Gerald enlisted on 8 September 1942 and was assigned to Company E, 508th PIR.

Pvt Reith was listed as seriously wounded in Holland on 22 September 1944 but was able to rejoin the unit on 11 November 1944.

Incredibly, in 2001, Ramón Reiders, a local historian, found this dog tag on the site of a first aid station in Nijmegen. The hole may indicate Gerald was hit by shrapnel.  (image provided by Gerald's stepson, Dick Johns)

Gerald was again hospitalized on 25 January 1945 as a "Non Battle Casualty", which may imply that he suffered frostbite.  On 16 April 1945 he was transferred to an the detachment of patients at unknown hospital and did not return to the regiment.

He was discharged as a Pfc on 26 October 1945 and immediately re-enlisted. 

On 19 January 1950, Gerald submitted this application for the Pennsylvania WWII Veterans Bonus.

Based on his grave marker he was transferred to the 504th PIR after that but the record of burial states that he was a member of Company C, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, an Abilene, TX based unit, despite the fact that he had been discharged at Fort Bragg..