PPHM.WTAMU.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:25 PM
To: phenriott@rtcol.com
Subject: Isadore O. Woodall

Dear Mr. Henriott:

I was doing some research about a man named Isadore O. Woodall and found an
Isadore O. Woodall on your list of officers and crew of the USS Oakland.

I believe this probably is the same Isidore (or Isadore) Ormand Woodall who served as
minister of a Presbyterian church in Amarillo,Texas from 1965-1969. Afterwards, he moved to Santa Fe,New Mexico where he died in February 1985. We have a portable
pump organ that belonged to him during World War II during which he supposedly
served as a chaplain. Do you know of the man on the USS Oakland was a chaplain?

I know very little about the man who owned the organ. According to census records and the Social Security Index, we believe he was born in Alabama on February 1, 1904 to Isidore and Fannie Woodall. By 1910, they had moved to Hill County,Texas. The family still lived in Hill County in 1920. By 1930, Isidore (age 26) had married and he and his wife Marie (age 25) lived in Louisville,Jefferson County,Kentucky. They had a son named Sherrill Ormand Woodall who was born July 9, 1925 and died March 1, 1991 at Albuquerque,Bernillo County,New Mexico. I do not know if Sherrill had any children.

Please let me know if this information matches whatever information you might have. We want to learn more about Mr. Woodall. I plan to use the organ in an exhibit this fall.

William Elton Green, Ph. D.
Curator of History
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Canyon, Texas

As Dr. Green says "the story continues to blossom".

This Web Page was created by and
is maintained by Paul D.Henriott
Last Update 29 July 2008