Royal Navy signalman Henry Rice, who served on the landing ship HMS Eastway during the D-Day invasion and spent more than 80 years asking himself “why me”, has died at the age of 100.
Mr Rice, a grandfather-of-five from Cranleigh, Surrey, was one of two Second World War veterans who returned to France for the 82nd anniversary of D-Day in June. His friend Ken Hay died last month at 101, and Mr Rice passed away yesterday.
Last act of remembrance
Earlier this summer, the pair, known as “The Totemic Two”, stood on Sword Beach, where thousands of soldiers scrambled ashore amid heavy gunfire on June 6, 1944. It was to be their last act of remembrance.
Speaking to the Express in Normandy about his dwindling number of comrades, Mr Rice said: “A couple of years ago we were the Magnificent Seven, then it was the Fabulous Five, and now it is just the two of us.”
“Each year the number is diminishing but when I go back to Normandy I am back in service. I go because it is my duty.”
“And when I am there I look skywards and think, 'boy, I am lucky'. I close my eyes, look up, and just say, 'thank you, mate' because I am sure someone up there was looking after me.”
Awarded Legion of Honour
Mr Rice was awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest order of military merit, by the French government for his service, but always baulked at being called a hero.
He said: “Hero? No, not me. The real heroes are the boys who charged up the beaches. We return each year to honour and remember them because we must never forget their sacrifice.”
Born in Battersea, south east London, Mr Rice joined the Senior Service aged 17 in 1943 and served until 1947. He then worked for the Orient Shipping Line and later Cunard until he met his future wife Gwen, who issued him with an ultimatum: “It’s me or the sea.”
They wed in 1951 and were married for 59 years until her death in 2011. The couple had two children, Stuart and Ian, who died in 2001. He later joined the fire service and was one of the first men called to what was thought to have been a catastrophic gas explosion at a pub in Guildford on October 5, 1974. Mr Rice arrived at the Horse and Groom pub to find a scene of carnage which, after a bomb exploded at the nearby Seven Stars pub, was caused by an IRA attack that killed four off-duty British soldiers and one civilian.
His son Stuart said: “He was quite simply the best father anyone could wish for - it was the reason he lived with my wife and I - it was our way of thanking him. We owe him everything.”
“Behind the facade of jokes and leg-pulling is a man who cared and worried about other people - all at the expense of himself. But no amount of telling him would have changed that.”
Final salute at British Normandy Memorial
In June, Mr Rice and Mr Hay were two of four veterans to attend a service of remembrance at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, overlooking Gold Beach where the first soldiers landed on D-Day. There they stood and saluted alongside Richard Brock, 102, and Ken Benbow, 100.
Spirit of Normandy Trust chairman Richard Palusinski said: “This may well have been the last year veterans were able to return to Normandy as the greatest generation sadly, but inevitably, becomes the vanishing generation.”
“Names on gravestones and memorials are not just names to these veterans. They grieve for the loss of their friends and still ask the question: 'Why them and not me?'”
“Henry was a great character, with a cheeky smile that endeared him to everyone he met. He will be greatly missed by all and we offer his family our most sincere condolences.”
