Tom Rice | |
|---|---|
 Rice shaking hands with U.S. Navy Nurse, Cmdr. Abreail D. Leoncio in 2021 | |
| Born | 15 August 1921 Coronado, California, United States |
| Died | 17 November 2022 (aged 101) Coronado, California, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Doris Rice Barbara Rice Brenda Rice |
Thomas M. Rice (15 August 1921 – 17 November 2022) was a Staff Sergeant who served in the United States Army during World War II.
Tom was born on August 15, 1921, on a small wooden shack that his father, Marcus Rice built, in Coronado, California. [1] [2] He spent his childhood in Coronado with his parents and siblings. During the Great Depression his family passed through tough times. On May 29, 1934, Tom lost his father (Aerial Mechanic) due to a plane crash in Panama. [1] [3]
He graduated from the Coronado High School in 1940 (he joined the U.S. Army the same year at Fort Rosecrans) [4] and then enrolled at the San Diego State College in 1943, being regarded there as a top tier athlete. [2]
Before enrolling at the San Diego State College, Tom Rice was present at Pearl Harbor during the attacks of 1941, this motivated him to enlist in the elite airborne parachute school. [2]
Thomas was accepted and trained with the U.S. Airborne Jump School pioneers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. Tom later earned the coveted paratrooper wings through his determination and perseverance at Fort Benning.
Tom then entered the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division [5] together with people like Vincent Speranza and Colonel Howard R. Johnson, this brought him to serve as a platoon sergeant and command 12 paratroopers until he jumped on June 6, 1944, over Normandy for Operation Overlord and Operation Market Garden. [6] [2]
Tom was injured even before he reached the ground, but regardless of his injuries, he fought for a total of 336 days in the Battle of Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge, [5] conquering of Berchtesgaden at the takeover of the Kehlsteinhaus. [6] [3] He was injured a total of 4 times during the time he spent in the battlefield. [7]
Tom was honorably discharged on December 21, 1945, [8] and soon after he resumed his studies at the San Diego State College and married Doris Rice. He was a teacher at that same school, where he taught social sciences and history for nearly 44 years, [9] teaching notable people like Donnie Edwards. [1] Tom flew back to Normandy to do parachute stunts in commemoration of the 50th and later the 75th anniversary of D-Day, [2] repeating it after in the Netherlands. [10]
Rice is father of five children and has married a total of three times. His mother, Katherine died on February 26, 1973. He is remembered as a hero by the inhabitants of Bastogne.
He wrote his memoirs, named Trial by Combat: A Paratrooper of the 101st Airborne Remembers Division the 1944 Battle of Normandy in 2004. [11]
To celebrate his 100th birthday, in August 2021, he went skydiving over his town in Coronado, California. [12]
On November 17, 2022, at 12:33 am, local time, Tom Rice died of natural causes, aged 101 at his home in Coronado. [1] [2] [7]
His wife, Brenda, stated that "Tom had an amazing life. The first 100 years were easy, but the last one was tough". [1]
Rice's memorial service happened on December 3, 2022, at the Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church in Coronado. [1] He was buried at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is an air assault infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute battalion-sized air assault operations to seize terrain. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances, fighting behind enemy lines, and working in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. It was active in, for example, foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan in 2015–2016, and in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2018–2021.
The 506th Infantry Regiment, originally designated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, is an airborne light infantry regiment of the United States Army. Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment has two active battalions: the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
In military organizations, a pathfinder is a specialized soldier inserted or dropped into place in order to set up and operate drop zones, pickup zones, and helicopter landing sites for airborne operations, air resupply operations, or other air operations in support of the ground unit commander. Pathfinders first appeared in World War II, and continue to serve an important role in today's modern armed forces, providing commanders with the option of flexibly employing air assets. There was a group of pilots who were also designated pathfinders. They flew C-47 (DC-3) aircraft and were the lead planes followed by paratroop transports, used for dropping paratroopers into designate drop zones such as on D-Day, the Normandy Invasion.
The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne, just a few miles away from the border with neighboring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack.
