Island Icons TOM
RICE By Peg Eddy, Coronado Historical Association Volunteer
On Aug. 15, 2021, long-time Coronado resident and World War II hero Tom Rice celebrated his 100th birthday by tandem parachuting over our island and landing on the Hotel del Coronado beach. Most certainly, his welcome that day was in huge contrast to the day Tom jumped into France on D-Day in 1944. In his one hundred years, Tom has lived a life worthy of a full-length film. Born on Aug. 15, 1921, to a Navy Chief Petty Officer and his wife, Tom first lived in the small home his father built on H Avenue in 1919 after returning from World War I. “My Dad used redwood to confound the termites,”
Tom Rice, shown during his service in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Courtesy Tom and Brenda Rice.
he shared. When Tom was quite young, his
Later in 1934, Tom’s mom moved the
Tom loved school. With his remarkable
older brother died of pneumonia which left
family back to Coronado. Due to financial
memory, Tom recounted, “Burge was our
his sister and him as the remaining children
constraints his mom arranged for Tom to
English Lit teacher. We had to memorize a
in the family.
live with neighbors across the street and
lot of things. I can still recite Beowulf.”
Following a move in 1932 to Norfolk,
his sister boarded at a school in San Diego.
Tom especially liked math. Tom asked the
Virginia, Tom’s dad was sent to the Panama
In 1938, his mother was able to build a
older boy with whom he lived for help with
Canal Zone. In 1934, Tom’s father died
“bigger house” on H so the family could
word problems. “I never understood why we
during a routine flight, prompting his mother
live together. Always making kind gestures,
had to solve those,” he recalls. “Didn’t make
to move the family back to California. For a
Tom gave up his bedroom for his sister and
sense to me, but he helped me a lot. I did
short time, they lived with Tom’s fraternal
set up an 8x8 canvas tent in their backyard
well in school. There were high expectations
grandmother in San Francisco where Tom
complete with an Army cot and wooden
for the girls and boys to excel, and it was
remembers never attending school.
floor as his “room”.
quite competitive.”
P22 | Coronado Magazine