By Suzanne Rice, wife of COL Bill Rice, Third U.S. Army, Chief of Plans, Fort McPherson, Georgia
Bill’s eldest cousin and her family lived on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Since that was only a 2 ½ hour drive from our home in Peachtree City, it seemed like a great place to have Thanksgiving dinner. Most Army families are rarely near family, so this was a wonderful opportunity to visit with them and to catch up with their son, USMA Class of 1984, who was on leave at their home. Having only been in Georgia for one year, it was our first chance to spend a holiday with them (Bill was in Saudi Arabia for our first Thanksgiving in Georgia.) We were looking forward to a quiet holiday meal with them. That could not have been further from the truth!
We sat down to dinner just as the phone rang; Bill was called to the phone. The rest of us were merrily eating our turkey and dressing when he came back and said, “We have to leave – NOW!” No other explanation – secret. We didn’t even finish dinner! Bill had been called back to Ft. McPherson where, as a Colonel and Chief of Plans, G-3, Third U.S. Army, he was in the bull’s eye to begin the plans for what would soon be called Operation Restore Hope.
President George H.W. Bush was so sickened by the pictures on CNN of starving children in Somalia, he called for a humanitarian effort to get food to the people of Somalia. Third Army, as the Army component Command for CENTCOM and having responsibility for most of SW Asia and countries around the Horn of Africa, was tasked with this effort. Bill and his Plans section had to get to work immediately so that this mission could be accomplished before President Bush left office in January. President Bush thought it would be a quick and relatively easy thing to bring food and hope to those in Somalia. Who could question an effort to feed starving people? Think again!
It was with the heaviest of hearts that Bill and the men of the Plans Section of Third Army watched from Atlanta when the United Nations took over the task of the humanitarian mission/force protection in March 1993. They knew at the time that the protection force was not sufficient under the circumstances of an unstable warlord, the heavy use of Khat by Somalis, and inexperienced soldiers from other U.N. countries, some of whose countries used foreign missions as a way to put money into their national treasuries. It was out of their hands now. It was later with the deepest sadness that they watched as the Battle of Mogadishu occurred in October, 1993.
A Field Artilleryman at heart with many years of experience, Bill had concluded along with others at Third Army that the food sharing effort needed to be guarded from the beginning by a heavy presence of Army units to keep the peace as the food was distributed. It was not on his own thoughts that this was recommended. They had intelligence from the area and the input of several senior U.S. Ambassadors in Africa indicating that Mohamed Farrah Adid, the strongman in the region, might not take kindly to this humanitarian mission to Somalia. Bill and the leaders of Third Army fought with those in Washington to get the necessary compliment of American soldiers to protect the mission. They were not successful. (They were able to get only one battery of artillery attached to Operation Restore Hope, but only after the Battle of Mogadishu had occurred. C Battery 1-41 FA from Ft Stewart was rushed there to fill the void in mid-October 1993, ten months after Operation Restore Hope began. It was only after that battery was assigned that Bill discovered that the XO of the battery was 1LT Paul Robyn, USMA 1992, the son of a dear friend and classmate, Eric Robyn. Ironically, in 2012, our own son, USMA 2010, deployed to Afghanistan as XO of A Battery, 1-41 FA.)
It was during the Bright Star exercises in Cairo, Egypt in November 1993, only a few weeks after the Battle for Mogadishu, that Bill accompanied the Commanding General of Third Army on a side trip down to Somalia to check on their Area of Operations there. Though it was not the official reason for their trip, in Bill’s mind his mission there was to check on Paul and see how the battery was faring in the turmoil that followed the Battle for Mogadishu. Unfortunately, Paul was out on a mission at the time, so they never saw each other, but it was a reassurance to Bill, even though they took incoming rounds of fire as they drove to the battery area to talk to those on the ground to find that Paul was doing well in the chaos following Black Hawk Down.
Dear Suzanne:
Thanks for the wonderful story and for all your great work on The Days Forward!
