Usaaf Officer Robert Rosenthal

A highly decorated B-17 commander of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, Rosenthal was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross and two Silver Stars. Although bomber crews were initially only required to complete 25 combat missions in a combat tour to earn the right to rotate home, Rosenthal flew a total of 52 missions and was shot down twice. After the war, Rosenthal served as an assistant to the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.

Robert Rosenthal
Rosenthal in 1945
Born	(1917-06-11)June 11, 1917 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	April 20, 2007(2007-04-20) (aged 89) White Plains, New York, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands held	418th Bombardment Squadron 350th Bombardment Squadron
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Silver Star (2) Distinguished Flying Cross (2) Purple Heart (2) Air Medal (8)

Rosenthal was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood. He was the captain of the baseball and football teams of Brooklyn College, graduating in 1938. He graduated from Brooklyn Law School summa cum laude, and had been working at a law firm in Manhattan when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

He enlisted in the United States Army on December 8, and requested to be trained for combat. In August 1943 he joined the 418th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, stationed at RAF Thorpe Abbotts in England, as a pilot and aircraft commander of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crew.

On the October 10, 1943 mission over Münster, Germany, only the third mission for Rosenthal's crew with the 100th Bombardment Group, the B-17F s/n 42-6087, nicknamed Royal Flush, that the crew were flying was the only plane out of 13 from the group that reached Münster to return to base. Royal Flush landed back in England with two engines dead, the intercom and the oxygen system non-functional, and with a large ragged hole in the right wing. Later the ground crews found an unexploded cannon shell in one of Royal Flush's wing tanks. Rosenthal would receive his first Silver Star for this mission.

On 8 March 1944, Rosenthal's crew, nicknamed Rosie's Riveters, completed their 25-mission combat tour, although the B-17F (s/n 42-30758) that they usually flew bearing the same name was shot down while being flown by a different crew during the 4 February 1944 mission to Frankfurt, Germany. The crew returned to the United States, but Rosenthal extended his tour, eventually flying a total of 52 missions. In May 1944, he took command of the 350th Bombardment Squadron.

On 10 September 1944, Rosenthal's B-17G Terrible Termite (s/n 42-97770), flying on a mission to bomb Nuremberg, was hit by flak and crash-landed around Reims in German-occupied France. Along with all the officers on his plane he was seriously injured. Suffering from a broken arm and nose, he was pulled from the cockpit unconscious by Free French, flown back to England, and woke up at a hospital in Oxford. Rosenthal would receive his second Silver Star after this mission. He returned to duty as soon as he had healed. Rosenthal was assigned to a desk job at wing headquarters, but he managed to return to the 100th Bomb Group and take command of his old squadron, the 418th.

On his last combat mission on February 3, 1945, Rosenthal, commanding the 418th, was part of a thousand-plane raid against Berlin. His B-17G (s/n 44-8379), the lead bomber, suffered a direct flak hit which killed two of his crew. Although his plane was in flames, he continued to the target to drop his payload, 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 (300 m). He was recovered by the Red Army and again returned to duty. Rosenthal would earn the Distinguished Service Cross for this mission. Among the buildings hit in the raid was the "People's Court", killing the court's president, notorious "hanging judge" Roland Freisler. Freisler was an attendee of the Wannsee Conference, which formalised plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".

After the war, Rosenthal served as an assistant to the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, where he interrogated the former head of the German Air Force, Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Keitel, former head of the German Armed Forces High Command Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW).

By the end of his service he had a earned a total of 16 decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star (with cluster), the Distinguished Flying Cross (with cluster), the Air Medal, (with seven clusters), the Purple Heart (with cluster), plus the British Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.

Army Air Forces Pilot Badge
	Distinguished Service Cross
	Silver Star with bronze oak leaf cluster
	Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster
	Purple Heart with bronze oak leaf cluster
	Air Medal with one silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters
	American Campaign Medal
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with silver and bronze campaign stars
	World War II Victory Medal
	Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
	Croix de Guerre with Palm (France)

   Army Presidential Unit Citation

Distinguished Service Cross citation

 

Rosenthal, Robert
Date of Action: February 3, 1945

Citation:

For extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy on 3 February 1945 while serving as Air Commander of a Heavy Bombardment Divisions formation attacking the Templehof Marshalling Yards, Berlin, Germany. On this date, while on the bombing run, his aircraft suffered a direct hit by enemy-aircraft fire which inflicted severe damage on the plane and started and intense fire in the bomb bays. Completely disregarding his personal safety and in spite of the imminent danger of explosion, he continued to lead his formation over the target. The extraordinary heroism, skillful airmanship, and intense determination to complete his assigned mission displayed by Lt. Col. Rosenthal on this occasion are in keeping with the highest tradition of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Robert Rosenthal married Phillis Heller (1918–2011), whom he met on the ocean voyage to Germany, who served as a WAVE, and was also another lawyer on the prosecutorial staff for the trials, in Nuremberg, and they had 3 children (Peggy, Steve & Dan); he died on April 20, 2007, at age 89 in White Plains, New York. He was interred in the Sharon Gardens Cemetery plot Community Synagogue of Rye Lot 197 Grave 3.

• In 2006, Rosenthal was inducted into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame and medals were made depicting Rosenthal and his crew.
• Rosenthal’s tour with the 100th BG was documented in Lt. Col Harry Crosby’s 1993 memoir of the 100th BG, “Wing and a Prayer.”
• Rosenthal's wartime experiences with the 100th Bomb Group were featured in the book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (2007) by historian Donald L. Miller. He is portrayed by Nate Mann in the nine-part Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air (2024).