Air Commodore/Brigadier-General (Divisional Surgeon) J.W. Tice, CBE, OStJ, ED, MB, Royal Canadian Air Force, St. John Ambulance Brigade: Order of St. John, Shoulder Badge (silver with white enamels, 41 mm, original ribbon); and United States: Legion of Merit, Officer Grade (bronze gilt and enamels, 46 mm x 48.5 mm, bronze gilt replica of the medal on its original ribbon). Un-mounted, light contact, near extremely fine.
Footnote: James Winfred Tice was born in Madoc, Hastings County, Ontario on June 29, 1898. He graduated with a degree in Medicine from the University of Toronto in 1921 and practised medicine in Hamilton, Ontario, concentrating on special work with diabetics. He served with the Canadian Militia (5th Field Ambulance) from 1925 to 1935 and was a member of the Hamilton Aero Club. He provided additional services in Hamilton, as evidenced in 1930, when the Boy Scout Association took eighty to one hundred boys from the Big Brother Association for the period from July 3rd to July 16th, to Camp Teetonkah at Port Maitland, Ontario. As medicals were required before the boys could leave for camp, they would gather on the grounds of Hamilton General Hospital, where Dr. J.W. Tice and Dr. M.J.V. Brown who had volunteered their services, pronounced the boys fit, before boarding the TH&B train and heading off to camp in Port Maitland. Tice left the Militia and served as Medical Officer with No. 119 Squadron, from 1936 to 1939. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, he opened the Medical Selection Board at No.1 Military District, then was posted to No.1 Training Command Headquarters, followed by a posting to Royal Canadian Air Force Headquarters in Ottawa. Lieutenant-Colonel Tice went overseas, arriving in Great Britain in March 1941, where he served as Liaison Officer to the Royal Air Force Medical Branch. He remained there for five months, before returning to Canada in August. Lieutenant-Colonel James Winfred Tice, M.D. was promoted as Officer (Brother) by the Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 35203 of Friday, June 24, 1941, page 3674. Air Commodore James Winfred Tice was named Director General of the Royal Canadian Air Force Medical Services on February 15, 1943, a position he would hold for the next three years, until to February 28, 1946. He was preceded in the position by Air Commodore Raymond William Ryan, Royal Air Force, who served from September 20, 1940 to February 14, 1943. Tice developed the procedure for selecting air crew and helped organize the Royal Canadian Air Force hospital establishment. The RCAF had acquired several estates for convalescence, in order to treat general convalescents and neurological cases, with certain locations devoted to burn and plastic surgery cases. An article briefly described the philosophy of the facilities: “Air Commodore, J. W. Tice, Director of Medical Services, R.C.A.F., said the keynote of the convalescent home is in their non-institutional character. Blazers and slacks to be worn. They are essentially airmen, regardless of rank, all distinctions being dropped upon patients’ admission.” Tice worked with Group Captain Frederick F. Tisdale of Toronto, to develop a revised scale of rations for the RCAF, and played a part in design of the "mechanical cow" for reconstituting powdered milk. Tisdale had been Director of the Nutritional Research Laboratories at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the inventor of "Pablum" in the early 1930s, a cereal that could be mixed with milk and spoon fed, and that would keep indefinitely. Tisdall recognized that he had the perfect product and was determined to find the best way to market it, to benefit children everywhere. He got in touch with the executives of the Mead Johnson Company in Chicago, arranging to meet with them and after much discussion, an arrangement was worked out. In return for the permission to manufacture "Pablum", he would receive a royalty on every box sold. It turned out to be an excellent deal for many years, as "Pablum" largely financed further research for the hospital. Air Commodore Tice was awarded the Efficiency Decoration on August 9, 1944. C.3157 Air Commodore James Winfred Tice, ED, Air Force Headquarters (Director of Medical Services, Air) was awarded the Commander, Order of the British Empire, along with three other Air Commodores, the announcement appearing in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette 37120 of Friday, June 8, 1945, on Thursday, June 14, 1945, page 3035 and the Canada Gazette of June 14, 1945 and AFRO 1127/45 of July 6, 1945: "The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of His Majesty's Birthday and on the advice of His Majesty's Canadian Ministers, to give orders for the following appointments: to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire: To be Additional Commanders of the Military Division of the said Most Excellent Order: Air Commodore John MacLeod MURRAY (C.8932), Royal Canadian Air Force. Air Commodore Stanley Gibson TACKABERRY (C.10), Royal Canadian Air Force. Air Commodore James Winfred TICE (C.3157), Royal Canadian Air Force and Air Commodore Frank Goodell WAIT (C.54), Royal Canadian Air Force." His citation for the award is found in the Governor General's Records, RG.7 Group 26, Volume 59, File 190-I (dossier 7): "For a number of years prior to the outbreak of war, Air Commodore Tice was a member of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, the last four years of this time being attached to a Royal Canadian Air Force Auxiliary Squadron. During his service with the Auxiliary Air Force, he became one of the best informed medical officers on the subject of Aviation Medicine and thus equipped himself to render outstanding service during the war. After serving as Deputy Director of Medical Services (Air) for some time, he then assumed the heavy responsibility of Director of Medical Services, Royal Canadian Air Force, the appointment he holds at the present time. His high professional and administrative ability have resulted in the establishment of very sound and logical practices in this service. He has been largely responsible for the organization of the School of Aviation Medicine and for medical research pertaining to aviation and nutrition. The exceptionally high standard of the professional and operational efficiency of the Royal Canadian Air Force Medical Services is due, in large part, to his initiative, good judgement and untiring efforts. His devotion to duty and co-operation with the other Medical Services have been outstanding and have contributed to the ultimate benefit of the war effort." An article entitled "Some Observations on Venereal-Disease Control in the Royal Canadian Air Force" by Dr. Tice and co-authored by A.H. Sellers, R.M. Anderson and W. Nichols, Medical Branch of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, Volume 37, Number 2, out of Toronto in February 1946. Air Commodore James Winfred Tice CFB ED retired as Director General of the Royal Canadian Air Force Medical Services on February 28, 1946 and returned to his medical practice in Hamilton. He was followed in the position by Air Commodore Alexander Andrew Gordon Corbet ED CD QHP, who served from March 1, 1946 to January 15, 1959. A year after his retirement from the RCAF, Air Commodore James Winfred Tice, CBE, ED (C3157) was awarded the United States: Legion of Merit, Officer Grade, effective May 23, 1947 as per AFRO 280/47 of that date. Colonel Jack T. Hodgsdon (Military Attache, U.S. Embassy) writing to A/M Leckie, March 27, 1947, provided the citation: "Air Commodore James Winfred Tice, CBE, ED, Royal Canadian Air Force, performed exceptionally meritorious service from December 1941 to May 1945. As Deputy and later Director of Medical Services he was responsible for the establishment of the Institute of Aviation Medicine. He organized and stimulated research in night vision air crew clothing and psychological activities for the Royal Canadian Air Force and freely offered assistance to the United States Army Air Forces. The excellent relationship existing between the two services is due largely to the outstanding personality, tact and ability displayed by Air Commodore Tice." He was known locally in Hamilton as Dr. J.W. Tice, was a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade No. 7 and in 1963, he was appointed Honourary Physician to the Queen. Dr. J.W. Tice is documented as being on the list of Officers and Members of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen. He is acknowledged as having been a Past President of the Royal Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ontario for many years, as far back as 1946 and into the early 1970s, and having served as Honourary Judge at the competition in 1946, listed as Air Vice-Marshal J.W. Tice, CBE in the event's program.