Name
Harold John Odell
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
12/10/1940
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Able Seaman
C/JX 157109
Royal Navy
H.M.S. Ajax
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL
35, 3.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Tilehouse St. Baptist Church Memorial, Hitchin
Biography
He was probably a professional sailor, and his Service Number was C/JX 157109. He was in the crew of the cruiser H.M.S. ‘Ajax’ which two months later was to achieve fame in the Battle of the River Plate against the German pocket-battleship ‘Admiral Graf Spee’.
On the 12th October 1940 the ‘Ajax’ was sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean from Alexandria approximately 100 miles east of Malta at 35" 22'N and 16°58'£ with the s battle fleet. At 01.53hrs enemy aircraft were sighted and the ‘Ajax’ opened fire. At 02.00hrs the warship was damaged due to enemy action. At 02.41hrs firing was complete and action broken off. Thirteen men, including H.J. Odell, were killed. At 04.16hrs the fire in the central store due to enemy action was under control. At 06.30hrs Course 270° was taken to re-join the battle fleet. At 16.00hrs hands fell in on the quarterdeck for the burial service. At 16.30hrs pipe down.
He has no grave but the sea and is remembered on the Chatham Memorial to the Missing on Panel 35, Column 3.
He was the son of Alice Louisa Odell of Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Ship's Log ADM 53/11329 at the Public Record Office, Kew
