Thread by @18airbornecorps

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We’ve read more than 6,000 pages of contemporary and reflective accounts from Operation Market Garden. We’ve probably read more than a thousand individual stories from that operation.

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One of the most emotional stories we’ve ever heard and one appropriate for #YomKippur.

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It’s a truly American story, one filled with inspiration for all of us. It’s a tale that we should all hear, particularly in these divided times.

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So, how to tell it? Well, what follows is a full arc of an epic film, but on Twitter. In terms of cinema, this is a 3+ hour saga, worth every second.

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So, how to tell it? Well, what follows is a full arc of an epic film, but on Twitter. In terms of cinema, this is a 3+ hour saga, worth every second.

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It’s about a journey from a cruel Russian empire to a promising California city in a time of resplendent growth. From there, the journey continues to some of the most depraved battlefields mankind has observed.

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The decades-long journey that follows adds an odd plot twist to the movie.

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Much of the film revolves around a man affectionately named “Rosie” and his journey. But Rosie rarely appears on screen in this movie. And this film is really about all of us.

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One of the themes of this movie is the stripping away of the self. Sometimes that is for the good, sometimes for the bad.

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In one scene, a Jewish American joins an Army at war, diminishing the individual to empower the collective (an Army with a shared culture and set of values).

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In a later scene, the same individual becomes lost to the world - a categorized, nameless, faceless archive of a war long gone.

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The weaving in and out of the individual - and the journey of our true main character - Dr. Philip Rosenkrantz - offers wisdom for all Americans. Rosie’s journey is our journey.

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So, a dark screen lights up. A grey city appears on screen. Opening credits.

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The film begins at the turn of the twentieth Century in Łódź, a city in the Russian Empire (now a city in Poland).

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Two Jews, Hyman and Eva Rosenkrantz, meet and fall in love amidst mass persecution of their kind by the Russian Empire. They know they must leave to survive and start a family.

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Borrowing money from their parents, they come to America in 1902. They arrive in a California suburb, working odd jobs, and teaching one another English.

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Hyman and Eva marry in 1903. They quickly fit in in their new country. Working odd jobs, they save money.

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Hyman and Eva raise 11 children (here they are with the first three).

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The plot then moves to the Roaring 1920s in the Watt section of Los Angeles. The stock market is booming. Watts is expanding with European immigrants. The country is on an emotional, financial, and military post-war high.

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Now we introduce a new character: David Rosenkrantz, the gregarious middle son.

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Everyone around David knows he is going to be an incredible success. Brilliant, funny, confident, and outgoing, he has all the characteristics needed to thrive in post-WWI America.

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David plays football in high school and was in theater and glee club. He serves as a central force in keeping the family close.

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Dark music. Shift in color scheme. It’s the late 1930s and the film darkens in tone. The Great Depression leaves Watts devastated. Nazism rises in Europe. Hitler is on the march.

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Four of David’s brothers volunteer for the war.

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November, 1941: David is not selected for the draft given his age (28) and his college education. He is nonetheless compelled to take up arms in the fight to defeat Nazism and joins the Army.

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David Rosenkrantz qualified for virtually any wartime occupation of his choosing. He selected a speciality likely to take him to the front lines as quickly as possible: airborne infantry.

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Rosenkrantz is assigned to a new regiment forming in Louisiana: the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, @Strike_Hold. “Rosie,” as his fellow paratroopers call him, serves in 3rd Battalion, Company H.

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Rosie goes through airborne training and deploys with the 504th, part of the @82ndABNDiv, and quickly moves through the ranks. By the time the 504th prepares for the Italian campaign, he is a Sergeant.

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Rosie (standing, right) is a beloved figure. He looks after his fellow paratroopers and they look after him.

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The Legend of Rosie begins in July, 1943, when he parachuted into Sicily with the 504th as part of Operation Husky.

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He and another 82nd soldier, Corporal Lee Black, are blown off course in descent. Rosie was wounded on landing. He and Black landed next to [almost right on top of] about 200 Italian troops and were quickly captured.

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These Italian captors were actually pretty sweet folks. They didn’t seem too enthused about the war at all and tried to make things as comfortable as possible for their two POWs.

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Within weeks, with the Allied success at Sicily and the collapse of Mussolini’s government, the more than 200 Italians captors surrendered to the first Allied soldiers they could find: Rosie and Lee.

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Back home in LA, the press reported a bit of a distorted version of events: Rosie and another soldier escaped from their prisoner camp and, unarmed, route 200 Italian troops.

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Rosie asked his family to correct the story (they did), but was always amused by his reported Alvin York-style heroics.

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Rosie was a fine writer. He wrote many long letters home offering vivid descriptions of Italy, his combat, and the lives and dreams of his fellow Paratroopers. His parents cherished and preserved those letters.

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Back in LA, Rosie was celebrated throughout the war. Newspapers sought out his mom, Eva, for interviews.

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Rosie and H Company went on to serve in the Italian campaign before being sent to England to prepare for another airborne insertion.

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On September 17, 1944 Rosie and his unit jumped into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden.

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Days later, Rosenkrantz' unit occupied a farm south of the Dutch town of Groesbeek when they were attacked by German tanks and infantry.