The 502nd Infantry Regiment, previously titled the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment was established shortly after U.S. entry into World War II, and was assigned as a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, "The Screaming Eagles", one of the most decorated formations of the U.S. Army. The regiment saw substantial action in the European Theater of World War II and was inactivated in 1945, shortly after the end of the war. Reactivating in a new form in 1956, the 502nd Infantry has served in the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, Iraq War, War in Afghanistan, and Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. Since 1974, the regiment has been classified as an Air Assault unit. Currently, its 1st and 2nd battalions are active. Both battalions are assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
The 327th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. During World War II, the 327th was a glider-borne regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It fought during World War I as part of the 82nd Division. It has also been deployed in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and most recently to Iraq and Afghanistan. The song "Glider Rider" describes (humorously) some of the slights that glider-borne troops felt they received from the Army during World War II; though the regiment's public fame rose with the 1949 movie Battleground about the Siege of Bastogne in late 1944.
The Filthy Thirteen was the name given to the 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, of the United States Army, which fought in the European campaign in World War II. This unit was the inspiration for the 1965 E. M. Nathanson novel and 1967 film The Dirty Dozen.
The Niland brothers were four American brothers from Tonawanda, New York, who served in the military during World War II. They were sons of Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Niland. Two survived the war but, for a time, only one, Frederick "Fritz" Niland, was believed to have survived. After the reported deaths of his three brothers, Fritz was sent back to the United States to complete his service, and only later learned that his brother Edward, missing and presumed dead, was captive in a Japanese POW camp in Burma.
The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took place between 6 and 13 June 1944, on the approaches to and within the town of Carentan, France.
Donald R. Burgett was a writer and a former World War II paratrooper. He was among the Airborne troopers who landed in Normandy early on the morning of D-Day. He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division,, and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Burgett served in Company A, 1st Battalion, 506th PIR as both a rifleman and a machine-gunner.
The 501st Infantry Regiment, previously the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment and 501st Airborne Infantry Regiment, is an airborne forces regiment of the United States Army with a long history, having served in World War II and the Vietnam War, both as part of the 101st Airborne Division, as well as the War in Afghanistan. It is the first airborne unit by designation in the United States Armed Forces. Its 1st Battalion is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, located at Fort Richardson, Alaska. Its 2nd Battalion is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, located at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
American airborne landings in Normandy were a series of military operations carried by the United States as part of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. In the opening maneuver of the Normandy landings, about 13,100 American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, then 3,937 glider infantrymen, were dropped in Normandy via two parachute and six glider missions.
Mission Albany was a parachute combat assault at night by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. It was the opening step of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord. Five hours ahead of the D-Day landings, 6,928 paratroopers jumped from 443 C-47 Skytrain troop-carrier planes into the southeast corner of France's Cotentin Peninsula. The troops were meant to land in an area of roughly 15 square miles (39 km2), but were scattered by bad weather and German ground fire over an area twice as large, with four sticks dropped as far as 20 miles (32 km) away.
Howard Ravenscroft Johnson was an officer of the United States Army. He was the commander of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.
The 377th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment's 2nd Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division. Elements of the regiment have also served with the 101st Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division, and have seen service in World War II, Vietnam, and in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror. The 1st and 3rd Battalions as well as Batteries D and E are Inactive.
Julian Johnson Ewell was a career United States Army officer who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He commanded the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force in Vietnam, and attained the rank of lieutenant general.
Jack Neitz Womer was a decorated American World War II veteran and a member of the Filthy Thirteen demolition unit who was known for his World War II exploits. Womer was a member of the 29th Ranger Battalion, the 101st Airborne Division and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
The 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment, is an inactive M198 Howitzer/ M777 Howitzer 155mm field artillery battalion of the United States Army. The battalion has seen service with the 101st Airborne Division during World War II and Vietnam, and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror. The battalion has been stationed with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell; with the 18th Field Artillery Brigade and the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and with the 17th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Lewis, Washington.
The 101st Airborne Division is a specialized modular light infantry division of the US Army trained for air assault operations. The Screaming Eagles has been referred to by journalists as "the tip of the spear" as well as one of the most potent and tactically mobile of the U.S. Army's divisions. The 101st Airborne Division has a history that is nearly a century long. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands and its action during the Battle of the Bulge around the city of Bastogne, Belgium. During the Vietnam War, the 101st Airborne Division fought in several major campaigns and battles, including the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969. In mid-1968, it was reorganized and redesignated as an airmobile division and then in 1974 as an air assault division. In recent years, the division has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the height of the War on Terror, the 101st Airborne Division had over 200 aircraft. The division now has slightly over 100 aircraft.
Vincent J. Speranza was an American private who served in the United States Army during World War II.
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