Gitz Rice
| Gitz Rice | |
|---|---|
Collection of Gitz Rice songs
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| Born |
May 5, 1891 New Glasgow, Nova Scotia |
| Died | October 16, 1947 (aged 56) |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | Ypres, the Somme and Vimy Ridge |
| Spouse(s) | Ruby Hoffman |
| Other work | Performer, composer |
Lieutenant Gitz Rice (May 5, 1891 – October 16, 1947) was a Canadian service member and entertainer, best known for creating various World War I war songs popular among both troops and civilians.
Ingraham "Gitz" Rice was born in 1891 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. He earned the nickname "Gitz" from his brother, due to his odd walking style during his earliest years.
Rice studied piano during his childhood. He attended Victoria School, Montreal High School, the Feller Institute, and French Protestant School at Grande Ligne, Quebec before enrolling in the McGill Conservatory in Montreal.
Rice enlisted in the army on the exact day Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, beginning as a gunnery officer. He began writing songs during training, mostly jokingly musing on the training procedures. Once deployed, he fought in various battles across Europe. He first wrote about trench life in 1915, at the battle of Neuve Chapelle. Rice organized the first World War I concert party for servicemen in France.
Rice joined Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Comedy Company as a piano player from time to time. In an interview with the New York Times, Rice cites one of his clearest war memories as a time when he saved a piano from destruction:
I shall never forget, in one town, stealing a piano out of an old house that was being shelled. The piano would have been destroyed anyhow. We got a wagon, put the piano on the wagon, and drove down a road where thousands of infantry boys were lined along the sides. I couldn't keep my fingers from the keys, and started to play as we went along. There were shouts, cheers, and singing, and one English soldier came up to me in all seriousness and said: 'What is the idea of the celebration? Has peace been declared?' Of course, I had to answer the negative.
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