My father's name was Samuel "Sonny" Rosen. He was a Boatswain's Mate First Class aboard the USS Spence. He was killed on December 18, 1944,when his ship and two others sank in a typhoon while supporting the invasion of the Philippines. His squadron was known as the Little Beavers. It saw duty in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. I was born six months after he was killed. I am an only child.

My father enlisted in the reserves at age 27 in 1936. He was activated around 1940 and was killed at age 35. He came from an immigrant family and had two brothers and two sisters. He and my mother married after not having seen each other for five years. He proposed and she accepted by mail.