WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Air Force Capt. Howard E. O’Dell, 30, of Poughkeepsie, New York, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for April 29, 2025.
O'Dell's family recently received their full briefing on is identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1950, O’Dell was a member of 36th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Group, U.S. Fifth Air Force. He was reported missing in action on July 19, in the vicinity of Taejon, Republic of Korea (South Korea), after his aircraft crashed upon landing. He was never reported as a prisoner of war and subsequent searches of the battlefield failed to recover his remains. In January 1954, the Air Force determined that there was enough evidence to declare that O’Dell had died in combat. He was declared non-recoverable on Jan 16, 1956.
On Oct. 3, 1950, an unidentified American unit recovered several sets of remains in Taejon and sent them to the United Nations Military Cemetery at Taejon, where they were interred the next day. In March 1952, one of the sets of remains, designated Unknown X-100, were exhumed and accessioned into the Central Identification Unit (CUI) Kokura for analysis. Due to the badly burned state of the remains, they were declared unidentifiable on Nov. 12, 1954. They were transported and interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In November 2019, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-100 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify O’Dell’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and isotope analysis, as well as chest radiograph and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
O’Dell’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
O’Dell will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a ate yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War Accounting page on the DPAA website at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebKorean.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
O’Dell’s personnel profile can be viewed at Capt HOWARD ELLIOT O'DELL - Service Member Profile.