Unknown remains found on a South Korean battlefield in 1951 have been identified as those of Plymouth Township native James M. Stryker, according to a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Stryker was 20 when he was killed in action, but his remains were not identified until 2020.
Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
James M. Stryker, 20, of West Nanticoke, killed in action 70 years ago
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Stryker
Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
An original article that ran after Stryker was declared dead in 1953. He had been missing in action since May 1951, aged 20.
Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
The article that announced Stryker was missing in action in 1951. He enlisted in the Army the following year. He received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal.
Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
Another newspaper clipping which reported Stryker missing in 1951. He would not be declared dead until after the Armistice was signed in 1953.
Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
After 70 years, a Luzerne County soldier killed during the Korean War will finally be laid to rest stateside, U.S. defense officials said Thursday.
Unknown remains found on a South Korean battlefield in 1951 have been identified as those of Plymouth Township native James M. Stryker, according to a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
Stryker, who was 20 at the time of his death, was declared missing in action in 1951 and declared dead in 1953.
He attended the now-defunct Harter High School and graduated from Meyers High School in 1948. His family’s residence, according to a news clipping from the time, was 121 East Poplar St., West Nanticoke. He was identified in that news article as the son of Mauguerite Stryker and the late Adonis Stryker, and also was survived by an older brother, Gordon, of Reading. Stryker was a member of the West Nanticoke Methodist Church.
The DPAA release did not release the names of any next-of-kin, stating only that family members had been briefed and that Stryker will be buried in San Antonio, Texas at a date yet to be determined.
An online obituary for Gordon Stryker published by a San Antonio funeral home indicates that he died in February 2012. He was a Wilkes College graduate an Army veteran who had survived the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
James Stryker enlisted in the Army in September, 1949, the news article stated. He completed basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey and then reported to Fort Myer, near Arlington National Cemetery. He was deployed to Korea in August 1950.
According to the press relase:
Stryker was serving as a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division when his unit was attacked near Han’gye, South Korea. Stryker was unaccounted for after the battle. Unable to recover any remains, he was reported MIA on May 18, 1951. He would be declared officially dead after the Armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.
A battlefied search later in 1951 yielded an unknown set of remains near where Stryker had disappeared. Identification could not be made and the remains were buried as Unknown X-1373 Tanggok at Tanggok United Nations Military Cemetery. The remains would later be transported with other unidentified remains of the Korean War to be buried as ‘Unknowns’ at National Military Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the “Punchbowl” in Honolulu, Hawaii.
X-1373 would be disinterred in 2017 after a family whose solider went missing in the same area requested the remains be compared. It was not a match, however a DPAA forensic anthropologist determined the remains could match Stryker or five other missing soldiers. On Aug. 20, 2018, X-1373 was disinterred again and sent to a labratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam, Hawaii for further analysis.
Scientists identified Stryker using circumstantial evidence, as well as anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis, the release stated. He was officially accounted for on Aug. 5, 2020, however, his family only recently received the full briefing.
Stryker’s name is on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing, along with others still missing from Korea. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he is no longer missing.
As noted, Stryker will be buried in San Antonio, Texas at a to-be-determined date.
