John Raymond Rice

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John Raymond Rice (Walking in Blue Sky)
Born April 25, 1914
Winnebago, Nebraska
Died September 6, 1950
Tabu-Dong Korea
Citizenship United States
Nationality United States, Ho-Chunk
Known for Sioux City Memorial Park Cemetery refusing to bury his body because he was Native American

Sergeant First Class John Raymond Rice (Native American name: Walking in Blue Sky[1]) (April 25, 1914 – September 6, 1950) was a United States Army soldier killed in action while leading his squad in Korea in 1950. A Sioux City, Iowa cemetery refused to bury his body because he was Native American, touching off a national episode culminating in President Harry Truman ordering his body to be interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Biography

A tribal member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, also known as the Winnebago Indian Tribe, Rice was born in Winnebago, Nebraska,[2] and had previously served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.[3]

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. After the military burial service, including the ceremonial three-volley salute, cemetery officials discovered that Rice himself was Native American. They stopped the actual burial, and made his non-Indian wife Evelyn take his body away.[4]

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."[5]

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.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Soldier's Burial". TIME Magazine. 1951-09-10. Retrieved 2009-10-01. 
  2. ↑ "John Raymond Rice: Sergeant, United States Army". ArlingtonCemetery.net. May 13, 2006. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  3. ↑ Way of the Warrior (2007) PBS documentary.
  4. ↑ "Soldier's Burial". TIME Magazine. 1951-09-10. Retrieved 2009-10-01. 
  5. ↑ "Sergeant John R. Rice". Notable People. SiouxCityHistory.org. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  6. ↑ Shiver (2003-09-05). "John Raymond Rice". FindAGrave.com. Retrieved 2007-11-02. "Plot: Section 34, Lot 1033-2" 

External links

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