Moral Courage

<p>Robert Rosie Rosenthal is a relatively unknown American hero from World War II. Enlisting in the Army Air Corps immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor Mr. Rosenthal would go on to become a legend among the men of the 100th Bomb Group (BG) and Eighth Air Force. Rosenthal initially flew AT-6 trainers in Ft Myers Florida before transferring to the 100th BG located at Thorpe Abbotts England. On just his third combat mission he saw 12 100th BG bombers lost over the skies of Munster. His Royal Flush was the only 100th Bomb Group airplane to return from the 10 October 1943 raid. Rosenthal would go on to fly three tours for the 100th totaling a remarkable 52 missions--the most of any 100th BG pilot. Rosenthal embodied courage. Very few men volunteered to stay for additional tours after successfully completing one and virtually no one volunteered for a third. Rosenthal passion to fight the enemy drove him to continue flying harrowing missions eventually leading to being shot down on his last mission--a bombing raid over Berlin. Rosenthal fought even though he could have walked away. After the war was over Rosenthal continued to fight at the Nuremberg trials finding solace in seeing these once powerful men brought to justice. His courageous nature is a tribute to his strength of conviction that he hated to see anyone get kicked around. Research collection for this project included examination of the online catalogs at the Air University Library as well as the Air Force Historical Research Agency. In addition online internet searches served as a starting point for the research. Remarkably other than the 1943 Munster raid very few references to Mr. Rosenthal existed. He is truly an unsung hero.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>