Lenard B. Rice

Service # 229926

Entered Service From: Texas

Rank: Private First Class U.S. Marine Corps

Unit: Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, Corregidor, Philippine Islands

Date of Death: 21 October 1942, from malaria and malnutrition in the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.

Status: Missing in Action. Most likely buried as an "Unknown" in the Manila American Cemetery

Memorialized: Manila American Cemetery – Tablets of the Missing – United States Army and Army Air Forces.

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1920 United States Federal Census (05 January 1920): Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana (sheet 9A, family 166) – Leonard Rice (7 Louisiana).

Lenard graduated from Pineville Grammar School and attended Bolton High School in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

He enlisted as a Private (S/N 229926) in the United States Marine Corps on 16 September 1930. For some reason he did not enlist under his own name but enlisted as Harvey I. Cantrell. He was stationed in Parris Island, South Carolina (September 1930 to May 1931), Quantico, Virginia (May 1931 to 27 July 1932) and at Port Au Prince, Haiti (27 July 1933 to 11 June 1934), as a radio operator. On 15 September 1934 he was discharged, character "VERY GOOD" at Quantico, Virginia.

He reenlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1939 in Dallas, Texas, this time as himself. It was noted in his second enlistment that he had served under the name Harvey I. CANTRELL during his first enlistment.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 07 December 1939

Southern Recruiting Division, New Orleans, Louisiana

Private Lenard B. Rice. He was accepted and reenlisted at DHS, Dallas, Texas and was sent to MCB, San Diego, California. (His 1st enlistment service was under the name: CANTRELL, Harvey I.).

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 09 December 1939 to 20 January 1940

Recruit Depot Detachment, Recruit Depot, Base Troops, MCB, San Diego, California

Private Lenard B. Rice. Joined from SRD Dallas, Texas. On the 10th of January he qualified as a sharpshooter. On 20 January 1940 he was transferred to Signal Detachment, Base Ser Bn, Base Trs, MCB, San Diego, California.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 20 January 1940 to 03 March 1940

Signal Detachment, Base Ser Bn, Base Trs, MCB, San Diego, California.

Private Lenard B. Rice. He was sent to radio school from 22 January to 17 February. He was transferred to Casual Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California, FFT Asiatic Station via U.S.S. ANTARES. Embarking on the 3rd and sailing on the 4th from San Diego.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 06 March 1940 to 23 March 1940

Casual Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Private Lenard B. Rice. He was sent to Casual Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California on 04 March 1940 via U.S.S. ANTARES and joined them on the 6th. On the 9th of March he was sent to Asiatic Station for general assignment via U.S.S. HENDERSON; embarking on the 9th and sailing on the 23rd.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 05 May 1940 to 25 September 1941

Headquarters Detachment, Marine Detachment, American Embassy, Peiping, China

Private/Private First Class Lenard B. Rice. He arrived in China via U.S.S. HENDERSON on 04 May 1940 and on 05 May 1940 disembarked at Chinwangtao, China and joined Headquarters Detachment. He was also promoted to Private First Class. Lenard served as a radio operator. On the 29th of August he was given the rating of specialist.

The Fourth Marines were responsible for protecting the International Settlement in Shanghai. Their mission was to prevent fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces from spilling over into the International zone and protecting American interests. Source: U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls; A Brief History of the 4th Marines by James S. Santelli (Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C. 1970).

On 25 September 1941 he was transferred to the Philippine Islands via U.S.S. HENDERSON sailing from Chinwangtao and arriving in Manila on 04 October 1941.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 04 October 1941 to 14 October 1941

Company "A" First Separate Marine Battalion, Marine Barracks Navy Yard, Cavite, P. I.

