Overview
- The Spirit of Normandy Trust confirmed Monday that Henry Rice, a Cranleigh, Surrey resident and Second World War veteran, has died aged 100.
- Rice served as a signaller aboard HMS Eastway and arrived off Juno Beach days after the D‑Day landings, transporting troops, vehicles and supplies to Normandy.
- After Normandy he served in the Mediterranean and the Far East and was later awarded France’s Legion d’Honneur for his wartime service.
- He spent decades on remembrance work, visiting the British Normandy Memorial, handing the final ceramic poppy at the Tower of London and speaking to schoolchildren during the 82nd D‑Day anniversary in June 2026.
- Reports note a wartime near‑miss by a torpedo with limited sourcing, and his death, coming soon after fellow veteran Ken Hay’s, underlines the accelerating loss of first‑hand WWII testimony for future generations.