Pictures of Joseph J. Woodford
January 20, 1918 to September 7, 1973
Compiled by his son Joseph John Woodford II

My father, Joseph J. Woodford, kept a cardboard box on the top shelf of his bedroom closet. It contained a scrapbook lovingly maintained during WW II by his sister Dorothy. Also stored in the box were loose photographs and assorted memorabilia from his service in the US Marine Corps during the War. That box was passed on to me upon his death in 1973.The materials in this e-scrapbook are from that box and from family archives shared by my sister, Jackie Whittaker

During the desperate early days of WW II the Marine Corps formed four raider battalions. Joe Woodford was an original member of the 2^nd Raider Battalion known as Carlson’s Raiders. It was designated on February 19, 1942 under the command of Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson

To give his Raiders an identity Carlson designed a past-on calling card with death’s black head on crossed yellow scimitars on a scarlet red background. Each Carlson Raider was issued 20 to stick on various places that the Raiders visited, such as Midway, Makin Island and Honolulu. They proved to be very impractical in the humid tropical climate of the South Pacific because they all stuck together in seabags. Thus they are a rare collectors item today.

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