Private First Class Lenard B. Rice. Lenard arrived in Manila on 04 October 1941 via U.S.S. HENDERSON. He was transferred to Headquarters Company, First Separate Marne Battalion, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Cavite , Philippine Island on 14 October 1941.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 14 October 1941 to 03 January 1942

Headquarters Company, First Separate Marine Battalion, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Cavite , Philippine Island

Private First Class Lenard B. Rice. He was a radio operator assigned to the Marine Air Warning Service

In November, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that "The Government of the United States has decided to withdraw the American Marine detachments now maintained ashore in China..." Clouds of war were quickly closing in on the China Marines as Japan and the United States edged ever closer to active hostilities. "one could sense the tenseness in the air," Lieutenant Colonel Curtis T. Beecher remembered, "There was a general feeling of uneasiness in the air." Source: From Shanghai To Corregidor: Marines In The Defense Of The Philippines by J. Michael Miller (Marines in WWII Commemorative Series), page 3.

All the rest of the 4th Marines in China were transferred to the Philippines.

On 08 December 1941 war with Japan broke out and on 10 December, Cavite was bombed. Repeated bombings over the next few days decimated the defenses, and Cavite was effectively abandoned. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December 1941. The rapid advance of the Japanese led General Douglas MacArthur to abandon Manila and to declare it an open city and order the withdraw of American and Filipino troops on Luzon to the Bataan peninsula. On 22 December, PFC Rice's outfit packed what supplies and equipment they could and left for new positions near Limay, Bataan. They spent a doleful Christmas at Mariveles, then boarded a little fleet of barges and sailed for Fort Mills on the island of Corregidor. On 01 January 1942 the First Separate Marine Battalion was redesignated as 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. It seems that Private First Class Lenard B. Rice was one of the men who was on Corregidor.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls - 03 January 1942 to 30 April 1942

Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, Corregidor, Philippine Islands

Private First Class Lenard B. Rice. He joined Headquarters Company on Corregidor on 03 January 1942.

Although his muster rolls show him on Corregidor it is believed he was ordered back to Bataan in January and joined his unit (colloquially known as "the Rogues") at Limay, Bataan. "In early April, shells started falling on the radar detachment, and they pulled out of their camp and joined the southward retreat hoping to get their priceless equipment safely to Corregidor. After several days of confusion and chaos, the detachment arrived at a burning ammunition depot. His superior officers tried "to find some higher authority, or some instructions for moving their equipment across the bay to the comparative safety of Corregidor. That did not happen and Private First Class Leonard Rice became a prisoner of the Japanese when *Bataan fell on 09 April 1942. Source: https://missingmarines.com/lenard-b-rice/

*The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says he was captured on Corregidor in which case he would not have been on the death march or in Camp O'Donnell but would have taken to Cabanatuan after Corregidor fell on 06 May 1942.

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Leonard Rice, 29, of Pineville in Marine Corps, Missing on Bataan

Leonard Rice, 29, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rice, 919 College Drive, Pineville, has been reported missing in action on Bataan, his mother announced today after receiving a message from the war department which stated that it was not known whether he was captured or killed. Rice was a radio operator in the marine corps.

He was a former student of Bolton high school and joined the marines in November 1939, taking his training in San Diego, Calif. He was then sent to China and landed at Shanghai on May 5, 1940. He was sent to the Philippines in October of last year.

On Oct. 26 of last year the parents in Pineville received a cablegram from Leonard saying he was at Cavite and that a letter was on the way. The letter did not arrived until December, and that was the last word Mr. and Mrs. Rice had from their son, hearing nothing from him after Japan attacked on Dec. 7.

There are four other children of Mr. and Mrs. Rice. They are Ollie Rice and Mrs. Lillie Nexom of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Dixie Breland and Mrs. Hilda Walker of Pineville. Source: The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), Friday, 24 April 1942, page 1.

Three Central Louisianians Are Missing in Action

Navy Department Releases Names of Marines

The Navy Department today released the following names of persons in Central Louisiana who are missing in action: ... Leonard B. Rice, Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps. Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rice, 919 College Drive, Pineville.

