Robert Rosenthal (USAAF officer)

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosenthal (June 11, 1917 – April 20, 2007) was an American lawyer and Army officer. 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.

Early life
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.

World War II
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 March 8, 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 February 4, 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 September 10, 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 1000 ft. 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).

Awards and decorations
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 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 February 3, 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 an 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.

Personal and later life
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.

Popular culture

 * 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).