A buck private in the US Sixth Army in his teens, Albert James Rymph came with the forces of Gen. Douglas McArthur that landed in Leyte in 1944 and eventually liberated Manila.  Little did he know that it will be in the Pacific islands of the Philippines that his desire of serving God will be confirmed.  Earlier, at age 17, he had decided to enter the ministry and then had to wait for his 18th birthday to enlist in the Army for WW II service.

From Leyte, Rymph was transferred from the EPD Company to HQ Company in Tacloban where he was promoted to PFC. He was puzzled why he was the only soldier transferred out of EPD only to find out weeks later that EPD Company was ambushed by superior Japanese forces killing almost everyone in his former unit.  He would find out later that God was preparing him for something bigger.

He then joined the Luzon Liberation Campaign getting assigned to logistics in the 21st Replacement Depot that was to be part of the US invasion forces to Japan.  While with the 21st, he rose to Sergeant and then Staff Sergeant.  When Japan surrendered, he was assigned to the 5th Camp Battalion in Manila and then to the Manila Leave Center to help personnel transit back to the US, including Allied POWs and missionaries whom the US forces had rescued from the Japanese.  One of those freed was Dr. Roxy Lefforge who was with other internees at the Los Baños Concentration Camp in Laguna.

The Manila Leave Center was then adjacent to Harris Memorial School along P. Paredes St., Sampaloc and the original Bethel Girls High School campus where the Methodist missionaries stayed and recuperated.  At this time, Rymph was with the 4th Camp Battalion that had cleared an area to set up an army base with tents on wooden floors, temporary buildings, dispensary, and officers and NCO clubs.

In his memoirs, Rymph writes:

"My biggest delight while in Manila was locating the Knox Memorial Methodist Church just a short walk west and north of the MLC [Manila Leave Center]. This church, together with the Methodist Bethel Girls High School, had come through the fighting intact, or at least with only minor scars. Here I met the congregation that gathered and worshipped there. I was impressed with the education and Christian commitment of its families and members. And here I met Dr. Francis Brush and Dr. Roxy Lefforge. He was the pastor and she was my Church School teacher. Years before she had been a missionary in China and had to flee the communist terror. She arrived in the Philippines only to be captured later by the Japanese.
 

"They both welcomed me. Almost adopted me. Their friendship greatly enriched my waiting time. Both were Methodist missionaries who had been imprisoned by the Japanese, and only minutes before their scheduled execution, were rescued through an unexpected early morning operation by American forces. They began to regain health and weight after they took residence in the Methodist Bethel Girls High School compound.

"Knox Memorial Methodist Church in Manila was a high point in my military life. There was an indifference and sometimes hostility to religion in the Army. I found that I had to be intentional about it to religiously survive. Through it all I must have missed church life more than I knew. At Knox Memorial, I relished sitting with a worshipping congregation, singing hymns, reading responsives, listening to preaching, and having a Church School class and teacher, and friendly people who were comfortable loving the Lord. I was one of very few service men in Manila who attended Knox Memorial so far as I could see. I thank and praise God that He brought me to it and made me a part of it."

After his discharge from the US Army on May 9, 1946, he went back to Southwestern College, a Methodist Liberal Arts College in Winfield, Kansas and after graduating there in 1949, Rymph began seminary studies at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.  After North Korea invaded South Korea, he was recalled to the Army but fortunately his service was limited to the US homeland.
 

He was ordained Deacon in the Central Kansas Conference of the Methodist Church in October 1952 and after graduating from SMU in 1955, he was ordained Elder in the same conference in October 1955.  Rev. Albert James Rymph retired from the ministry on May 1989 from the Kansas West Conference of the UMC after almost 47 years of faithful service to the Lord. 

As Knox UMC celebrates its 107th Founding Anniversary today, we remember with pride and joy, Rev. Rymph, a servant of God who gave 47 years of his life in faithful service to God.  We know that his brief stay in our church, Knox UMC, helped even in some small measure, his decision to serve God fulltime.

Footnote:
My thanks to Bradley Rymph, son of Rev. Rymph, who initially contacted me via internet early August to get some information about the church to be used in a surprise birthday celebration for his Dad’s 80th birthday this coming November 9.    We were able to exchange very interesting highlights about his Dad and about Knox UMC and its ministries.  Let us all join in sending Rev. Albert James Rymph warm birthday greetings and our prayers for continued good health and opportunities to be used be the Lord even in retirement.