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| courtesy of Marthann Kohl-Fuhs |
PFC John Jerome Rihner was born 24 Dec 1915 in Washington township, Iowa. He was the 6th of 8 children born to John and Anna Marie (Seversen) Rihner. His mother was a native of Norway. His father did odd jobs and worked as farm labor in Shelby County, Iowa. A brother and a sister died in 1926, the sister from appendicitis. Anna, or Mary as she was known to all, died in 1928 and John's father died in 1932. They were only 45 and 55 years old respectively. When John registered for the draft in 1940 he listed his Phyllis as his next of kin but he was not living with her. He also said that he was working for Watson Brothers Transportation.
John was drafted in November 1942. At some point he was sent to England and then to the replacement depot from which he was transferred to G Company 116th Infantry on 22 Jul 1944. As with many other soldiers on the battlefields of France he was initially reported as missing in action but his body was recovered and the report corrected to show that he had been killed in action on 3 Sep 1944 as the unit participated in the attack on Brest, France.
PFC Rihner was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in the
Shelby Cemetery in Shelby, Iowa.
Brother Russell Dean Rihner served as a T5 in the U.S. Army 1941-1945.
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