by Eddie Paniagua
This post is from our 2021 Summer Internship series.
Over the skies of France during World War II, a young American pilot by the name of Joseph Rosar would make the ultimate sacrifice for his country in his P-51 Mustang. Following his death, the Rosar family would receive a notification from the War Department informing them that one of their sons was gone forever. Like other letters sent to German American families across the United States, it acknowledged their sons sacrifice, and thanked them on behalf of a grateful nation. But, was that nation truly grateful for the sacrifices made by US service men and women of German American descent?
Americans by and large are unaware that the United States interned German Americans during WW II. In some cases, soldiers of German American descent were fighting and dying for what they thought was their country, while their families sat in an internment camps in the US. Nothing says a grateful nation, quite like imprisoning the family members of those honorably serving their country in a desperate hour. It is a shameful stain on history pages of the United States, one that the US would like to keep omitted.
The historiography of German Americans in WW II is filled with the heroic actions of notable individuals like Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chuck Yeager, as well as the struggle of lesser known names fighting on the front lines. However, this historiography is incomplete if we fail to mention the struggles of German American families who were interned back on the home front.
I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Van Hoy and the St. Mary’s University Public History Department for my internship for graduate school. I had previously been a part of the undergraduate class that conducted the original research on Joseph Rosar in 2015. Working on this project again was a great experience filled with many lessons.
In 2021, we compiled research of American soldiers who fought in World War II, were of German descent, and had their family members sent to internment camps In the United States. The histories that we gathered would then be used in conjunction with a previous history project covering the life of Joseph Rosar. This time, we met with the son of the late Herb Reed, Joseph Rosar’s flying buddy from WWII. He offered us much more information about Rosar than we had not previously known, as well as new pictures we had not seen before.
Looking ahead, we have a plan to share the history of Joseph Rosar and other American soldiers of German descent with the world. The far-reaching implications of this project is to bring awareness to people about the history of German Americans who have suffered at the hands of our government, despite the fact that they and their children served, and died for, our country in the Armed Forces. To bring this project fully into the light, we would like to present this history to the Biden administration to win recognition for all German American sacrifice during WWII.
If we fail as historians to acknowledge the struggles of the German American families that were interned, all previous acknowledgements of German American soldiers will remain as an empty lip service. It is vital, that the complete story of German Americans be told, then, and only then, may we honor the spirit of those who sacrificed so much with truth and integrity.
To see what Ed Paniagua is up to, visit his Twitter, @EdLovesHistory.
