author

E. G. Odell

1886–1929

A Canadian officer and co-author of a vivid First World War memoir, he helped bring the experience of the front lines to readers soon after the war. His best-known book, Hunting the Hun, has endured as a direct, personal account of combat.

1 Audiobook

Hunting the Hun

Hunting the Hun

by James Belton, E. G. Odell

About the author

Ernest Gregory Odell, often credited as E. G. Odell, is known for co-writing Hunting the Hun with James Belton. The book was published in 1918 and presents a firsthand wartime narrative, with Odell identified in contemporary records as Lieutenant E. G. Odell.

Library and public-domain records consistently link him with that book, though biographical information about his wider life appears to be quite limited online. The dates given for him in book and memorial listings place his life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his reputation today rests mainly on this surviving account of World War I service.

For listeners interested in personal histories of the Great War, Odell’s work stands out for its immediacy and its plainspoken style. Even with only a small public record available, his writing still offers a clear window into how soldiers of his time described war in their own words.