ROSE, GEORGE A.
"Al, G.A.R." Rose

Name: George A. Rose
Rank/Branch: O3/United States Air Force, pilot
Unit: 334th TFS
Date of Birth: 13 November 1942
Home City of Record: Kansas City MO
Date of Loss: 21 June 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212300 North 1050600 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4E
Missions: 100+
Other Personnel in Incident: Peter Callaghan, returnee

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: 73-328 RELEASED BY DRV

SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

GEORGE A. ROSE
Captain - United States Air Force
Shot Down: June 21, 1972
Released: March 28, 1973

I was born November 13, 1942 in Kansas City, Missouri, but was raised
primarily in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I graduated from Fayetteville
High School in 1960 and the University of Arkansas in 1964.

I married Rebecca Bearden of Welch, West Virginia, in 1966. One son, Glen
Rose II, was born in June 1968. Throughout our marriage we have enjoyed
doing many things together. Especially, we are partial to spending our time
at the beach in the summer and on the ski slopes in the winter.

In January of 1965 I entered the Air Force after receiving my commission
through the AFROTC program. On September 25, 1966, I went to Vietnam as an
F4C pilot, assigned to the 558th TFS, 12th TFW, Cam Ranh Bay. From Vietnam I
went to Germany with the 9th TFS,49th TFW, Spangdahlem AB. One year later I
was assigned to the 10th TFS, 50th TFW, Hahn AB. Returning to the U.S. in
1971, my base was Seymour Johnson AFB and my squadron was the 334th TFS of
the 4th TFW. In April 1972 my unit went TDY to Ubon AB, Thailand. I was shot
down by a Mig 21 on June 21, 1972. After safely ejecting I was captured with
my fellow crewman, 1st Lt. Peter Callaghan. We were about 40 miles northwest
of Hanoi. After nine months and one week I was repatriated on 28 March 1973.

I am a career officer and my plans are to return to the cockpit of fighter
aircraft and continue my career.

Many have inquired as to what sustained me while I was a POW. There were
three beliefs: My faith in God, that I was not alone; my faith in the United
States, that we had not been forgotten; and my faith in my fellow prisoners;
that together we could do anything to survive.

What did I miss the most? Besides my family, I missed and appreciated the
Freedom that we possess in America. In North Vietnam I perceived a people
and a place without freedom. Assuredly, it is a pathetic thing. We must
never lose our precious Freedom as a country or as individuals, for once it
is gone, it may never return.

December 1996
George Rose retired from the United States Air Force as a Lt. Colonel. He
and his wife Becky reside in Texas.

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