On November 20, 2018, Marine Corps SGT Millard Odom. Odom, 26, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Son of Guy & Monnie Mae (nee Harrison) Odom; step-son of Andy Septus McCurdy Allen.
Already a Marine when the attacks on Pearl Harbor shook the United States into World War II, Millard re-enlisted on September 14, 1942 from Camp Elliott, California.
Sergeant Odom was with his brothers in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (K-3/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Millard - just 26 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in the East Division Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Millard's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
The battle of Tarawa was a significant victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. Odom was reportedly buried in Cemetery #33. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but SGT Odom's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as the "Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
On February 27, 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-273 from the NMCP, and sent the remains to the laboratory.
On August 13, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Millard Odom, and Mrs Pauline Stewart received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news - her big brother was coming home.
On August 20, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that Marine Corps SGT Millard Odom had been accounted-for. To identify Odom's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Millard was finally returned to his family and, on the 75th anniversary of his death, laid to rest in Miramar National Cemetery, in San Diego, California, with full military honors.
Marine Corps Sergeant Millard Odom is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, SGT Odom's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56127320, cenotaph). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Millard is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 18-127 (Sept. 4, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
On November 20, 2018, Marine Corps SGT Millard Odom. Odom, 26, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Son of Guy & Monnie Mae (nee Harrison) Odom; step-son of Andy Septus McCurdy Allen.
Already a Marine when the attacks on Pearl Harbor shook the United States into World War II, Millard re-enlisted on September 14, 1942 from Camp Elliott, California.
Sergeant Odom was with his brothers in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (K-3/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Millard - just 26 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in the East Division Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Millard's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
The battle of Tarawa was a significant victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. Odom was reportedly buried in Cemetery #33. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but SGT Odom's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as the "Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
On February 27, 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-273 from the NMCP, and sent the remains to the laboratory.
On August 13, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Millard Odom, and Mrs Pauline Stewart received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news - her big brother was coming home.
On August 20, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that Marine Corps SGT Millard Odom had been accounted-for. To identify Odom's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental, anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Millard was finally returned to his family and, on the 75th anniversary of his death, laid to rest in Miramar National Cemetery, in San Diego, California, with full military honors.
Marine Corps Sergeant Millard Odom is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, SGT Odom's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56127320, cenotaph). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Millard is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 18-127 (Sept. 4, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Inscription
MILLARD / ODOM
SGT / US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II
AUG 21 1917 / NOV 20 1943
KIA MIA PH / LOVE IS ETERNAL / SEMPER FIDELIS
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