KNIGHT ODIOUS O

1LT Odious "Odee" O Knight was a potential VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 03/30/2007 at the age of 60.7 from Heart Attack
Fairfax, VA
Date of Birth 07/08/1946
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with 57 AHC in 72
This information was provided by Mike Sloniker

More detail on this person: Odious D Knight flew with the 57th AHC in 72. I met him in 1988 in the Pentagon when I was working in the office of the Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC).

Everytime I asked him why his mother named him "Odious," he always had some BS answer. We knew him as Odee. He was 6'4", at the most 200 pounds, looked good in a suit, and was a smoker. He died of a heart attack, yesterday March 30th, in Tampa where he worked for Northrop Grumman. I think he was 59, I know I am older than he is.

When I first met Odee he was working for Delta at Ft Bragg as an aviation officer, and if I tell ya more, I have to kill ya to tell the rest sort of story. He is/was highly respected by all Army Special Operators, so, if the funeral is at Arlington National Cemetery starting at the old Chapel, the 250 seats will quickly. I am sure the current Army Chief of Staff, Gen Pete Schoomaker, and current Vice Chief of Staff Army, Gen Dick Cody, knew Odee. Not sure they know Odee has passed.

Odee was a loyal friend. In 2001, when I was considering telling Lockheed Martin to pound sand, Odee had a Washington area job offer for me from Northrop Grumman. Doesn't get any better than that.

As we age, we find ourselves around friends and acquaintances we are comfortable with, don't have to say much to in an update, and know they are a friend. Odee fit the bill.

The black tie affair next month at Tampa to honor the 20th year of the Special Operations Command will have one chair unfilled, but the memory of O. D. Knight won't be lost

From: Mike Sloniker

Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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