Lenard Barben Rice
PFC Lenard B. Rice served with HQ Company, Third Battalion, 4th Marines.
He was captured at Bataan and died while a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan, Philippine Islands, on 21 October 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 229926
Current Status
Remains not recovered.
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth*
July 28, 1912
at Baton Rouge, LA
Parents
Charles Henry Rice
Laura Olivia Jane (Lott) Rice
Education
Bolton High School
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
*Marine Corps records give the year as 1911.
Service Life
Entered Service
December 7, 1939
at Dallas, TX
Home Of Record
Houston, TX
Next Of Kin
Parents, Charles & Laura Rice
Military Specialty
Radioman
Primary Unit
HQ/3/4th Marines
Campaigns Served
Philippine Islands / Bataan
Individual Decorations
Additional Service Details
Rice served an earlier hitch in the Marine Corps from 1930 to 1934.
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Lenard (or Leonard) Rice, a pre-war China Marine serving his second hitch in the Corls, was stationed in the Philippine Islands when the United States entered World War II. As a skilled radioman, Rice was detached from his regular duties and assigned to the Marine Air Warning Service – one of the few units able to provide advance notice of incoming Japanese raids. This group (known colloquially as “the Rogues” and led by Marine Gunner John T. Brainard and First Lieutenant Lester A. Schade) operated independently, but were still backed into the Bataan peninsula and surrendered with the Allied forces there on 9 April 1942.
Rice survived the Bataan Death March and wound up in a POW camp at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija province. Unsanitary living conditions, harsh treatment by guards, and a starvation diet took a rapid toll on the prisoners of war; the malnourished Rice contracted malaria in June, and was finally admitted to the camp hospital. The disease proved fatal on 21 November 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition
Rice was buried in Grave 509 of the Cabanatuan cemetery, along with fourteen other prisoners – among them a fellow Marine, PFC Richard B. Maxson.
| Name | Rank | Service Number | Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanny, Clyde G. | Private | 6244140 | 41 | Identified |
| Rice, Lenard B. | PFC | 229926 | 30 | Unaccounted |
| Maxson, Richard B. | PFC | 267409 | 25 | Unaccounted |
| Sims, James D. | Corporal | 38011992 | 24 | Identified |
| Lafromboise, Frank | Private | 19054323 | 21 | Unaccounted |
| Tubb, James T. | Private | 6210845 | 42 | Identified |
| Paul, Clifford A. | Technical Sergeant | 6722467 | 33 | Identified |
| Trotter, Elmer K. | Sergeant | 7000462 | 22 | Identified |
| Hall, Milus L. | Sergeant | 38011899 | 33 | Identified |
| Looney, Virgel L. | Private | 38012349 | 36 | Identified |
| Walsh, Patrick H. | Private | 15061805 | 21 | Identified |
| Spensley, Homer V. | PFC | 20842999 | 21 | Identified |
| Wiggins, Elwood L. | Private | 19050241 | 23 | Identified |
| Hughes, James A. | PFC | 34084162 | [unknown] | Identified |
| Morgan, George E. | PFC | 37033580 | 27 | Identified |
Grave 509 was exhumed in 1946, and the remains sent to Manila for examination. In the years after the war, all but three remains were successfully identified. Rice, Maxson, and Private Frank Lafromboise of the 60th Coast Artillery are likely buried in Fort William McKinley Cemetery, Manila, as unknowns.
The unknowns listed above are associated with X-1224, X-1225, and X-1226, Manila Mausoleum #2.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Charles & Laura Rice.
Location Of Loss
PFC Rice died at Cabanatuan Camp #1.
