Chittagong War Cemetery

In 1985, I was a U.S. Army major attending the Bangladesh Defence (British spelling) Services Command and Staff College as part of my training to become a South Asia “expert.” The college took us on a trip to Chittagong, Bangladesh’s major port, and we visited the Commonwealth War Cemetery there with over 300 immaculately maintained graves. I asked if any Americans were buried there and was told there was one. The caretaker took me to the grave, and I was dumbfounded to learn that the individual was from Charleston (only 45 miles from my hometown of St. Stephen). I wrote down what information was available and contacted the editor of the Charleston newspaper, “The News and Courier.” The paper located William’s surviving brother, who provided me with details concerning how William came to be so far from home. He had been rejected for medical reasons from enlisting into the U.S. Armed Forces prior to our entry into WWII. He then went to Canada, where he was able to join the Royal Canadian Air Force and became a bomber pilot. His plane crashed during a mission over Burma on 23 April 1942. Pilot Officer Rice was 23 at the time of his death. His body was recovered and buried in Chittagong. U.S. policy is to repatriate remains of Americans to a U.S. cemetery, and our government contacted William’s mother after the war as to her desires. Her reply was “Let a soldier lie where he falls.” Thus, in the faraway country of Bangladesh, there is a small plot of land that should be considered sacred soil to all Americans. Daniel Webster stated in 1834, “God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it.” Thanks to the noble sacrifice of Americans like William B. Rice, we have been granted that liberty for over two centuries. Let us praise and thank God for their good and faithful service and that of our current servicemen and women. Let resolve to live our lives in such a manner as to prove worthy of their sacrifices. God bless our fallen heroes and the men and women defending our country today. God bless America!