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shot down on May 12th, 1944 during a raid on Most
(Brüx) in Czechoslovakia. The plane exploded
in the air near St. Goarshausen in Germany. The
entire crew commanded by Lt. Alexander Kinder
bailed out and survived.
At that time, however, Robert Rosenthal was
no longer flying with the 418th Squadron. He be-
came the Assistant Group Operations Officer of
the 100th Bomb Group and later the Commander
of the 350th Squadron, and now, with the rank of
Major, he began his voluntary second operational
tour. He also occasionally flew, mainly as a Com-
manding Pilot, at the head of his squadron, group
or the 13th Combat Wing. This was also the case
on September 10th, 1944, when he led a stream of
bombers to Nuremberg. Due to heavy flak over the
target, Rosie was forced to break away from the
formation and attempt to return with the serious-
ly damaged aircraft on his own. The subsequent
crash landing behind the front lines in France
saved the crew, but also left Robert Rosenthal
with a broken arm, facial and internal injuries that
put him in a military hospital. He thus missed the
mission the following day, when the 100th Bomb
Group lost thirteen of its aircraft in the air battle
over the Czech-German Ore Mountains during the
raid on Ruhland. Not a single one
of Rosenthal’s 350th Squadron
planes returned. When he learned
of this in the hospital, it remind-
ed him, among other things, of
October 10th, 1943, when, except
for his crew, no one from his unit
made it back…
After returning from the hospi-
tal, Rosie Rosenthal was briefly
involved in the training program
of the 13th Combat Wing and then,
on December 1st, 1944, assumed
command of his original 418th
Squadron. Due to the demands
placed on him by command tasks,
he continued his combat mis-
sions with less intensity. Even
so, he completed a second oper-
ational tour and began his third.
He was on his 52nd combat mis-
sion when he led the 3rd Air (formerly Bomb) Divi-
sion to Berlin on March 3rd , 1945. Above the target,
their aircraft was severely damaged by flak, which
killed the bombardier and the navigator. In addi-
tion, a fire broke out on board. Robert Rosenthal
knew he could not get back to friendly territory, so
he continued east in an attempt to cross the battle
lines there. When the conditions were such that
they threatened an imminent crash or explosion,
he gave the order to the crew to bail. Then he also
left the plane. He injured his legs in a hard landing
in a plowed field in no man’s land. Red Army sol-
diers discovered him lying on his back. With the
help of the Soviets, he managed to return to En-
gland at the end of March, 1945, where he trained
new crews until the end of May. He returned to the
United States on June 7th, 1945.
Here he was to be assigned to B-29 training, but
on November 30th, he was honorably discharged
from the Air Force. However, direct contact with
the horrors of World War II was not to end for
Robert Rosenthal. His wartime experience, high
intelligence, legal education, and, let’s assume,
Jewish ancestry, made him adept at yet another
unusual service to his country and civilization that
Rosie believed in. He returned to Europe in 1946 as
a member of the American prosecution team at
the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. During
the trip, he met a colleague, lawyer Phillis Heller,
on an ocean liner, whom he married in Nuremberg.
They spent the rest of their lives together and
raised three children.
When the 100th Bomb Group Veterans Organiza-
tion was formed many years after the war, Rosie
became one of its founders, most active members
B-17F-120-BO s/n 42-30758 LD
-
W ”Rosie’s
Riveters“, Lt. Robert ”Rosie“ Rosenthal crew,
418th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group,
Bremen mission, 8 October 1943
Maj. Rosenthal, now squadron commander, at a decoration ceremony. He attended countless
ceremonies, being decorated for his war service with numerous honors: the Distinguished
Service Cross (for the Berlin mission on Feb 3, 1945), the Silver Star (Munster, Oct 10, 1943) with
Cluster (Oct 3, 1943 - Sept 10, 1944), the Distinguished Flying Cross (completion of 25 missions
on March 8, 1944 - Berlin) with Cluster (July 12, 1944 - Munich / Aug 5, 1944 - Magdeburg), the
Purple Heart with Cluster (Sept 10, 1944 - Nurnberg and Feb 3, 1945 - Berlin), the Air Medal with
7 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross (British), the Croix de Guerre (French), the
ETO Ribbon with 4 Battle Stars (Air Offensive Europe, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland),
the Distinguished (Presidential) Unit Citation, and authorization to wear 3 overseas service
bars, having served 21 months overseas (each bar represents 6 months of overseas service).
B-17F 42-30758, now named “Satcha Lass,”
after an emergency landing near Roedingen, Germany, on February 4, 1944.
and for several years its President. He remained
active until his death in 2007. Two years before
that, he came to the Czech Republic to pay tribute
to the men of his unit who were shot down in the
largest air battle over Czechoslovakia on Septem-
ber 11th, 1944, at the Ore Mountain Air Battle Mu-
seum in Kovarska.
After Rosie’s passing, his father’s baton at the
100th Bomb Group Foundation was passed on to
his son, Dan Rosenthal, who was also the founda-
tion’s President for many years and today serves
as its Vice President of Philanthropy and a mem-
ber of the Board of Directors.
In the Masters of the Air film series, Robert
Rosenthal is portrayed by actor Nate Mann as
one of the main characters in the story. A lesser
known fact is that Rosie’s grandson Sam was cast
as one of Robert Rosenthal’s crew members on his
last mission to Berlin.
Ground service personnel of the 418th Bomb Squadron at “Rosie’s Riveters II” - Elil Schwartz, Harold Haglund,
Chet Karwatski, and Bill Fogle.
Friends meeting at the 100th Bomb Group Reunion
in San Antonio in 1979. Little did either of these men
know that 45 years later, they would become charac-
ters in the spectacular Masters of the Air series that
would relive their long-ago stories. From left: Harry
Crosby, Robert Rosenthal, and Everett Blakely.
B-17G 42-31504 “Rosie’s Riveters II,” with which
Rosenthal’s crew completed its operational tour
in March 1944. On May 12, 1944, this aircraft, with
the crew of Lt. Alexander W. Kinder, was lost
in a raid on Most (Brüx).
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
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June 2024