Private Reither enlisted in the Army from Melbourne on 26 July 1940. He was assigned as a driver to the 4th Reserve Motor Transport Company after it formed in South Melbourne on 21 February 1941. After training at Caulfield, the unit left for Sydney on 9 April 1941 and embarked 2 days later onboard HMAT Nieuw Amsterdam for Singapore. The unit arrived in Singapore on 24 April and promptly moved to Kuba Park Camp at Malacca on the south-west coast of Malaysia. After several months of acclimatision and training, the unit was transferred to Singapore Island in August. By the end of the year, the unit was in a state of readiness in anticipation of a Japanese attack. It was kept busy during January 1942 transporting stores, ammunition and personnel to where they were needed, and also conveying the retreating troops from the Caseway at Johor Bahru back into Singapore after their unsuccessful attempt to holt the Japanese advance. By 17 February, after Singapore had been surrended, the unit moved itself and other military personnel to Changi Prison. From Changi, Reither was moved to Sandakan in North Borneo to help in the construction of a Japanese airstrip. In early 1945, after the airstrip had been completed, and with the threat of the Allies advancing, the Japanese decided to march the prisoners approximatly 260 kms inland to Ranau. The marches took place in three lots over January to June. Reither was on the second lot of these marches which started at the end of May. Of the approximate 536 prisoners who started out, only 183 had reached Ranua by late June. Most had either died or been killed along the way. Reither survived the march but was in a poor state of health. Warrant Officer William Sticpewich, a fellow prisoner, had heard rumours that the remaining prisoners were to be executed, so together they managed to escape from the camp on 28 July, by which time only about 35 prisoners remained alive. They hid in the jungle and were cared for by natives. Reither had been injured and was suffering from dysentery; he died on 8 August. Sticpewich was rescured just one day later, and was one of only six prisoners of more than 2,000 men to survive the Sandakan death marches and return home.