18 April 1946 letter from President Harry Truman, The White House, to Cecil N. Rice, World War II Veteran, extending the “heartfelt thanks of a grateful Nation” to “one of the Nation’s finest….” Cecil N. Rice has been a resident of Orlando since 1954 and says, “Makes you proud to do your little bit for your country.”
Veteran Rice served as a Pharmacy Mate in the United States Navy and on the H.M.A.S., His Majesty’s Australian Ship, Warramunga. Australia did not have any medical technicians of their own so the United States loaned them some. Veteran Rice’s tour of duty in the U.S. Navy included working in hospitals and with the invasion forces in Borneo, New Guinea, throughout the Philippines and the South China Sea. Regarding his military service he says, “Makes you proud to do your little bit for your country… I treasure living in a free country. It has been good to me.” He hopes future generations will do the same thing he did and a lot of fellow people who served in WWII: “I’d like them to protect our country.”
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