Ryder, John Leslie
Air Force 1st lieutenant

John Leslie Ryder, age 23, from Chisholm, Minnesota, Saint Louis county.

Parents: John Ryder

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: United State Air Force Academy (1968)

Date of death: Tuesday, June 9, 1970
Death details: Ryder was the pilot of an O1F spotter aircraft. He departed Pleiku Airbase on a visual reconnaissance mission south of Ben Het in South Vietnam with a destination of Camp Dak Saeng. The aircraft was located just north of Pleiku and was in radio contact with the tactical air control center. The next scheduled radio contact was at 1327 hours, but no further communication was established. He was reported missing. No immediate visual search could be initiated because of weather, and an electronic search conducted produced no trace of the aircraft of the crew. During June 10-19, an extensive search was conducted. He was officially classified Missing In Action. It cannot be determined whether the enemy knew their fates. Ryder’s mother visited the Vietnamese in England in 1976. While she said they were very cordial, they repeated “they will give out no information on the missing men until the U.S.A. has rebuilt Vietnam.”

Source: National Archives, The Bemidji Pioneer (1973)