Local author leaves touching narrative of love, war and family
White Horse to host posthumous release of David Rozzell’s book
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
November 10, 2022
The posthumous release of David Rozzell’s book, “Rosie’s Sweat Box,” will be held at the White Horse, Nov. 12. Image courtesy of Carol Tyson
In the skies above Europe, the battle between global powers raged violently around Woodville Grady Rozzell, a 19-year-old U.S. Air Force pilot in the WWII combat theater and longtime Swannanoa Valley resident who passed away at the age of 86 in 2009. In his journal, the Tennessee native dutifully recorded first-hand accounts of his experiences and thoughts on long missions in the cockpit of his B-17 bomber, known to its crew as “Rosie’s Sweat Box.”
The stories of war and his love for their mother, Betty, were unfamiliar to the couple’s four children, who grew during their father’s career as a plant engineer at Beacon Manufacturing Co., but his oldest child and only son David, himself a Vietnam Veteran and writer, would come to relate to many of them all too well.
David, who passed away, Oct. 23, at the age of 76, spent much of the final three years of his life immersed in his father’s words, and the touching tribute he authored before his death will be officially released during a Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center event, from 1 - 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, in White Horse Black Mountain. The reception, which will celebrate the writer’s final gift to his family and readers, coincides with Veterans Day Weekend.
David and his three sisters, Terri Brooks, Carol Tyson and Pegg Rozzell, made fond memories with Grady, who was married to Betty for 65 years. He served on the Buncombe County School Board and was an ardent supporter of athletics in the Valley. Childhood was “a lot of fun” in the Rozzell home, according to David’s siblings.
“He used to chase us around the house and he was always bringing home a dog, and mother usually sent them back,” Tyson said of her father. “He raised beagles and would take us hunting with him.”
Grady, who was born into a coal mining family before graduating from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with an engineering degree, taught his kids they could “do anything,” Pegg added.
That rang especially true when all three of his daughters, members of a Warlassies basketball teams that won 87 straight games from 1964-1968, were inducted into the Owen High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, a year after their father was enshrined as a supporter of the school’s sports program.
Grady’s experiences flying 35 successful bombing missions over Europe, however, were not something he spoke about at home.
Grady Rozzell, who flew 35 missions as a pilot in World War II, was a longtime resident of the Swannanoa Valley. A book written by his late son, David, shares Grady’s detailed accounts of his experience. Photo courtesy of Carol Tyson
“The diary was something we were aware of, but he never talked about it, or anything that was in it,” Brooks said.
That changed in 2005, when David’s neighbor and friend, Mike Baldwin, convinced the WWII Veteran to read from the diary while being recorded. The experience was an impactful one for Grady’s son, who became a third-generation veteran in 1969, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. With his own experiences as a combat medic, David, who was awarded two Bronze Stars for his service in Vietnam, was moved by his father’s story.
“David has always been a writer, and daddy was a tremendous writer,” Tyson said. “When you read his journal, it’s impressive how he was able to tell these stories at the age of 19 and 20, and David didn’t want them to be lost.”
The published collection of entries, “Rosie’s Sweat Box,” which takes its name from the flying fortress in which Grady completed 19 of his missions, was a labor of love for her brother, according to Brooks.
“He has always been our family historian,” she said. “He researched family history and found pictures and new information, so this book was almost a natural next step for him.”
With his wife, Judy, David immersed himself in historical accounts of WWII, even visiting Deenethorpe Airfield in North Hamptonshire, England, where the bomber exploded on the runway in 1944, as his father was being discharged from service.
“On the first mission after daddy quit flying, the plane exploded on the runway and killed everyone onboard,” Pegg said. “It was the biggest fatality at that particular airport during the war.”
David retrieved a piece of the wreckage from the plane, which his father named, during another trip to the site.
“A little boy had picked up pieces of the plane years ago, and when David and Judy went to a little pub nearby, they were telling people about why they were in town,” Brooks said. “A man went into the back of the pub and brought out a shadow box with pieces of Rosie, which they gave to David.”
In his journal and diary, Grady provided detailed accounts beginning on the day he left home for the Air Force Classification Center in Nashville, the 350 hours he flew in his first year of service and his promotion to second lieutenant. He also wrote about his strong desire to return home to his young wife, who he married in Tampa, Florida in 1944, before going to war.
Following an Easter church service and dinner with his young wife while on leave, he lamented saying goodbye again before going into battle.
“I certainly hate to leave Betty,” Grady wrote in his journal. “Betty has become a big part of me, I love her more than I could ever imagine loving anyone.”
As he boarded a train bound for Georgia the next day, he again reflected on his love for his wife.
“Goodbye to the dearest and most precious girl in the world,” he wrote.
Less than two months later, the pilot reflected on a bombing mission in Caen, France, which took his crew directly over the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy.
“There’s going to be many a good man killed today,” he recorded after returning from his June 6, 1944 flight. “Blessing on them.”
Grady also found time to enjoy, and record, lighter moments, including climbing a fence while training in Florida for an unsuccessful attempt to see alligators in the wild.
“After five hours of walking through palmettos and undergrowth, we finally got back to the field,” he wrote. “We were two hours late for supper and we haven’t seen the alligators yet, except from planes.”
There is also the story of Turbo, a monkey who Grady believed would be a good mascot for his squadron.
Grady Rozzell and his monkey, Turbo, pose for a picture taken during the pilot’s training in Florida. Photo courtesy of Carol Tyson
“He found out about a pet store in Miami, and they had monkeys,” Brooks said. “He bought one and named him Turbo, but shortly after that he found out they couldn’t have pets or mascots. Turbo was quite active, biting people and causing monkey business, so he had to call his mom and dad to take Turbo.”
“Rosie’s Sweat Box” is the first book published by David, whose work was featured in Joseph Bathanti’s 2017 collection of poems from veterans, tilted “Brothers Like These.” The project stemmed from a creative writing class started by Bathanti, an English professor at Appalachian State University who penned the foreword in David’s book, and Dr. Bruce Kelly at the Charles George VA Medical Center in 2014. The group introduced the writing process as an outlet for veterans battling symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“Joseph Bathanti will speak on David, as a writer,” Tyson said of Saturday’s release celebration. “He helped edit the book and really helped David with all kinds of things.”
The free event will include a looping slideshow of photos related to the “Rosie’s Sweat Box,” and a question and answer session. At its conclusion, attendees will be invited to the Swannanoa Valley Museum to view an exhibit featuring artifacts from Grady’s military service.
“They will have pictures, daddy’s leather jacket and his actual journal,” Tyson said. “His dress uniform will be there, too. That will be on display through April.”
David’s book, which his sisters believe represents his legacy as a writer, storyteller and keeper of the Rozzell family history, honors their father’s bravery and love for their mother, while documenting a first-hand account of historical events.
“Growing up right after WWII, we felt like we were walking among heroes,” Tyson said. “They came back knowing that they had saved the world.”