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Born November 26, 1899 in Middletown Connecticut,
his U.S. Army career spanned 1916 to 1945 and he
served in both World War I & II. In France in WW I he
saw combat as a 19-year-old First Lieutenant with the
89th Infantry Division in the Argonne and at St. Miheil.
He was wounded (shrapnel and concussion), spent 3
weeks in a hospital, but returned to his unit against
doctor's orders. He was promoted to Captain in 1920,
shortly after the war's end. In WWII, he served with
the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions in North Africa,
including combat with the 1st in the battle for Tunisia in
1943. When with the 2nd Armored Division he was promoted to Brigadier General just
before the invasion of Sicily where his unit was the first to enter the island's capital,
Palermo. With the 2nd Armored in Normandy in June, 1944, Gen. Rose's unit beat
back a major German force near Carentan. As captured documents later revealed, this
action may have saved the whole Normandy beachhead. On August 7, 1944, Gen.
Rose was given command of the 3rd Armored Division and received his second
general's star several weeks later. What then followed was his daring and legendary
leadership of the 3rd Armored "Spearhead" Division, as its troops achieved a
remarkable string of "Firsts'' when they aggressively advanced and engaged German
forces in northern France, Belgium, Germany, in the Battle of the Bulge, and finally in
the heart of Germany itself. On March 29, 1945, in central Germany, Rose's troops
made the longest one-day advance by any Allied Division during the war. Tragically, on
30 March Rose was killed in action while trying to locate a forward 3rd Armored unit that
had been cut off by German tanks. He was only 45 years old. WWII in Europe was to
end five weeks later.

From August 1977 until it’s inactivation in October 1987, the 62nd Aviation Company
(CORPS) called Maurice Rose Army Airfield home. The airfield was located northeast
of Frankfurt just outside of the small German community of Bonames and had been
named for Major General Rose who had been in command of the 3rd Armored Division
when he was killed in action during the final weeks of WWII. Prior to being occupied by
the “Royal Coachmen”, the airfield had been the home of the Aviation Company of the
3rd Armored Division.