Dear Friends,

I came into your son's squad as a recruit. I have been with him ever since. We are known as "Woody's Boys." Woody gave me my training, which I am indeed thankful for. Every man in Woody's squad had always praised him for sticking up for his men. Even in battle his men have always come first, what Woody has his men has... Woody's squad has the lowest rate of casualties in the Company. The reason is he kept us sober at the right time. That, however, is a minor reason. Woody always kept cool and calm, he never got excited. He's the calmest guy that I have ever seen. He also always could outsmart the Germans at every move because he always took time to think things out. He has saved my life more than once by his quick thinking and actions. We are all very thankful we are in Woody's Squad as he is the bravest man in the Company...He absolutely has no fear. He has charged the Germans with a machine gun. When the machine guns would get heavy, he would carry them himself and give us a break. He knew his machine guns from A to Z. He always had his machine guns in action. All we ever did was to do what Woody told us and it was always right.

Besides being a fighter, Woody was also a mechanical genius. He can fix anything if he tinkers with it long enough. He also can drive anything the Army has and is an expert at it. He can handle a 10 ton halftrack like it was a V8. He saved two mens life by driving a halftrack through a shell torn street up to where two men were wounded and bought them back to the Medic. The halftrack was riddled with holes when he got back. I will never forget that day. He climbed out of the riddled halftrack and grinned and said, "Poor shots!"

The rest of us would be scared to death, when Woody would always come out with some funny remark and make us forget about being scared. Woody might have been scared, but he never showed it once. His pet gun is the 50 cal machine gun. I could go one for hours telling you about the many times Woody has saved our lives and driven the enemy back or held them off. We all think the world of Woody and would follow him anywhere. He really is a great guy. He is always quiet and sometimes before going into battle or the attack, Woody would say a prayer for all of us and we would always come out all right. He has always kept us cheered up through the darkest moments. Although he probably has never mentioned it to you, Woody has been wounded twice but he never left the Squad. He always said, "When I leave you men, they will have to carry me off."...He told the medics to patch him up and he would go on...

You can be proud of your son. He has taken time out to write to you when he was so tired that he could hardly move. He always said home came first...Well friends I will close, before Woody comes back. As I am using his typewriter and if Woody ever found out that I wrote you this letter, he would break my neck. I thought it no more than proper that you should know what a great boy you have, and what he has done...Just keep this letter and let him read it when he comes home."

JUST ONE OF WOODY'S BOYS

(Cpl Richard Jackson 58-B, KIA date unknown)

Email 10 March 2015 from Vern Miller 130-Hq to Dr. Driver:

Sorry to learn that Mr. Woodall is no longer with us. We'll get our records corrected. But what a great letter! Makes me proud to have been associated with solders such as your father. I am forwarding your message to Andy Waskie, president of our 8th Armored Association and also to Scott Thorpe and Okey Taylor, webmasters of our www.8th-Armored.org site. This is a tribute that others need to see.

Email 11 March 2015 from Okey Taylor 58-C comments:

I noticed that Richard Jackson and Arthur Woodall were in Co. 'B' of the 58th Armored Infantry Bn. It was commanded by Capt. Ralph Elias who was my platoon leader (58-C) for a year before being promoted to Capt. and taking over Co. 'B'. 'Blackie' Elias was one of the great officers in a company of great leaders.