Remembering Veterans Who Made the Supreme

Sacrifice

might have been killed came in a letter from John Stanton, who was in the same company. In that letter he said he saw Wilbur go down before a hail of machine gun bullets and that he heard the following day that he had been killed. The name was censored out, but it could be deciphered as to who was meant.

Wilbur C. Odam was the first soldier from Putnam County to die in WW I.

Wilbur Clarence

Odam was one of the first men from Putnam County to volunteer for service in WW I, he was also one of the first from the county to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Corporal Odam was killed in action leading his men in the face of machine gun fire in the Argonne Offensive on September 27, 1918.

Odam, the son of William G. and Maggie Odam, was born on July 11, 1888, in Putnam County. He entered the service as a private in Company G of the Missouri Guard at Bethany, MO. On June 27, 1917, he was assigned to Co. G 139th Infantry. He was engaged in the following battles, advancing to the rank of Corporal, Grand Ballon Sector 19-28 June 1918, Wesserling Sector, July 16 to September 21, 1918, St. Mihiel offensive 13-16 of September 1918, Argonne Offensive, September 26 until the date he was killed. Odam was first buried in France and later shipped to Unionville for burial.

In recognition of his sacrifice, the Unionville American Legion Post 34 is named after him.

His father William G. Odam was in the Civil War from 1861 until the close of war. Andrew Nicholes, Moses Odam, and Jacob Odam, uncles of Wilbur, also served in the Civil War. Moses Odam died at the Battle of Shiloh.

The following is Wilbur C. Odam’s obituary from the November 6, 1918, edition of The Unionville Republican.

First Putnam County Boy Killed In Action

The sad intelligence came Monday morning that Wilbur Clarence Odam had been killed in action on September 27th in France. It is evident that he was engaged in the hot fighting which began on September 26th northwest of Verdun where the Americans began to break the Hun resistance in the most vital part of the whole front and where occurred the most vicious fighting.

The first hint that Wilbur

Wilbur was one of the first to volunteer from this county, and he joined Co. G. which was the old National Guard company at Bethany, Mo. This was made a part of the 39th Infantry, and was trained at Camp Doniphan from which place they were taken overseas. This division – the 35th – was one of the first composed of Nathional Guardsmen and drafted men to see service at the front, and Wilbur had gone through several attacks before his last one. He was an excellent soldier, which his record proves. He enlisted as a private, and it was not long until he had won his way to Corporal, which position he held at his death. …

He was of a quiet and unassuming nature and made friends easily. His character was of the

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highest and he was every inch a man in the best sense of the word. He was proud to be able to go to the front and do his part in this world crisis, and his letters to his parents breathe a deep patriotism seldom equaled. Since death had to claim him it probab ly found him just as he wished – in action, fighting for honor and safety of his country. He is the first Putnam County boy to be killed in action so far as is known, and while his death is a source of keen sorrow to all who knew him, yet since it had to be his name will have a peculiar honor. The entire county feels a share in this great loss, and recognizes keenly that he gave his life willingly for all of us. No higher honor can come to any man.

Sources:

“Wilbur C. Odam.”

Filed by T. J. Patterson, Clerk. 15 December 1919. Soldier Biography and Service Record, WWI, Putnam County History of Putnam County, Missouri, 2013 Putnam County Historical Society, 2013. Unionville Republican, 6 November 1918

Continued from pg. 9 and proposed several reservations to make it perfectly safe for the United States to enter. He spoke on Friday night in Kansas City on the problems of transportation, and advocated regional consolidation of the railroads in order to reduce the cost of operation and thereby the cost of freight. He emphatically declared against government ownership, but declared that some way must be found note only to operate railroads effectively but to reduce so far as possible their

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