Sacramento, California - On behalf of all Californians, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and First Lady Anne Gust Brown honor Army Staff Sgt. David Rosenkrantz, a U.S. serviceman missing from World War II.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced that Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz's remains have been identified and that he will be buried on July 20 with full military honors.
Staff Sgt. David Rosenkrantz, 28, of Los Angeles, California, bravely gave his life in service to our state and nation and the Governor and First Lady extend their deepest condolences to his family and friends. In memorial, Governor Brown ordered that flags be flown at half-staff over the State Capitol. Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz's family will receive a letter of condolence from the Governor.
In September 1944, Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz was a member of Company H, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, participating in Operation Market Garden to break German defensive lines on the Western Front. On September 28, 1944, German tanks and infantry launched an attack on Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz’s platoon, which was occupying Heuvelhof, a farm located south of the town of Groesbeek. Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz was killed and, due to enemy fire and the proximity to enemy troops, his remains could not be recovered.
Between 1945 and 1952, Canadian, Dutch and American graves registration teams were active in the area and recovered Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz’s identification tags, along with fragmentary remains too sparse to be identified. Several sets of unidentifiable remains were buried as unknowns in American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries in Europe.
After thorough research and historical analysis, one set of remains circumstantially associated with the location of Staff Sgt. Rosenkrantz was disinterred by DPAA on June 14, 2017. Scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used DNA and anthropological analysis as well as circumstantial evidence in the identification of the remains.
