Ozzie Osborn was born on June 16, 1943, in Amarillo, Texas, and grew up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. After graduating from College High School in 1961, Ozzie attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M for 2 years before working for the Harding Williams Company from 1963 to 1965. He then attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education in 1968. After teaching at Bartlesville Sooner High School for a short time, he was drafted into the U.S. Army on December 11, 1968, and completed basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in February 1969. PFC Osborn then completed Advanced Individual Training as a Field Artillery Crewman at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in September 1969, followed by service with the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill from September to November 1969. Sgt Osborn served as a Field Artillery Gunner with Battery A, 2nd Battalion of the 12th Artillery Regiment in South Vietnam from December 13, 1969, until he was killed in action in Quang Tri Province on December 23, 1969. Ozzie Osborn was buried at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Epitaph For A Hero

If I should perish overseas
In service to my Land
I shall have died a noble death--
Let none misunderstand.

I hope my body will be found,
Returned back to my home,
Where it was nourished and inspired--
No more to yearn, or roam.

Home is the soldier then from the war
Back to his family;
Home is the patriot at last,
Buried in majesty.

Pause, visitor, and cast a glance,
Upon a hero's grave;
Be thankful to breathe Freedom's air,
For which his life he gave.