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Pfc John J. Van Meter graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School and attended college.

He was a chauffeur before he volunteered for the Army of the United States in Los Angeles, California on 9 April 1942.

He was killed in a motorcycle accident.

He was initially buried in a temporary grave at Margraten on 4 June 1945.

On 1 July 1945, the following article appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
WAR BOND TOTALS ADD UP TO FAILURE But Loan Drive Workers Won't Concede Defeat ... Yesterday at Lowe's Stillman Theater and again tomorrow, every purchaser of a bond at the booth in the lobby will have the privilege (of) trampling upon a captured Nazi battle flag as the buyer moves away from the booth. The flag was mailed in May from Germany by Paratrooper Joseph Van Meter, jr., to his father, as resident of the Hotel Belmont after hostilities had ceased in Europe. It was intended for George A. Schneider's corporate auction in Hotel Carter June 21, but it arrived on June 23, two days too late. Meanwhile many tragic things had happened. Young Van Meter had met death in a motorcycle accident in Germany and on June 15 when this news reached his father it proved too much. Mr. Van Meter, sr, died that day of a heart attack. A few days ago Schneider turned the flag over to the theater's management for whatever use they could make of it in the bond drive. Arnold Gates, manager of the theater, said yesterday he could think of no better purpose to put it to than to spur bond buying on "Forget-Me-Not-Day."

His widow was informed of his temporary grave location and was requested to state where her husband was to be permanently buried. However, this request did not reach its destination and was returned to the military authorities. According to the American Red Cross, his widow had remarried and Pfc Van Meter's father died on the day he received news of his son's death. The only surviving family member was an aunt whose address was unknown. For this reason, it was decided that Pfc Van Meter would be permanently buried at Margraten Cemetery. He received his final resting place on 10 January 1949.