Richard P. Rice was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1924. He moved with his family to Bragg City, MO, in 1929. He attended Missouri Military Academy, Mexico, MO graduating in 1942. He volunteered and was accepted into the USAAF Aviation Cadets program shortly after and reported for Pre-flight soon afterwards. He earned his wings flying Boeing/Stearman PT-17 Kaydets, Vultee BT-13/15 Valiant/Vibrators, Beech AT-10s, Cessna AT-17/US-78s/Curtis AT-9s. He was assigned to be a B-24 Pilot. In late 1944 he and his crew shipped over on the "Il de France" to England where they were assigned to the 853rd Bomb Squadron, 491st Bomb Group. He flew 4 missions as co-pilot before taking his own crew into combat in early 1945. While they flew a number of different aircraft, they were ultimately assigned the "Modest Maiden". They were hit by flak and landed at Manston Emergency Base following the 24 March 1945 Wesel resupply mission due to hydraulic failure. The airplane was destroyed when a damaged Lancaster bomber crashed into his B-24 later that day (not the next day as related elsewhere). Lt. Rice completed 21 missions before the war ended.



After the war, Dick Rice continued flying, becoming an agricultural crop duster pilot in Southeast Missouri on his family farm. He continued in aviation as both a pilot and an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic until his retirement in 1990. He passed away of natural causes in his sleep September 22, 2000.