The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 21

A Jfcpsfcr i vv i i Ik 11 il if ii HIE STEEIllII C0LIH.1I! i I 'if If If I 1 .4 'Mi If Jim Henley's column is on page 3T. Fri Nov. 9, 1984 4 1 fin A Mtate to SI1QTWELL The installer now is remover fill vi fij if if Etchings to be unveiled in Boone honor soldiers 'magnificent example1 Children begging American soldiers for food in San Vittorio By NICK LAMBERTO Register Staff Writer I he experiences of Iowa's famous 34th Infantry I Division in the rugged Italian campaign of World War II are captured in etchings to be unveiled Wednesday at the Boone National Guard Armory. Maj. Gen.

Charles W. Ryder, division com The official unveiling is scheduled next Wednesday evening at a meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army. The two men primarily responsible for the Boone bonanza were decorated combat soldiers who came from different backgrounds but served together in the melting pot of war. Jones attended the London School of Economics, Columbia University and Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree.

He joined Exxon in 1947, two years after his army service ended, and specialized in Middle and Far East business. He became an Exxon vice-president in 1970 and retired in 1977. Von Ripper, a former Austrian baron, died of a heart attack in 1960 at Vallensa, Majorca. He was born into a family that produced soldiers, statesmen and artists for many generations. Von Ripper was tortured in a Nazi concentration camp because of his satirical drawings and outspoken criticism of the Nazis.

Austrian officials obtained his release from prison and he eventually escaped to The Netherlands. Von Ripper came to the United States in 1938. When America entered World War II he first prepared propaganda posters and then was accepted by the U.S. army for limited service. He was a lab technician until he joined the 34th in time for the Salerno landing in 1943.

"Time and again he led patrols against the Nazis and frequently went out alone, said Von Ripper's obituary in The New York Times. He was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and parachuted many times behind enemy lines. After the end of the war in Europe, he tracked down Nazi generals, officials and gestapo agents. He rose in rank from private to captain and was awarded the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster and the purple heart with cluster. His father was a general with the old Imperial Austrian army and was the last aide de camp to the last Hapsburg emperor, Charles I.

After World War II, Von Ripper had an art studio at New Canaan, before moving to Spain to live. Von Ripper's prints of the fighting in Italy were assembled into 200 complete portfolios, each numbered by hand and signed by the artist. The portfolios were made by hand in the workshops of Kathryn and Gerhard Gerlach of New York City. The Boone portfolio is No. 17.

In a foreword to the book titled "With the 34th Infantry Division in Italy," which contains his prints, Von Ripper said: "I came to America a refugee from my native country, which had become Hitler's first victim in his mad dream of world hegemony." Von Ripper said he "had incurred the Nazis' hatred by caricatures I had made of their leaders and by a series of political-satirical drawings. "After months in jail and in a concentration camp, where I myself was subjected to torture and witnessed, inflicted on others, those tortures which later led to the systematic liquidation of millions of human beings, I took up the fight again, with pencil and brush." Von Ripper said after he came to America he "settled in New York" and "tried to continue my fight against Nazism" but found that "Americans, so far removed from the scene or so they thought could not accept the story I had to tell." Von Ripper said that in his series of etchings he tried to depict, through his own experiences in the Italian campaign, "a picture of the life in action of the American soldier in this last war" and not a "predominantly historical record of the Red Bulls' long campaign up the Italian peninsula." The Italian campaign, he said, "was one of the hardest of the war a repeated story of too late and often too little it made heavy demands on the endurance of men." Of the 34th Division Von Ripper said, "Knowing little of the United States, having hardly been out of New York, I was deeply impressed by the straightforwardness and hardiness of these Midwesterners who were my comrades. "Most of them had strong isolationist, anti-military backgrounds and nine out of 1 0 of the men hardly realized what was at stake in the war they fought so bravely and so stubbornly. They had a job to do and they did the job well. They were truly representative of the U.S.

Army, that wondrous thing created almost overnight by a democratic society, which had anything but a military tradition. "Not educated for war, as were their opponents, who had years of spiritual, mental and physical preparation to condition them, the American soldier, molded by the most individualistic concepts of society, gave a magnificent example of devotion, courage and faith, and defeated his better prepared enemy. "It was this spirit, supported by the resources of a great country, which destroyed the monstrous endeavor to enslave mankind." Von Ripper said the book of his prints "is humbly ed" to "those who gave their lives, as to all men who died to defeat the forces of hatred and oppression." mander during the war, called the historic etchings "a mirror that vividly reflects the various engagements of the Italian campaign." They depict the landing at Salerno, fierce battles at the Volturno river, San Vittorio and Cassino, the bloody crossing of the Rapido river and the final breaking of the German Gustav line. The etchings are by Rudolph Charles Von Ripper, a refugee from the Nazis. A portfolio of 30 of them has been given to the 34th Infantry Brigade, the lineal descendant of the 34th Division, by the executors of the estate of David J.

