Enid Rice

Enid Rice was born in 1921 and joined the staff of Glyn, Mills & Co in May 1939, working at its head office in Lombard Street, London. In March 1942 she left the bank to go on war service, joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service. 

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) had been formed in September 1938. Its predecessor, the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps had operated as a voluntary service but the ATS was granted full military status from April 1941. It was attached to the Territorial Army and the women serving received two thirds of the pay of their male peers. They were not allowed to undertake combat roles and instead worked as cooks, clerks, storekeepers, telephone operators, drivers and orderlies. 

In December 1941 the National Service Act was passed, extending conscription to include unmarried women aged between 20 and 30 years old. They were now eligible to be called up to join one of the auxiliary services: the ATS; the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS); the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF); and the Women’s Transport Services. Women could also join the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) or the Women’s Land Army. Three months later Enid, aged just 20, joined the ATS and over the next 3 years saw active service in North Africa and Italy.

Lance Corporal Rice sent several letters to her friends at the bank to tell them of her experiences. Glyn, Mills & Co printed large chunks of the letters in a staff newsletter so that the news could be shared more widely. It is through this source that Enid’s words have survived.

In a newsletter published in July 1944, Enid gives the following account of travelling across the devastated Italian countryside to Rome, very soon after it had been taken by the Allies: 

'The lorry ride to the great City was grand fun. I shall never forget coming through Cassino. It was literally flat; all the trees burnt and the houses could have been taken away in wheelbarrows. Monastery Hill seemed just a heap of rubble. I shall always remember the trip, especially carrying three kit bags up five flights of stairs at the end of the day. Our billet in the Hostel for University Students was simply wonderful. The ATS have never known anything like it before and will never do again. I have a little room to myself with a balcony and a spring bed and real furniture which is almost unbelievable. The rec room is just like something out of a film magazine. This is only our second day here but yesterday two Americans took me all over the town in their jeep and I think I saw most of the important things - the Cathedral and Colosseum etc. It is a grand city - clean and wide roads and well-dressed people.'

The Allies continued their push northwards through Italy. In March 1945, just a few weeks before the final surrender of the Axis forces in Italy, Enid wrote again to her colleagues:  

'I have spent two months in Rome and another two in Siena - and now we have just got settled again a bit further North. I always wanted to come here in peacetime but would have been very disappointed. Siena was a charming place - not suitable for a large HQ though. All the streets were so narrow that the whole town consisted of one way streets. We used to spend some grand days off in the country there and cook over a wood fire. I haven't been here long enough to do any exploring - it is very battered and all the marvellous bridges but one blown up. The mountains around have snow on but so far we have had very little. It really is bitterly cold, though. Unfortunately, we have no hot water to wash in at all and it really is painful first thing in the morning.'

On 4 October 1945 Enid was returning to Italy following a period of leave in the UK when the plane in which she was travelling, a Lancaster bomber, developed engine trouble. It tried to turn back for Marseille, but shortly afterwards the crew of another Lancaster flying nearby witnessed an explosion, and nothing more was seen or heard. The bodies of the plane's 6 crew and 19 passengers, including Lance Corporal Rice, were never found.