O’Dell, Howard Elliott
Air Force Captain

Howard Elliott O’Dell, age 30, from Dutchess County Poughkeepsie, New York .

Parents: Raymond C. O’Dell
Spouse: Married

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, July 19, 1950
Death details: On April 29, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of U.S. Air Force Capt. Howard Elliot Odell, missing from the Korean War. Odell entered the service from New York and was a member of the 36th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Group. On July 19, 1950, he piloted an F-80C Shooting Star (tail number 49-698A) on a combat mission near Taejon, Republic of Korea. Odell led a four-aircraft flight to intercept enemy aircraft attacking the Taejon Airstrip. During the engagement, Odell’s F-80C sustained damage and he was forced to attempt a landing at Taejon, but the aircraft struck the ground and exploded. Odell’s remains could not be recovered at the time because the airstrip was also under ground attack, and U.S. forces withdrew from the area the next day. On Oct. 3, 1950, after the area was again under Allied control, U.S. personnel recovered a set of remains near Taejon. The remains could not be identified with the technology available at the time and were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu, Hawaii. In November 2019, the DPAA disinterred this set of remains as part of an ongoing project to identify Korean War Unknowns buried at the NMCP. The remains were transferred to the DPAA laboratory where scientists used modern forensic techniques to identify Odell.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency