Robert passed away just 40 days after his wife, Bettie, and they will be interned together at the Springfield Missouri Veterans Cemetery. A celebration of life is being planned.
Robert Dale Rosendahl was born April 20, 1921, in Saint Hilaire, and grew up in Thief River Falls.
Bob served his country during World War II in the Army Air Corps and was deployed to the Southwest Pacific Theater in 1941 as the line chief, Sargent, 1st class in the 3rd Pursuit Squadron. Although he fought bravely for three months without adequate naval, or air support, in May 1942, the US and Philippines surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army.
As a prisoner of war, Bob was forced to make the 60-mile Bataan Death March. Bob endured harsh treatment and was transferred to a Japanese Prison camp in Mukden Manchuria by means of a Hell Ship. As a POW, Bob was forced into slave labor, starved, and tortured. On August 15, 1945 Bob was liberated from captivity.
Free and stateside, Bob met Bettie Hefti in St. Louis, Missouri on a blind date; it was the fourth of July 1946, and it was love at first sight.
Bob proposed and they were married 30 days later on August 15, 1946.
A true patriot, Bob re-enlisted in the Army and served again as a First Sargent, leading an infantry company for nine months of combat during the Korean War.
Bob retired from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1979.
The Rosendahl’s had six children: Roberta Wise (d. 2014) and husband Clark (d. 2014), John Rosendahl, Eirik Rosendahl and wife Linda, Martha Gaska and husband Dr. Walt Gaska, Kathleen Rosendahl-Garcia and husband Rick Garcia, and Ben Rosendahl and wife Beth. They have eight grandchildren, dozens of bonus grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Bob has one niece, Michelle (Gibbs) Shay in Vermont and one nephew, Mr. Samuel Gibbs of Thief River Falls.
Bettie remained Bob’s bride for 73 years and preceded her husband in death by 40 days. Robert was also preceded in death by his father, Benjamin (d. 1956), mother, Lillian (d. 1971), and his sister, Isabel Marie Gibbs, (d.1998).
The family wishes to thank Dr. Meldi, the kind staff at Good Shepherd Hospice, and our friend, Barbara Burgess; we are grateful to you all for your guidance, skill, and lending an affectionate hand in helping to care for our Father and our Mother.
