John Raymond Rice

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Sergeant First Class John Raymond Rice (April 25, 1914 – September 6, 1950: Age 36) was a a United States Army soldier killed in action in Korea in 1950.

Rice was born in Winnebago, Nebraska,[1] and had previously served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.[2]

During his funeral on August 28, 1951—at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City, Iowa—a cemetery employee noticed there were a lot of Native Americans among the mourners. When officials discovered that Rice himself was Native American, they stopped the burial, and made his wife Evelyn take his body home. According to cemetery officials, "Private cemeteries have always had a right to be operated for a particular group such as Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Negro, Chinese, etc., not because of any prejudice against any race, but because people, like animals, prefer to be with their own kind."[3] The following day, then-President Harry Truman publicly reprimanded the cemetery and the Sioux City town leaders. Rice’s wife was given a plot in Arlington National Cemetery. The press, and local groups in Sioux City also lambasted the Sioux City cemetery.

Sergeant Rice was buried with full military honors on September 5, 1951, nearly a year to the day after he died, in Arlington National Cemetery between two generals.[4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ John Raymond Rice: Sergeant, United States Army. ArlingtonCemetery.net (13 May 2006). Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
  2. ^ Way of the Warrior (2007) PBS documentary.
  3. ^ Sergeant John R. Rice. Notable People. SiouxCityHistory.org. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
  4. ^ Shiver (2003-09-05). John Raymond Rice. FindAGrave.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-02. “Plot: Section 34, Lot 1033-2”