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Rosenkrantz was killed by a machine-gun burst. Due to enemy fire and the proximity to enemy troops, Rosie’s remains could not be recovered. He was classified as MIA.

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Without his remains, Eva Rosenkrantz could not accept that her son had died.

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For years after the war ended, she would ask her children to drive her around the streets of Los Angeles, looking for her boy. She died in 1960 without ever knowing what had happened to him.

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The Family is devastated. With no closure, with no memorial ceremony, unsure if their middle son is still alive and held captive, Eva and Hyman never fully recover.

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They die heartbroken.

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The film now moves to post-WWII Europe.

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After the war, many parties from Europe and the United States scour battlefields such as Groesbeek in an attempt to identify missing troops like Rosie.

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It is then that a couple of miscommunications delayed Rosie’s return for decades.

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First, in late 1945, Rosie’s dog tags were found by a Dutch farmer in Groesbeek who turned them into the local government. The dog tags were mislabeled and then stored in the wrong section for years and years.

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Then, in 1946, a Canadian Graves Registration team in the area where Rosie died found his remains and buried them in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial (Le Cimetière de Guerre Canadien Groesbeek) as “unknown.”

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The story would likely have ended there, Rosie’s remains lost to history.

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But, now we introduce our protagonist. In steps Dr. Philip Rosenkrantz, a professor in the California State Polytechnic University’s engineering department.

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Quick-witted and easy-going, Philip builds a successful career.

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In 1998, Philip sees the film “Saving Private Ryan.” The movie and its search for the missing Soldier ignite a fire. Something deep inside Philip throbs.

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Born in 1949 and growing up in Orange County, California, Dr. Rosenkrantz read Rosie’s letters home from the war with an equal mix of horror and wonder. Leaving the movie theater, he thinks back on those letters.

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The feverish passion to bring Rosie home only grows. Philip is obsessed.

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He sets up a website, posting old articles and photographs and whatever else he could find about Rosie. He attends events for families of soldiers who were missing in action.

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He also uncovers these sketches Rosie made while in England. The people in these drawings remain unknown.

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He makes three trips to Holland, forging a relationship with a group of Dutch researchers.

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In 2003, their combined detective-like efforts lead them to an artifact left in a farmhouse: a map inscribed with a Star of David and the words: "Sgt. Rosie KIA."

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With that, Philip grows almost maniacal in his pursuit to find Rosie. The search is back on.

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Philip enlists the assistance of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), who chased down stories of a 504th Paratrooper whose body was knocked out of a shallow grave by artillery fire and could not be retrieved during the subsequent combat.

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Those accounts connect to reports of remains moved to the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. Things started to click.

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By the late 2000s, DNA testing on remains in that cemetery eliminated about a dozen “unknown soldiers” as possibly those of Rosie. More remains must be tested. Years go by. The search continues.

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Then, a breakthrough.

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March 2012: The Army correctly identifies Rosie’s dog tags and mails them to Philip. Dr. Philip is overcome with emotion….but not yet satisfied. The search continues.

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April 2016: We may be onto something. More testing is needed, but we have a possible hit in that Canadian Cemetery.

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You see, a DNA type matching that of Rosie is identified on a bit of remains buried with scraps of a paratrooper uniform and size 7EE paratrooper boots — Rosenkrantz’s boot size.

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After another 8 months of testing of mitochondrial DNA, the remains are confirmed as those of Staff Sergeant David Rosenkrantz, H Company, 504th PIR. Now, we must bring him home.

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February 2018: Rosie’s remains are recovered from Canada and processed for the journey home.

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July 24, 2018: Rosie comes home. In a ceremony attended by thousands of California veterans and patriots young and old, Rosie is buried in Riverside National Cemetery.

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[In an incredible - and appropriate - tribute, all flags in the state of California at half-staff that day]

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Colonel Daniel Mothers of the 82nd Airborne headquarters, represents the All American Division at the ceremony in the greatest honor of my military career.

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Mothers explains that today the American Soldier walks in the footsteps of legends. “Today, one of those legends has returned home."

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Philip is overcome with emotion.

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Mothers explains that we sometimes lose sight of the fact that more than 70,000 American Soldiers remain missing from WWII. They have not all been given the service and ceremony that we owe them.

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Philip is presented with Rosie’s WWII awards: the Bronze Star with Combat "V" device, the Purple Heart, the Combat Parachutist Badge with two bronze stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Netherlands Orange Lanyard.

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Rosie had come full circle: hero, local celebrity, buried with honors. Rosie was home. The journey was over.

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If you think the movie ends there, you underestimate Dr. Philip Rosenkrantz.

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Last year, Philip visited the Netherlands during the 75th anniversary of Market Garden.

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At the Wall of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, he placed a Rosette (medallion) next to Rosie's name signifying that he was no longer missing. That was another emotional moment and act of closure.

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Philip’s book, “Letters From Uncle Dave: The 73-year Journey to Find a Missing-In-Action World War II Paratrooper,” which he’s been writing for two years, will publish this year and will be available here: philrosenkrantz.com

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Dr. Rosenkrantz has dedicated the rest of his life to telling Rosie’s story. And what a story it is. It’s one every American should hear.

FINAL

Closing credits.