ODOM, CHESTER RANDY III

REMAINS RETURNED OCT 3, 2000
ANNOUNCED WITHOUT A NAME APRIL 6, 2001

Name: Chester Randy Odom III
Rank/Branch: E1/US Army
Unit: C CO 1 BN 52 INF 23 DIV
Date of Birth:  28 Oct 1947
Home City of Record:
Date of Loss: 25 April 1971  (710425 USAEREC LIST)
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
Status (in 1973): AWOL
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 2021
with information from Merchant Marine Peter Sharpe.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: In Vietnam, military experts devised a system to try to relieve
the battle fatigue experienced in earlier wars by those who served long
tours with their units intact. In Vietnam, soldiers were rotated after
roughly one-year tours. The practice had noble intent, but it served to
isolate the soldier and interrupted continuity. Virtually as soon as a man
learned the ropes, he was shipped home and a green replacement arrived to
fill the gap. Some were quite literally, in the jungles one day and at
home the next. The emotional impact was terrific and thousands of veterans
are dealing with it two decades later.

Vietnam was also a limited political war, and had peculiar problems: a
vague enemy, restrictive rules of engagement, an uncertain objective,
non-military State Department minds directing many aspects of the war. In
certain periods of the war, military morale was lower than perhaps any
other time in our history.

Adding to these factors was the extremely young age of the average soldier
shipped to Vietnam. For example, the average combatant's age in World War
II was 25 years, while Vietnam soldiers were 19. The young fighters became
jaded -- or old -- or died -- long before their time.

For various reasons, some soldiers deserted or even defected to the enemy.
Their counterparts in the U.S. fled to Canada, manufactured physical or
mental problems, or extended college careers to escape the draft.

There are only a handful of American deserters or AWOL (Absent Without
Leave) maintained on missing lists. At least one of these was known to have
fallen in love with a woman whom he later learned was a communist. Another
fled because he had scrapped with a superior and feared the consequences.
This man was ultimately declared dead, and his AWOL record expunged. Most
are on the list of missing because there is some doubt that their AWOL
status is valid.

There is little information regarding those listed as AWOL on the missing
lists. For instance, the Army does not maintain a missing file of Private
Chester R. Odom II, reported missing on April 25, 1971. Odom's status was
declared Absent Without Leave until his name disappeared from missing lists
in the spring of 1982. His story and his fate are unknown.

Some of the reports among the over 10,000 received relating to Americans
missing or prisoner in Southeast Asia have to do with deserters, although
there is no evidence they have been asked if they want to come home. In
light of the amnesty granted draft dodgers by the United States Government,
can we be less forgiving of them?

Name added to the WALL May 3, 2001.

============================================

National Alliance of Families
Lynn O'Shea
08/18/2002 07:20 PM -0500

Way back I mentioned I was doing some investigating into the circumstances
of the loss of Chester Randy Odom, carried as a deserter, from the time of
his disappearance till the time his remains were identified.  At the time of
identification his name was added to the wall.

I contacted the Army to ask what information they had that changed his
status from deserter and allowed his name to be added to the Wall.   I never
received a response.

Based on information found in the Library of Congress, his IDPF, and a paper
published by scientists from AFDIL and CIL-HI (and available on the
internet,) I have learned the following:

Odom had a checkered civilian past with many run-ins with the law.   His
enlistment seemed to be an attempt to get his act together and straighten
out his life.  It didn't seem to work.

His army career was equally checkered.  He has several stateside AWOLs in
his records.  There are also AWOLs recorded in Vietnam.   In addition to the
Vietnam AWOLs, he was charged with and found guilty of striking a senior
officer and threatening to kill another.  There is also a mention of
accidently shooting another enlisted man but there is no documentation of
formal charges being brought in that incident.

He was suspected of drug use and sent for evaluation.  None of the
documentation I have confirms the drug use.

At the time his disappearance was noticed, 0600 - March 27th, he was
awaiting a discharge under AR 635-212.  According to a letter dated April
25, 1971, the dated he was DOR, "Pvt Odom was assigned to this unit on 4
September 1970.  From that day on he was a problem.  He has received article
15's for being AWOL and a Court Martial for assaulting an officer.  He was
suspected of using drugs quite heavily, although a visit with a psychiatrist
proved him quite sane and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  At
the time of his departure from LZ Stinson, Pvt Odom was pending a discharge
from the Army under AR 635-212."

The memo prepared by Dr. Tom Holland of CIL-HI, dated 3 August 2000, makes
reference to the discharge stating "On 27 March 1971 Private Chester r. Odom
III disappeared while on duty at Landing Zone Stinson near Tinh Binh
village, Quang Ngai Province, Republic of [South] Vietnam.  At the time, PVT
ODOM was awaiting a disciplinary discharge from the Army."

The CIL-HI - AFDIL paper titled "Witnesses Assist In Identifying Remains of
a Missing Deserter," states: "On March 27, 1971, a private in the United
States Army disappeared near Tinh Binh village, Quang Ngai Province,
Republic of [South] Vietnam.  At the time, he was pulling guard duty on a
landing zone."  It is interesting that this report refers to Odom as Pvt.
John Doe "to protect the privacy of the family."

His remains were returned in 1988 by unilateral repatriation.   The remains
did not match any known POW/MIAs.  According to CILHI documentation, at that
time they did not have access to records of the deserters.

Unable to match the remains to any known POW/MIA,  CIL-HI began looking at
the records of deserters and were able to match the 1988 remains to Chester
Odom.   Identification was made in August of 2000 and accepted by the family
on 3 October 2000.  It was not announced publically until the spring of 2001.

CIL-HI correlated the remains to Odom based on race, consistency with dental
records, approximate height, witness information regarding capture, time of
death and location of remains at the time of recovery.  Mt-DNA was also used
in the identification process.

According to the JTF-FA report of a unilateral Vietnamese investigation,
several secondhand  witnesses told of the capture of a black American in or
near the village of Tinh Binh.  According to the JTF-FA translation, one
witness stated  " a black American soldier, who he heard was addicted to
drugs, came looking for drugs during a craving, and was captured by Tinh
Binh guerrillas."

Another witness stated "that one black American traveling from NAI Dat Base
was captured.  While being transported from the area, the American resisted
the guerrillas, so he was shot to death in Tinh Try Village."

Odom  was not lost in battle.  He made a choice to leave his base, for
reasons known only to him.  Drug use could certainly be suspected.  However
there is no documentation to prove that Odom used drugs.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, on April 16, 2001.

I have documents to back all this up.  I don't know what to make of this.
What is the qualification for burial in a National cemetery, especially
Arlington?    There is no question Odom died in and at the hands of the Viet
Cong.   Yet, Odom was awaiting discharge under less than honorable
circumstances and all indications seem to be he chose to leave his post.
None of the documentation indicates any evidence that he was taken by force.

Did he intend to return to the LZ, but got picked up by the VC instead?   We
will never know the answer to that question.

Do we give him the benefit of the doubt?

I was very torn as to whether any of this information should be publicized
until similar information showed up in the press just prior to Thanksgiving,
2002.

As of April 16 2001, his mother was still alive.   But, after looking at the
documentation, I am not sure that they didn't bury a deserter, in Arlington.
If they had buried him any where else, this might not bother me, as much as
it does.

What do you think?

Lynn O'Shea

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000vjFzxEAE