The Wall › Panel 31W › North Carolina › Odell Dickens
ODELL DICKENS
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
October 21, 1948 – February 25, 1969
Service recordOdell Dickens, of Whitakers, North Carolina, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 25, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 31W, Line 46 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 31W · Line 46
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Mortarman (0341)
- Born
- October 21, 1948
- Home of record
- Whitakers, North Carolina (Edgecombe County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 25, 1969
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
106 names on the Wall carry the date February 25, 1969; 60 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while Operation Dewey Canyon was under way. In Operation Dewey Canyon (22 January–18 March 1969) the 9th Marines struck North Vietnamese base areas in the Đa Krông and A Shau valleys, the last major Marine offensive of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 31W, Line 46
- LAWRENCE GERARD DONALDSONPrivate First Class · February 25, 1969
- SAMUEL ALVIN EKLOFECorporal · February 25, 1969
- RAYMOND LLOYD FLINTPrivate First Class · February 25, 1969
- DOUGLAS BRUCE FORSBERGPrivate First Class · February 25, 1969
From Whitakers
- MACK ARTHUR ALSTONSpecialist Four · September 13, 1967
- ALBERT ALLEN TIPPETTSpecialist Four · February 14, 1968
- EDDIE WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · September 1, 1968
- LEE VERN SILVERPrivate First Class · February 17, 1969
- JAMES EDWARD DEBREWCorporal · May 10, 1970
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.