George Rice

Track 1: George Rice recalls his father, John Joe Rice, who came to Tralee in 1914 to work with the Great Southern Railways, joining ‘B’ Company Irish Volunteers, under the direct command of Austin Stack. Both men lodged in a boarding house in Upper Rock Street in Tralee. George describes Easter Sunday morning 1916, when his father and comrades assembled at the Rink in Basin View. They numbered 1,000 men, including those from outlying areas. The Volunteers dispersed following Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding order. He recalls his aunt, Rosalie Rice, who filed the fateful telegram from Kenmare post office to her cousin, Tim Ring, at the cable station in Valentia which was to alert America and the world that Ireland had risen in arms.