Happy Thanksgiving 2020!
Best regards & BOTL,
Bill
Bill Bahr, USMA ’69
My pleasure, Bill. We are so glad that you are enjoying the wonderful stories of your classmates. Thanks so much.
Suzanne
Thank you dear Suzanne for sharing the story with us. How proud you must be of your entire family each of you are serving our country in a different way. Happy Thanksgiving to Chris, you and the girls with very best wishes, Bob and Marianne
Thank you, Bob. We have been blessed to be able to know you and Marianne and the Best of the Line. We return good wishes to you and your amazing family.
Suzanne
Thanks for sharing, Suzanne! I remember this so well. Knowing Bill was watching over Paul gave Sally & me some measure of confidence.. Tough times for Paul and Bill!
Hi! Eric,
Bill was nervous about Paul and his battery from the moment he learned that they were on their way to Somalia. You and Sally have a story to compliment this one that I hope you will write sometime. Looking forward to that!
Suzanne
Suzanne
Thanks for the poignant story. We miss Bill.
We in the class of 1969 over the years have taken good care of our class children and now grand children.
Thanks to you, Chris, and the girls for helping to keep USMA 1969 tightly together through “The Days Forward”.
You are correct, Geoff. Being a part of the BOTL family has been a wonderful experience for the Rice family. Bill would be so proud of you as you have kept us and other families connected to the Class of 1969.. Many thanks to you all, especially C-3. We love telling your stories!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne! COL Rice and I were assigned to Third Army/ARCENT at the same time and I had the honor of serving with him at Camp Doha, Kuwait during Operation Intrinsic Action as part of the effort to impose no-fly zones over Iraq. I was also the Staff Duty Officer at Third Army when the “Black Hawk Down” incident occurred and spent the night receiving and compiling a continuous stream of SITREPS to brief the CG the next morning. COL Rice and I also served together in Bright Star ’93 and then after retirement, both worked for the same defense contractor. I always looked up to him as the epitome of what a true leader is and should be – one who unfailingly cares for his troops while accomplishing the mission at hand.
I know you miss Bill greatly as we all do. I hope you and your family had a Blessed Thanksgiving and will be able to enjoy the holidays together.
Bob Dalton USMA 1976
Dear Bob,
I hadn’t known your connection to the distressing Black Hawk Down incident. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thank you for the kind words about Bill. He enjoyed working with you so many times and in so many places. He admired you, too. It is a pleasure to bump into you every year or so as you run the paths around town! Take care.
Suzanne
Suzanne, you and Bill must have had your son very fast in order for him to end up in the Class of 1992. Was he the first child from our class to follow in his father’s footsteps? If not he must have been close.
Hi! Ray, Actually, it is just the opposite. It is Sally and Eric Robyn’s son, who is one of the first Class Son’s. Our son is much later, in fact, 18 years later – Class of 2010. He was born when Bill was in Battalion Command. Some asked if I was the second wife! I had a lot in common with our young officers and enlisted men’s wives – there were no other babies born to Battalion Commanders are Ft. Lewis in 1988.
Soldiers’ families everywhere can relate to this tale that I found by accident while looking for contemporary articles on our Operation Restore Hope mission. Like Bill and you, I received a call on the Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend 1992 from the Asst Sec Army to form and command a joint-coalition theater contracting command while on my way to Camp Pendleton as one of the token Army guys in the JTF. Despite that order, my three sons and I attended the Army Navy game Saturday. Then they helped me pack up my office, the oldest going to the Wilmington Public Library to find a National Geographic map of Somalia (I had one of the only map of our area of operations in the JTF HQ – which was copied multiple times). My loving wife bought Christmas presents and a tree while I was shuttling between my office, Ft Dix, DC, and Philadelphia for 3 sleepless days- so that we could have an early family Christmas before I flew out to California enroute to Mogadishu. Army wives are super women! God Bless you and your family. Mike Toler USMA 72