Rosenkrantz, David “Rosy”.

- Nationality.

United States.

- Ranking.

A Jewish-American Sergeant with Company H, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

- Born.

31-10-1915, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA.

- Died.

28-09-1944 (age 28) killed in a SS Panzer Division counter-attack during Operation Market Garden. in Nijmegen, Nijmegen Municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands.

- Buried.

Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, Riverside County, California, VS, Section 55, Site 901.

airborne purple heart

Rosenkrantz, David “Rosy”, born 31-10-1915, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA, the son of Hyman Rosenkrantz ( 1881-1952). David had four brothers and two sisters, Bennie Rosenkrantz(1908–1996), Lawrence (1913–2003) Frieda Rosenkrantz Clabaugh (1917–1942), Launie Rosenkrantz (1920–1983), Jack Rosenkrantz (1924–2002) and Harry Phillip Rosenkrantz (1928–2009). David joined the Army on 29-01-1942 at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California. Rosy was a big heavy man, and a very good shot. A fellow comrade, Al Tarbell, said “Rosy was quite a guy. I really loved him. He was always kidding around…”

After training at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg he was assigned to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under command of Major General Reuben Henry “Rube” Tucker III 82nd Airborne Division. under command of Major General Matthew Bunker Ridgway. David Rosenkrantz was one of the early members of the 504 PIR. With the American Airborne troops in Sicily in July 1943, Sergeant David “Rosy” Rosenkrantz of Los Angeles and Corporal Lee Black of Jackson, Tennesy, United States paratroopers, landed outside the town of Sicily they ran smack into 200 Italians. The Italians held a conference and decided they were the ones who ought to surrender. Rosenkrantz and Black agreed to turn them over at the first opportunity and then everyone sat down to dinner with the mayor of the town providing plenty of wine. As soon as Yank reinforcements appeared after daylight, the Italian colonel formed his command and headed by Rosenkrantz and Black marched to their surrender–singing.

After recovering from wounds received in Sicily, David rejoined the regiment in time for the invasion of Italy. Troopers from H Company, with a group of Rangers, made the initial landing on 9 September on the Italian coast at Maiori. They quickly advanced inland to seize the Chiunzi Pass and a vital railroad tunnel. They continued on until they captured Naples.At Anzio, the 3rd Battalion was committed with the British First (Guards) Division under command of Lieutenant General Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, “Baron Leese”, in the heaviest fighting. By the time they were relieved, the paratrooper companies were reduced in strength to between 20 and 30 men. Conditions were brutal, but the 504 was stellar, and at Anzio received a nickname from the Germans — “The Devils in Baggy Pants.”Because the 504 was in England recuperating from heavy battle losses in Italy, they missed the Normandy invasion. They left England in September 1944 to participate in “Operation Market Garden” in Holland. The 82nd was assigned to capture the bridges at the towns of Grave and Nijmegen. Rosenkrantz was killed during a deadly counter attack by an SS Panzer Division during the night of September 27th near Heuvelhof, Groesbeek. His body was never recovered.

In 2012 was made public that the dogtags of David Rosenkrantz shortly after the war were found and by a farmer were tranferred to the U.S. Army. By unknown circomstances the dogtags were misplaced and found back after almost 60 years. They were handed over to his family in 2011. However his remains have not yet been found or identified. His name is added to the Wall of Missing at Margraten. On 15-03-2018 it was announced that the remains of Davit Rosenkrantz were identiefied. At the Tablets of the Missing in Margraten a rosary has been placed with his name to denote he is no longer missing in action. Also it became known that his date of death actually was 28-09-1944.in the Den Heuvel Woods in a German counterattack after the regiment landed in Holland for Operation Market Garden.

Death and burial ground of Rosenkrantz, David “Rosy”.

David was on one of the boat crews during the famous Waal crossing. They had already crossed the Waal River on September 20 and were on patrol at the front near the Den Heuvel farm outside Nijmegen. When he stood up behind a tree to shoot at some Germans in the distance, he didn’t know that they had been surrounded during the counterattack. Theodore “Ted Finkbein, a fellow paratrooper who was with him, sensed that something was wrong. He was yelling “Rosy! Rosy! Get down!” when when he was killed by machine gun fire from behind.The troopers had to move out that night and weren’t able to bring out his body. When they went back later to locate the body, they could not find it.Many years later, in the summer of 2000, a nephew of Rosy’s contacted Al Tarbell. He said they had been trying for more than 5 years to locate people who had known him. A few years later, Rosy’s sister contacted Mr. Tarbell. He had never known that Rosy had a sister. She was overjoyed and said “I have to talk to somebody that knew my dear Rosy. He was so good to me!” They talked for a long time.She said that he was such a nice guy, and Al Tarbell told her that he was. Everybody loved him. No one ever had a bad word for him. He was a good soldier.