Washington –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. John P. Ryhter, 22, of Bedford, Ohio, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Apr. 8, 2024.
In Dec. 1950, Ryhter was a member of Battery A, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action after his unit engaged in intensive combat actions against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army in the vicinity of Kunu-ri, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, during the Battle of Ch’ongch’on River. At the time the circumstances for Ryhter’s loss were not immediately known, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
Following the war, in 1954, the opposing nations reached an agreement to exchange war dead, the execution of which was known as Operation GLORY. One set of Unknown remains, designated X-14632 OP GLORY, was reportedly recovered from Camp 5 Prisoner of War Cemetery, Pyoktong, North Korea. Definitive proof could not be found between X-14632 and Ryhter, and the remains were determined to be unidentifiable. They were then sent to Hawaii where they were buried as an Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, known as the Punchbowl.
In Sept. 2019, DPAA personnel exhumed Unknown X-14632 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory, for analysis.
To identify Ryhter’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Ryhter’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Ryhter will be buried in Bedford, Ohio, on a date to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War Accounting page on the DPAA website at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebKorean.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Ryhter’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004s9LEAQ.