On September 13, 1918, 2nd Lieutenant Rose was wounded by shrapnel during the St. Mihiel Offensive. In a show of his typical courage, Rose initially refused to be evacuated until the more grievously injured had been cared for and taken from the battlefield. While wounded in the hospital, Rose listed his religion as Protestant, a decision with posthumous implications he could never have imagined. While there is no evidence that he ever converted to Christianity, subsequent US Army records list Rose as Protestant, Methodist, and Episcopalian.12 Modern scholarship has concluded that Rose was likely irreligious and his change in affiliation was primarily due to his career ambitions in the face of Anti-Semitic views common in the Army of the time.13  

After three weeks, the dedicated young leader left the field hospital early, against doctor’s orders, to rejoin his men on the front lines.

With the Army unsure of his whereabouts, Rose’s parents received the dreaded War Department telegram declaring their son killed in action. Sam and Katy Rose went into mourning, grieving their fallen son. But in the midst of sitting Shivah, the Roses received another telegram informing them of the clerical  mistake: Maurice was in fact alive and still in action.14

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After the conclusion of World War I on November 11, 1918, Maurice Rose spent a few months touring the Continent. He was honorably discharged from the Army on June 19, 1919, having attained the rank of Captain. Following his service in Europe during the Great War, the young officer was the proud recipient of the French Croix de Guerre, a Purple Heart, the Army of Occupation Medal, the Mexican Service ribbon, and the WWI Victory medal with 3 clasps.15