RICE, Albert James
| Service Number: | 457 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 8th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Essex, England, 12 May 1892 |
| Home Town: | Colac, Colac-Otway, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Acute Pulmonary Embolus, Melbourne, Victoria, 13 June 1958, aged 66 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Melbourne | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
| 26 May 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion, embarked Alexandria for Marseilles | |
| 21 Apr 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Company Sergeant Major, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion, France - Gassed | |
| 10 May 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion, embarked England for Melbourne on board HT Wehehe | |
| 12 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 457, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
| 15 Apr 1920: | Honoured Distinguished Conduct Medal, 'For great gallantry at Lihons, 11 August, 1918. This W.O. did admirable work directing platoons whose officers had become casualties. Later, when his company was held up by machine gun fire, he worked forward alone and captured the machine gun, killing the crew and allowing the advance to continue.' 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 35 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Lieutenant Albert James Rice DCM (Service No:457) enlisted in the AIF on 19 August 1914 as a Private, and was attached to 8th Infantry Battalion on 19 October 1914 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne for Gallipoli on board HMAT A24 Benalla. Corporal Isaac embarked from Alexandria for Marseilles on 26 May 1916, and was in France with 8th Infantry Battalion on 31 March 1917 when 'The Army Corps Commander wishes to congratulate 457 Sergeant Rice for the following act of bravery. At Donancourt on 20 March 1917 a pair of horses attached to a loaded wagon bolted down the main street. Without hesitating Sergeant Rice jumped at the head of the offside horses and seized the reins. For thirty yards he was dragged along the street ..." (1st Anzac Routine Order; NAA). Company Sergeant Major Rice was WiA in France (Gassed) on 21 April 1918, and by December that year was appointed Lieutenant. On 12 July 1918 Lieutenant Isaac embarked from England for Melbourne, accompanied by his wife, and his Appointment was Terminated on 12 July 1919. Lieutenant Isaac was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) on 15 April 1920 (Commonwealth Gazette) 'For great gallantry at Lihons, 11 August 1918'.
Albert was born in Essex, England in 1892, second of eight children of Samuel Jeremiah Rice (b1867 in Middlesex, England) and Alice Mary Williams (b1869 in Staffordshire, England). Samuel (a Soup Cutter/Stamper) and Alice married in 1889 in West Ham, Essex where they settled and raised their family and Samuel worked as a Labourer (Soap Factory) and Sugar Refiner.
Albert worked as a Sugar Labourer in Essex before moving to Victoria post 1911, and was a Labourer in Colac, Victoria in 1914 when he enlisted in the AIF. In 1918 in London, Albert married Ada Willerton (b1897 in London, England), and the couple arrived in Melbourne on board HT Wahehe in 1919. Following Albert's Discharge from the AIF, he and Ada lived in Colac, where Albert was a Labourer, before settling in Melbourne in the mid 1920s. Albert and Ada divorced in 1928 - Ada remarried and Albert worked as a Carpenter and Garage Proprietor/Manager until his death in 1958.