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- 36 years in Marine Corps, Rank of Lt. General
Thursday Evening, January 19, 1939 Lieut. Van Ryzin, Bride Will Leave Saturday for San Diego Recently returned from a 3 year stay in Peking, China, Lieutenant William J. Van Ryzin, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Van Ryzin, 124 S. State street, will take with him a bride when he leaves Saturday for his new post at San Diego, Calif. His marriage to Miss Evelyn Ingenthron, daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Charles D. Ingenthron, 617 N. Rankin street will take place at 9 o'clock Saturday morning at St. Mary parsonage.
While on courier duty in Shanghai he saw at first hand the ravages of the Japanese invasion of China. The bombing of buildings, roaring of planes over homeless Chinese and fighting on the Yangtze river, which are only newsreel pictures and newspaper stories to most Americans, were personal experiences to Lieutenant Van Ryzin.
Last spring he was on courier duty that took him to Tokyo, Japan, and on the way he stopped in Manchukuo and Korea, where the Japanese, he says, have made marked improvements.
His hundreds of experiences which read like the pages of a thrilling adventure novel, include being caught in a typhoon on the China Sea and riding on a Chinese refugee boat from Peking to Shanghai.
Lieutenant Van Ryzin arrived home Christmas eve. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin where he was active in the R.O.R.C. and a member of several engineering fraternities.
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Born in Appleton, Outagamie Co., WI; graduated from University of Wisconsin; Lt. General U. S. Marines (3 stars); he served in WWII in the South Pacific; served in Vietnam; last position held was in the U.S. Marine Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; retired in 1971 from active service and resided in Sheperdstown, West Virginia, where he and his first wife built a home called "Finally,", which overlooked the Potomac River. He lost his "dog tags" in Vietnam, and they were found in a small shop outside a hotel in Vietnam, in the hands of a street vendor; 400 of those dog tags were bought by Chief of Police Ray Milligan in 1993; one of those dog tags found was that of Lt. General Van Ryzin, and that tag was presented to his son, Retired Col. Peter Van Ryzin.
- WASHINGTON -- Lt. Gen. USMC William John Van Ryzin, 88, of Washington, D.C., and Shepherdstown, W.Va., died Monday, July 1, 2002, at his home in Washington.
He was preceded in death by two wives, Evelyn Grace Ingenthron and Joan E. Macdonald.
He was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1935 to 1971. He was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant upon graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 1935. He served with the Marine Detachment at the American Embassy in Peiping, China,during the 1930s, and was serving
with the 1st Defense Battalion on Palmyra Island at the outbreak of World War II. He received a Bronze Star with Combat V for meritorious service during 1941-1942 on Palmyra, and later participated in the Tinian operation, and the occupation of North China following the war. He
served in a variety of staff assignments following World War II, including several billets at Headquarters Marine Corps, and later, as chief of staff for the Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. Gen Van Ryzin commanded the 2d Marine Division from 1963-1965, and during the Vietnam War, served for three months as Deputy Commander, III Marine Amphibious Force. He retired from active duty with the Marine Corps in 1971.
He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Shepherdstown.
He was a member of Shepherdstown Men's Club, Forty and Eight; was a founding member of the Historic Shepherdstown Commission with many years of restoration work of the Entler Hotel; and was principal volunteer for the Jefferson County United Way, where he received the de Tocqueville Award for being Mr. United Way.
He is survived by two sisters, Helen Venrose and Mary Jane Leuer; one brother, Arthur Van Ryzin; two sons, Peter Van Ryzin and Joseph Van Ryzin; four grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be Sunday at 2 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, Shepherdstown.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Shepherdstown Historic Commission, P.O. Box 1786, Shepherdstown, WV 25443.
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1914 - 2002 (88 years)
