A local legacy.
A living mission.

The Romain Schell name connects Oakdale's past to its future.

Chartered February 12, 1934, and incorporated in 1950, Post 2922 was named for Oakdale World War I veteran Romain Schell. Generations of combat veterans have carried that name forward through fellowship and public service.

Who was Romain Schell?

Romain Henry Schell was one of our own — a young man from this area whose sense of duty gave our Post its name.

Romain Henry Schell was born January 28, 1894, in nearby Knights Ferry, California. By 1917, he was a 24-year-old married lineman living in the Manteca area. Although his marriage could have provided an exemption from military service, he chose to serve. As a newspaper account later put it, he believed he “owed a duty to his country which he could pay only with service.”

In the fall of 1918, Romain entered the U.S. Army. In late October, recruits were sent toward Camp Rosecrans near San Diego as the deadly influenza pandemic was sweeping through military camps and communities across the country. Romain became critically ill and died at Camp Rosecrans on November 4, 1918. He was just 24 years old — seven days before the armistice ended World War I.

Romain never reached the battlefields of Europe, but his service still cost him his life. Sixteen years later, when local veterans organized Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2922 in Oakdale, they chose to place Romain Schell’s name upon it.

That is why we are Romain Schell VFW Post 2922. His story reminds us that service and sacrifice take many forms, and that the names we carry should never be forgotten.