101501 Private Earl J. Rice

Earl James Rice joined the 49th Battalion (E.R.) in Flanders in June 1916. He was wounded to the head by shell fire on the Somme later that year and would only rejoin the battalion early on the following year. On the 3rd of September, 1917, Rice was manning a lewis gun to provide covering for the Hill 70 trench raid. A German trench mortar scored a direct hit inflicting devastating casualties. Rice was inevitably amongst them and was killed by the blast.