Walter Browne Woodson

Rear Admiral Walter Browne Woodson, U.S. Navy (Ret.) (1881–1948), was Judge Advocate General of the Navy under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, serving from 1938 to 1943.

Background Woodson was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, 18 October 1881. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1901, a classmate of Admiral Chester Nimitz. He was married to Ruth Halford Woodson (5 December 1882 - 19 May 1947). He had two sons, Commander Walter Browne Woodson Jr., U.S. Navy, and Commander Halford Woodson, U.S. Navy, (11 February 1921 - 9 April 1999), and a daughter, Ruth Halford Woodson.

Woodson was the first Judge Advocate General of the Navy to hold a law degree. All subsequent Judge Advocate Generals of the Navy have held them.

Woodson "graduated with distinction from George Washington University Law School in 1914 while assigned to duty in the Office of the Judge Advocate General." then as commanding officer of the 6th Division, 1916, and commanding officer, Battleships and Battleship Force, 1917.

He served as Assistant to the Judge Advocate General of the Navy in 1921, and again from 1931 to 1934. Military funeral services were conducted at the Naval Air Station Chapel, NAS North Island. Private interment took place at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Chaplain John W. Weise, USN, officiating.

Woodson was survived by two sons, a daughter, four brothers, two sisters, and two grandchildren. His wife had predeceased him.