Chief Warrant Officer James R. Oden's award will be accepted by Mr. Chuck Atkins. He was drafted into service during World War Two, serving in Japan with the US occupation forces, and later with the US Army 25th Infantry Division during the Korean conflict. He also completed two combat tours in Vietnam as a heavy lift helicopter pilot. Throughout his service in these three military conflicts, he earned several awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, twenty Air Medals (one with Valor). In 1968, he retired after over 27 years of military service.

He was among the first pilots qualified to fly the complex 854 Skycrane and trained at the Sikorsky factory as an instructor in 1964. In 1968, Chief Oden was selected by the Army for a classified test mission to drop 10,000 lbs of high explosive bombs from the Skycrane into the jungles of Vietnam to create landing zones for helicopter combat assaults. After the mission was declassified and photos were publicized, he became known in Army aviation circles as the Skycrane Bomber Pilot, and was declared a war criminal by Hanoi Hannah, a radio propaganda personality in North Vietnam.

In 1969, he was assigned to the 291st Heavy Helicopter Company at Fort Sill, performing duties such as dropping a space capsule from 13,000 feet to test parachute rigging, taking a 1/10th scale model of the shuttle to 14,000 feet to test guidance systems, developing firefighting techniques using a 1000 gallon water bucket, and spraying a mixture of ammonia and urea to dissipate fog and open landing zones and airports. In 1972, as pilot in command, he led a CH54 crew to Panama to attempt to displace fog in the canal.