WWII Veteran Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal ’41 Honored at D-Day Ceremony
(L to R) Sculptor Benjamin Victor, who created the statue of the late Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal ’41 as part of the Eighth Air Force Memorial, is joined by Robert’s son, Dan Rosenthal.
Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal ’41, a heroic World War II pilot who was among those featured in Steven Spielberg’s “Masters of the Air” war drama, received special honors last week as part of D-Day anniversary ceremonies held on the beaches of Normandy, France.
His family, including his son, Dan Rosenthal, was at Normandy for the unveiling of the Eighth Air Force Memorial, featuring statues of Rosenthal and three other veterans on June 5. The memorial, which was dedicated by the Normandy Institute, was designed to “acknowledge the crucial role the Eighth Air Force played in preparing the D-Day invasion battlefields by knocking out Germany’s air power,” the organization said.
The day-long event, held at the site of the massive land, sea, and air invasion by Allied forces on June 6, 1944, included a ceremony in Bayeux at the General Eisenhower statue, a luncheon at Chateau de Bernaville, a dedication of the memorial at La Fière, and a memorial concert back at Chateau de Bernaville. A small stone bridge at La Fière, where the memorial is located, was the site of a fierce, four-day battle and its control was considered pivotal to the Allied forces’ ability to move inland to victory.
Inclusion in the memorial was not the first honor for Robert Rosenthal, our esteemed alumnus. A lawyer who had never flown a plane before, he enlisted in the U.S. Army the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, eager to help stop the spread of Nazism. He went on to win 16 military decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism.” He flew 52 missions over Germany as a World War II Army Air Corps bomber pilot and survived after his plane was shot down twice.
His daring aerial tactics alongside others in the “Bloody Hundredth,” the nickname for the 100th Bomb Group in the Eighth Air Force, were featured in the 2024 Apple TV+ drama series, Masters of the Air, which was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman, the trio behind the WWII series Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The series explores the lesser-known air battles that laid the framework for D-Day, which is considered a turning point in defeating Nazi Germany.
In March 2024, Dan Rosenthal visited Brooklyn Law School to participate in a Q&A with President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer about his father and “Masters of the Air.” As former president of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation, which his father co-founded, Dan helped provide details of his late father’s life for filmmakers, who had spent a decade putting together the series.
More photos from the event are found here.