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Pfc James J. Rider enlisted at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland on 10 March 1942.

Prior to entering the service he was employed as a maintenance of way employe on the P.R.R. Middle division. Pfc Rider trained at Fort George Meade, Md., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Knox, Ky. While on maneuvers in Georgia he narrowly escaped being drowned when the boat he was using with a group of fellow soldiers upset. Several of his companions were drowned.He had been overseas since early in July, landing first in England. In a letter two weeks after the one reporting him in England he wrote from France that he had landed where the invasion troops had landed on D-day. In subsequent letters he wrote of being captured twice by the Germans, that he had been held a prisoner for twenty-eight days in the first instance, being rescued by English troops. In the second instance he was held only fifteen hours until rescued. Other letters received from Pfc Rider told of his combat service first in France, then Holland, Belgium and finally Germany. He served as a machine gunner with his infantry group. Pfc Rider was a member of St. Mark's Catholic church, the Concordia and Frohsinn societies and the Eagles.