(The Town Talk carried the story of Lenard Rice being missing in action about a month and a half ago when his parents in Pineville were notified. The Pineville marine was on Corregidor when it fell to the Japanese. Rice, who will be 30 years old in August, has been in the Marine Corps for a little more than two years – his second enlistment. He served in the marines for four years and was out five years before his re-enlistment. His parents last heard from him by letter on Oct. 16, 1941. Source: The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), Monday, 01 June 1942, pages 1 & 2.

PFC. LEONARD RICE, MISSING AT BATAAN, IS PRISONER OF WAR

Alexandria, April 26 (Special) – Another Rapides parish boy is a prisoner of the Japanese, according to word received today by his parents from the war department. He is Pfc. Leonard B. Rice, 30, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rice, of 919 College Drive, Pineville, who was first reported missing in action after the fall of Bataan.

Rice, a radio operator in the Marines Corps, enlisted in the Marines in November 1939, and was dispatched to China in May of 1940. He was later sent to Manila and was there when the war broke out, his mother reported following the letter today.

The letter reporting that he is "alive and well," was sent out by the Red Cross and said he is held in the Manila bay area. Source: The Shreveport Times, 27 April 1943.

Sadly he was already dead by the time his family received official word he was a prisoner of the Japanese

June 1942 Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.

Private First Class Lenard B. Rice (S/N 229926) was stricken on 18 June 1942 with "malaria and undernourishment." He died while being treated at 1:00 pm, 21 October 1942, of "malaria and malnutrition", in Barracks #25, Hospital Area. The only belongings Lenard had was a Marine Corps Identification Card. He was one of 14 men to die that day, the 2032nd prisoner to die in the camp since it opened in June. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. He was buried in communal grave Grave No. 509 in the camp cemetery along with 14 other deceased American POWs.

Pineville Marine Dies in Jap Prison Camp

Pfc. Leonard B. Rice, 30, of the marine corps, who was reported a prisoner of the Japs at Manila, Philippine Islands, in April 1943, died in a prison camp, according to a telegram received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rice, 919 College Drive, Pineville, from Lt. Gen. T. Holcomb, commander of the marines.

Pfc. Rice, a radio operator, was reported missing on Bataan in April, 1942...Details of his death are not available. Source: The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), Tuesday, 06 July 1943, page 1.

Memorial Service Held

Sunday morning a memorial service was held at the Methodist church for the first casualty of the congregation, Leonard Rice, who died in the Philippines.

Brother, R. M. Bentley delivered a beautiful tribute to one who gave his life and offered consolation to those who mourn. The church was decorated with flowers. The table from which a banner with 20 stars, for members in service, one being gold for the deceased, was displayed.

An arrangement for Leonard Rice's favorite red radiance roses were displayed by Mrs. Robert Durham, a basket of gladioli and mixed flowers from Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Honeycutt and gladioli and fern from the congregation.

The family expresses it gratitude and appreciation for this thoughtfulness. Source: The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), Wednesday, 28 July 1943, page 5.

Family Notified of L. B. Rice's Death in PW Camp.

Leonard B. Rice, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Rice, 919 College Drive Pineville, died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines on October 21, 1942, according to a letter received by his parents this week.

A radio operator in the Marines, Rice was stationed on Corregidor at the time of its fall. He parents were notified on April 21, 1942 that he was missing, and a year later, on April 22, 1943, that he was. prisoner, then on June 30, 1943 that he had died while in prison. The letter received this week gave the cause of his death, which was caused by malaria.

He joined the marines in December 1939 and landed in China on May 5, 1940. Shortly before the war started he was transferred to the Philippines. His parents received one letter and a cable after he moved, but no direct communication after the war began. Source: The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), Friday, 04 January 1946, page 10.

After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. All but three of the 15 men were successfully identified. Lenard was one of the three. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like PFC Rice who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.

"HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD"

Private First Class Lenard Barben Rice is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing – United States Marine Corps at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.