Jones of New York City, a former vice-president of finance for the Exxon corp. Von Ripper and Jones, though non-lowans, were both members of the 34th (Red Bull) Division in Italy. Von Ripper died in 1960 at the age of 55, Jones in 1980 at the age of 59. The 34th National Guard division, made up largely of Iowans, was inducted into federal service Feb. 10, 1941, and was designated an infantry division early in 1942.

After the division fought in Tunisia, replacements for its depleted ranks came from all states for the invasion of Italy in 1943. Von Ripper, who became an American citizen the same year, joined the 34th in Africa for "limited service" as an interrogator of prisoners of war but ending up leading patrols and sketching battle scenes in Italy. Jones, a native of Chicago, 111., joined the 34th in Italy. The 34th division had trained in Great Britain for the African invasion. Jones had been a student at the London School of Economics before joining the U.S.

Army in 1942. In a letter to the 34th Infantry Brigade on July 1, 1980, the executors of the estate of Jones said a portfolio of etchings of war scenes in Italy were among his personal effects and it was thought that 34th brigade headquarters at Boone "might like to have them." Officials of the Guard, the city of Boone and Boone Chamber of Commerce welcomed the unexpected gift and provided funds to have them appropriately mounted and framed. Lt. Col. Roger Schultz, brigade administrative officer, said the portfolio of 30 etchings will be on permanent display at the Armory.

After years of research and argument, disability and death, fears and facts, it's now established beyond reasonable doubt that asbestos can cause cancer and, thus, should be avoided. This leaves a guy like Wayne Allen in a rare business position. For more than 29 years, Allen's Iowa Asbestos Co. did mighty well, installing asbestos insulation throughout Iowa factories, businesses, schools and homes. "It's made me a nice living," Allen says.

"I had nothing to start with, and now I'm quite comfortable." But now, after making good money putting asbestos into all kinds of places, Iowa Asbestos and other firms are prospering again taking it out. "We call it 'asbestos Allen says, and he warns that it's not for everyone to do. Ironically, he notes, it's costing more to take asbestos out than it cost to put it in. In recent months The Register has reported many instances, especially among schools, of asbestos removal projects running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Allen cites a Des Moines factory that spent 155,000 to have asbestos insulation installed several years ago around its pipes, vats and boilers, but now is spending almost three times more to have it removed $150,000.

No joy Still, Allen speaks of the reverse trend without joy: "It makes me sad to be associated with an industry that has caused the death of some of our workers and good friends. We had four or five deaths last year, and who knows how many deaths were caused by asbestos before that, but no one knew it. It takes (the cancer) 20 or 30 years to show up, and that's why people hadn't taken it seriously." Allen emphasizes that his firm and others installed asbestos innocently, not realizing it could be deadly. And now comes a further irony, Allen says: "We're finding out that removing it is more dangerous than we thought it would be." Although it may sound like a pitch to get removal business for asbestos firms, Allen insists he speaks from the heart in warning do-it-yourselfers to leave the stuff alone. He says some businesses are tempted to ask the janitor to get rid of the stuff.

Some homeowners are knocking it from their own heating pipes. Risky, says Allen. In fact, he says the asbestos industry is so concerned that it recently held a national seminar to spread the word on removal techniques, and the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are constantly coming up with new ideas and requirements as additional hazards are recognized. Allen says about 200 asbestos installers (now removers) were expected to attend the seminar, but 400 showed up. They learned about "space suits," which cost up to $500 and resemble those worn by astronauts, to wear on big removal projects.

Fresh air is fed to the worker through a hose, much like the "umbilical cord" that keeps astronauts alive. Masked workers For lesser jobs, a "back pack" air source is used, Allen says, and even for tiny jobs, "workers will have a mask on for anything they do." Allen says an instrument also must be used to monitor air that escapes from the sealed area in which asbestos is being removed. If too many asbestos fibers are found, the job must wait until the air clears. Allen says each commercial job must be reported to the EPA before it starts. Workers must be X-rayed when they sign on, they are X-rayed annually, and if they leave the firm they are X-rayed again and films are kept for 20 years for reference in case trouble develops.

Schools should receive top priority in asbestos removal, Allen says, and he suggests caution against removers who claim to be professional but who also claim that extensive precautions are unnecessary. Allen argues that not only are removal techniques critical, but the old asbestos must be packaged properly for disposal. He says research has shown asbestos to be so toxic that wives of asbestos workers have developed cancer from merely washing their husbands' clothing. Allen says his firm stopped installing the dangerous type of asbestos insulation about 10 years ago, and the only type being used in construction today has a rock-hard finish, incapable of flaking or turning to dust "We've been told that about 1,800 things can cause cancer, and asbestos is in the top 10," Allen says. And he says doctors are closely watching a spot on his own lung.

Walt ShotweU PI ff fell tv I V- -j jf xf. '-r' eaCt'J-i' '-Of -W-fc IBv House-to-house fighting in stubbornly defended San Vittorio Waiting for orders to cross the Rapido River.