[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 103 (Monday, July 14, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1470-E1471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FREDERICK W. ROSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. NATHAN DEAL

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2003

  Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
great American, Frederick (Fred) W. Rosen. Mr. Rosen was a Naval 
Officer, a businessman, a hometown hero, and above all, a patriot. He 
was a friend to a President and national leaders and a witness to 
history. For his contributions to Dalton, Georgia and indeed the 
history of this great nation, I pay honor to him posthumously; Mr. 
Rosen died peacefully on July 14, 2003.
  Fred Rosen was born in 1917 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Eastern 
European Jewish immigrants. In the 1930s, as the Depression consumed 
the nation, Mr. Rosen's brother Ira moved to Dalton, Georgia seeking 
opportunity in the textile industry by opening the La Rose Bedspread 
Company. Mr. Rosen was a loyal Bulldog, attending the University of 
Georgia and playing football there. His brother Ira ran the business 
with Mr. Rosen, while brother Eli became a physician who practiced in 
Dalton. Mr. Rosen's sister, Helene, who survives him, today resides 
near Hartford, Connecticut.
  In 1941, Fred Rosen answered Lt. Commander John D. Bulkeley's call 
for the ``toughest, hard-boiled men who can take all the punishment in 
the world'' and joined the Navy. Arriving in Charleston, S.C., Mr. 
Rosen met a young man from Boston named John F. Kennedy. The two 
trained alongside one another to serve on the Navy's newest vessel--the 
PT Boat, a vessel designed for stealth in the darkness. Rosen achieved 
the rank of Lt. Commander, becoming the skipper of his own ship, PT 207 
of the squadron MTB Ron 15. During WWII, the squadron engaged in 73 
actions and 55 OSS missions with 30 enemy vessels destroyed.
  From 1941-1944, Mr. Rosen served in the Mediterranean and received 
ribbons for more than half a dozen missions and a Purple Heart, awarded 
in 1943, for a burned hand which resulted from the only time his boat 
was shelled by the Germans. Later in the war, PT 207 under Mr. Rosen's 
command sank a German naval ship. From 1944 until the end of the war, 
he served aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific theater.
  In August of 1943, Herbert L Matthews of The New York Times, climbed 
aboard Mr. Rosen's PT Boat, bringing Americans their first glimpse of 
the Navy's newest naval creation. Matthews' account of traveling aboard 
the small ship through unfortunate weather brought Americans closer to 
the plight of their fighting forces abroad. Matthews wrote: ``I have 
never seen men more tired than the officers who barely managed to stand 
up in the gray light of dawn, still streaked with lightening from a 
heavy rainstorm that we had run into during the night.''
  Mr. Rosen was a witness to history, as he remained friendly after 
leaving military service with Kennedy and also future Undersecretary of 
the Navy Paul B. Fay. When Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier, he was 
the only PT boat commander in attendance. Mr. Rosen was on the board of 
PT Boat Men for Kennedy, which campaigned for the candidate during his 
presidential campaign in 1960. In 1961, Mr. Rosen was invited to 
witness his dear friend being sworn in as President of the United 
States. In March of 1962, Mr. Rosen and his fellow PT Boat Men 
presented Kennedy with a Steuben Glass replica of the famed Boat, which 
sat on his desk in the Oval Office as long as he was President. Just 
after Kennedy's assassination, Mr. Rosen said to a local paper: "I hope 
we pull through this crisis and don't lose our sense of morality."

[[Page E1471]]

  Fred Rosen was a model citizen in Dalton, Georgia. After the war, he 
and his brother Ira opened Enduro Mills, one of the many factories that 
made Dalton the Carpet Capital of America. He was married to Anita 
James Rosen. Although the couple never had children, Mr. Rosen was a 
family man, maintaining long distance relationships with his cousins, 
his siblings and their children and grandchildren.
  Fred Rosen will be sorely missed by the people of Dalton, Georgia and 
the Rosen family scattered throughout the nation. His Navy service 
helped bring freedom to Europe and the United States, his local 
successes in Dalton brought jobs to our community, and his personal 
charisma brought a whole family together. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor 
to recognize Mr. Frederick W. Rosen.

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