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Army Sgt. James N. Stryker, 20, of West Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, who was killed during the Korean War, was identified by DPAA on Aug. 5, 2020.
DNA analysis was used to identify Sgt. Stryker’s remains were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the release says.
The remains were originally labelled Unknown X-1373 Tanggok but now his name will be recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, according to the release.
Stryker attended Harter High School and graduated from Meyers High School in1948 before going on to train at Fort Dix in New Jersey and Fort Lewis in Washington, according to the missing in action report in 1951 recently shared by WTAJ.
He shipped out with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division to Fort Meyer in South Korea in Aug. 1950, according to the report.
He was reported missing in action on May 18, 1951 but was not officially declared dead until after the Armistice was signed July 27, 1953, according to DPAA.
It is now known that he was killed in action on May 18, 1951, after his unit was attacked by enemy forces near Hangye, South Korea, according to his service record.
He received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal, the original MIA report stated.
He was a member of the West Nanticoke Methodist church. He was survived by his mother Marguerite, father Adonis, and brother Gordon Stryer, who lived in Reading, the MIA report stated at the time.
He will be buried in San Antonio, Texas, according DPAA.
A funeral date has not yet been determined.
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