John Francis Rieger

John Francis Rieger
John Francis Rieger
Personal details
Birth name	John Francis Rieger
Born	23 April 1917 New York City
Died	9 June 2012
Nativity	United States
Awards	Bronze Star
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Cavalry
ASN	01013512
Rank	Major
Rank at Ritchie	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 3 (2 November – 23 December 1942)
Section	D
Teams	IPW 16, IPW 18

Awards and honors

Bronze Star

Teammates

Team — IPW 16

Team — IPW 18

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

John Francis Rieger (23 April 1917 – 9 June 2012) was a New York–born Ritchie Boy (Class 3) intelligence officer awarded the Bronze Star in Italy who later served as a Foreign Service officer.

Biography

John Francis Rieger was born on 23 April 1917 in New York City. After Bryant High School he attended Furman University and earned a B.S. at Mount St. Mary’s College (1939) and an M.A. at Fordham (1941). Entering the Army in October 1941, he trained with cavalry at Fort Riley and armor at Fort Knox, received a lieutenant’s commission, and served as an instructor at Camp Ritchie (Class 3) before going overseas.

Fluent in German from his parents’ household, he interrogated German POWs and took part in landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and southern France. A wartime citation credited his bravery as an intelligence officer in the initial assault on southern Italy with the Bronze Star. He finished the war as a major.

Postwar he worked briefly in opinion research, then joined the State Department—security posts in Germany, refugee relief, consul general in Salzburg, and administrative assignments from Tel Aviv to Bangkok—retiring in 1977. He died on 9 June 2012.

Gallery

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  Wartime article on Capt. John F. Rieger's Bronze Star (RB Archive)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	95
Class_ASN	13512
Class_Name	RIEGER, John F.
match_method	asn_partial_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 23 April 1917 — Born in New York City.
• 1939 / 1941 — B.S. Mount St. Mary’s; M.A. Fordham.
• October 1941 — Entered Army; Fort Riley / Fort Knox; Camp Ritchie instructor (Class 3).
• 1943–1945 — G-2 / POW interrogation; Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, southern France; Bronze Star; major.
• 1947–1977 — Department of State career (Germany, Salzburg, Tel Aviv, Khartoum, New Delhi, Bangkok, etc.).
• 9 June 2012 — Died.

Sources

• Wartime article on Capt. John F. Rieger's Bronze Star (RB Archive)
• Family correspondence summarizing Camp Ritchie service and Mediterranean landings (RB Archive source.txt; private email omitted)
• RB Archive: article transcript (Bronze Star / Woodside captain); biographical.txt (education and State Department career)
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-10-20 (1 post)