Skip to content
Bramble

UK

D-Day veteran Henry Rice, Royal Navy signalman from Cranleigh, dies aged 100

Henry Rice, a Royal Navy signalman on HMS Eastway during the Normandy landings, has died aged 100. He was from Cranleigh, Surrey, and held the Legion of Honour.

2 outlets · 0L · 1C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: Daily Express
Image: BBC News

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Henry Rice, a Royal Navy signalman who served on the landing ship HMS Eastway during the Normandy landings, has died aged 100. Right · 1The Daily Express, which reported his death on 12 October, said he died "yesterday"; it said Rice was born in Battersea, south-east London, and joined the Navy at 17 in 1943, serving until 1947. Mixed · 2HMS Eastway ferried troops, vehicles and supplies to the beaches; the BBC said Rice arrived at Juno Beach five days after D-Day, while the Express described him standing on Sword Beach in June this year on a return visit.

Centre · 1According to the Royal Navy, quoted by the BBC, he later served in Malta, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf, Sri Lanka, Burma and Singapore, and a torpedo fired at his boat passed beneath the hull. Mixed · 2He received the French Legion of Honour, but said he did not consider himself a hero, telling the Express "The real heroes are the boys who charged up the beaches." Right · 1After the Navy he worked for the Orient Shipping Line and Cunard, married Gwen in 1951 (she died in 2011), and later joined the fire service, attending the 1974 Guildford pub bombings, according to the Express.

Mixed · 2In June he was one of four veterans at a remembrance service at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, and the BBC said he met fellow veteran Ronald Hendrey earlier this year, describing it as one of his last acts of remembrance. Mixed · 2His death followed that of his friend Ken Hay, a fellow Normandy veteran who died aged 101; the Express said "last month" and the BBC said two weeks earlier. Mixed · 2The Spirit of Normandy Trust said he was "a great character, with a cheeky smile that endeared him to everyone he met" and offered condolences to his family; his son Stuart called him "the best father anyone could wish for".

Mixed · 2Rice had called for schools to teach children more about the Normandy landings because the "world is dangerous at the moment", while Trust chairman Richard Palusinski said this may have been the last year veterans could return to Normandy.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre1 outlet

Framing
A straightforward obituary built on Rice's service record, his own words to the BBC and Spirit of Normandy Trust tributes.
Emphasis
Wartime service after D-Day, the torpedo near-miss, his call for schools to teach about Normandy, and his remembrance work.
Leaves out or plays down
Leaves out his family life, post-war career and the Guildford bombing.
For example
“had called for schools to teach children more about the Normandy landings because the "world is dangerous at the moment"” — BBC News

Right1 outlet

Framing
A tribute to a 'hero' and 'warrior', led by his lifelong question of 'why me' and his return to Normandy.
Emphasis
His humility, the dwindling band of veterans, his family life, and his fire-service role at the Guildford bombing.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the torpedo near-miss, his postings after Normandy or his call for schools to teach about D-Day.
Charged language
“D-Day hero”“bravehearts”“blood-soaked”“vanishing generation”
For example
“A D-Day warrior who survived the mighty invasion of Nazi-occupied France and lived for more than 80 years asking himself “why me” has died.” — Daily Express