Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal (June 11, 1917 – April 20, 2007) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and bomber pilot. A highly decorated officer of the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, he received sixteen awards including the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against the enemy," the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

(with oak leaf cluster) for "gallantry in action," the Distinguished Flying Cross (with oak leaf cluster) for "heroism or extraordinary achievement during aerial flight", the Air Medal (with seven clusters) and the Purple Heart (with cluster), as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross from Great Britain and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

from France.

Biography

Rosenthal was a graduate of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

and Brooklyn Law School, and had been working at a

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

in Manhattan when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the United States Army on December 8, 1941, and requested to be trained for combat. In August 1943 he joined the 418th Squadron of the

100th Bombardment Group 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, stationed at Thorpe Abbotts in England, as a pilot and aircraft commander of a

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

crew. In March 1944, Rosenthal's crew, nicknamed "Rosie's Riveters", with their B-17F, serial number 42-30758 bearing the same name, completed their 25-mission combat tour and returned to the United States, but Rosenthal extended his tour, eventually flying a total of 52 missions. He later became commanding officer of the 350th and

418th Bombardment Squadron 418th may refer to: *418th Bombardment Group, inactive United States Air Force unit *418th Flight Test Squadron (418 FLTS), part of the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base, California *418th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, inactive ...

s. In 2006, Rosenthal was inducted into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame and medals were made depicting Rosenthal and his crew.

Notable missions

On only his third mission with the 100th Bombardment Group, out of 13 B-17s on an October 10, 1943 mission over Münster, the ''Royal Flush'' B-17F (USAAF s/n 42-6087) that Rosenthal's crew was flying that day; was the only plane to return, with two engines dead, the intercom and the

oxygen system An oxygen mask provides a method to transfer breathing oxygen gas from a storage tank to the lungs. Oxygen masks may cover only the nose and mouth (oral nasal mask) or the entire face (full-face mask). They may be made of plastic, silicone, or ...

non-functional, and with a large ragged hole in the right wing. In September 1944, Rosenthal's plane was shot down over German-occupied France, and he broke his right arm and nose. He was rescued by the Free French and returned to duty as soon as he had healed. On his next to last mission on February 3, 1945, Rosenthal led a mission to bomb Berlin. Although his bomber /C #44 8379was in flames from a direct hit, he continued to the target to drop his

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

; then stayed with the plane until after the rest of the crew had bailed out, just before it exploded at an altitude of only about 1,000 feet (about 300 meters). He was recovered by the Soviet Army and again returned to duty."Lt Col Robert Rosenthal"
at the 100th Bomb Group Foundation. Of the eleven crewmen: four landed in Russian lines; four were POWs; two were KIA; 1 evaded capture. This raid killed Roland Freisler, the notorious "hanging judge" of the Third Reich's '' Volksgerichtshof''. After the war, Rosenthal served as an assistant to the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, where he interrogated Hermann Göring. Robert Rosenthal died on April 20, 2007, at age 89 in White Plains, New York.

Notes

External links

Interview with Lt Col.(Ret.) Robert Rosenthal

('' The New York Times'', April 29, 2007)
Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal
in Jewish-American Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Robert Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States) Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) 20th-century American lawyers Prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg 1917 births 2007 deaths Deaths from multiple myeloma Brooklyn College alumni Brooklyn Law School alumni Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Deaths from cancer in New York (state) United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Jewish American military personnel 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews