|
|
|
| Major General Maurice Rose
MAURICE ROSE (b. November 26, 1899, -- d. 30 March 1945, Killed in Action, Germany), was a soldier's soldier. Immaculate, ruthless in his calculated destruction of the enemy, he was qualified by his experience, achievements and character to lead the spearhead of the first Americans. General Rose came up from the ranks. He joined the United States Army in 1916 as a buck private and served on the Mexican border. Upon graduating from the first officer's training course at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1917. General Rose was then commissioned in the infantry and sent overseas with the 89th Division. In France, he was wounded at St. Mihiel, but went back to fight through the entire Meuse-Argonne offensive. During World War II, General Rose served with the three greatest of American Armored Divisions; in Africa and Italy with the 1st, "Old Ironsides", and the 2nd, "Hell On Wheels": finally throughout the climactic western European campaigns at the head of his own 3d Armored Division, the organization he claimed to be the greatest tank force in the world and one worthy of the soubriquet: "SPEARHEAD." He was over six feet tall, erect, dark haired, and had finely chiseled features. He was firm and prompt of decision, brooking no interference by man, events or conditions in order to destroy the enemy. No armchair strategist, General Rose directed operations from a jeep (or known in WWII as a "peep"), at the cutting edge of the Spearhead. He travelled with the forward elements of his command, up with the tankers and the blitz doughs. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with an Oak leaf cluster, The Bronze Star Medal with an oak leaf cluster, Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster, French Legion of Honor, French Croix de Guerre with palm and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with palm. General Rose was one of two division commanders killed in ETO (the other being a commander of the 28th Infantry Division within hours of taking command). THE DEATH OF GENERAL ROSE General Rose went up front and that's where he was on the dark evening of 30 March 1945 when he and two others rounded a bend in the road and ran into a German tank. The young German tank commander (excited), ordered the 3 men to surrender. Looking at General Rose's pistol, he excitedly began to bark out orders and pointing to the General's weapon. General Rose moved his right hand so that he could drop his weapon to the earth but then the German tank commander shot him in the head. The others escaped unharmed and told the story of General Rose's murder. He was mourned as a GI tanker mourns a crewmate, and he was buried at Ittenbach, Germany, beside the men he led. War correspondent Hal Boyle wrote, at the time: "Rose lived and died as a professional, as a career he loved and followed since he was a boy of 17. He would be the last to regret that he had a soldier's ending." Fit epitaph for a great fighting man. General Maurice Rose, who tempered the SPEARHEAD of the first Americans, and gave his life in the culmination of it's greatest achievement. He was a soldier's soldier.
Last rites before burial are read by chaplain Maurer for Major General Rose at a cemetery near Ittenbach, Germany 1945
|
|
