James Gerard O’Dea was born on May 27, 1926 to Mr. and Mrs. Frank O’Dea in Rutherford, N.J. He attended Saint Peter’s College from 1943-1944 and withdrew to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. His unit was Company B, 1st Battalion, 29th Marines, 6th Marine Division.

On May 17, 1945, Private O’Dea was "Killed in Action" by multiple gunshot wounds in Okinawa. He was 10 days shy of his 19th birthday.

Private O’Dea was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the WWII Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the Presidential Unit Citation with 1 Star (two awards).

His body was originally interred in the 6th Marine Division Cemetery, Number 1, Ryukyu Rhetto, Okinawa, but was later disinterred and reinterred on March 21, 1949 in Section C No. 3330 in Woodlawn National Cemetery in New York. The headstone that adorns his grave was ordered from Green Mountain Vermont in April 1949.