William Elwood Rice (1923 - 2022)

Ancestors

Biography

Congressional Gold Medal, Tuskegee Airmen

William Elwood Rice served as a US military pilot during World War II. He was one of the “Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen.” The Tuskegee Airmen were known for heroic combat service in support of Allied Forces in the European Theater. They served with the 332d Expeditionary Operations Group and the 477th Bombardment Group, both largely Black units of the United States Army Air Forces.

William Elwood Rice, known as Woody, was born in 4 Dec 1923 in Media, Pennsylvania to Ethelene Wakefield and Phostell Rice.^[1]

During his senior year in high school at 19 years old, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was sent to basic training at Keesler Army Airbase in Biloxi, Miss., before being assigned to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for pilot training and where he received his pilot wings.

After combat training, he joined the 332nd Fighter Group in Italy in January 1945. The pilots of the 332nd Fighter group began painting the tails of their P-47s red and thus were called "Red Tails." This marking distinguished them from other squadrons. They also painted red bands on the noses of the P-51s and the rudder red.

William completed 34 combat missions in a P-51. On March 29, 2007, then-President George W. Bush awarded all Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.

After the war he returned to Pennsylvania and worked in Boeing's Helicopter Division for over 40 years until he retired in 1993

He passed away in November 2022 in Pennsylvania and was buried with military honors in the Rolling Green Memorial Cemetery in West Goshen Township,, Pennsylvania.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.debaptiste.com/obituary/william-rice

• https://www.stripes.com/veterans/obituaries/2022-11-30/pennsylvania-tuskegee-airman-dies-8249404.html
• https://6abc.com/tuskegee-airman-morton-pa-american-hero-veteran/12529561/
• Veteran Records: "Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966"
  Pennsylvania (State). World War II Veterans Compensation Applications, circa 1950s. Records of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Record Group 19, Series 19.92 (877 cartons). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 3147 #1132332 (accessed 6 December 2022)
  Name: William E. Rice; Birth Date: 4 Dec 1923; Birth Place: Media, Delaware, Pennsylvania, USA; Residence Date: 10 Apr 1950; Residence Place: Morton, Delaware, Pennsylvania, USA.