Ralph L. Auer

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by J. A. "Andy" Chacon on December 4, 2013:

Ralph Lee Auer Born January 31, 129 -- Died November 30, 2013 Ralph Lee Auer was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana on 31 January 1929 and was appointed to West Point from the 4th Congressional District. Upon graduation, Ralph went into the Infantry and after completing the Basic Infantry Course and Junp School served as a platoon leader in the 3rd Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment along with Roscoe Robinson and Des O'Keefe. At that time the third battalion was all African-American except for a few officers. In 1952-1953 Ralph served as a platoon leader and company commander in the 5th Regimental Combat Team along mith Pete Foss and Dick Wells. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal and Combat Infantryman Badge. When the Korean conflict was over he returned to the 3rd Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, which by then was integrated. He resigned his commission in late 1954 and earned a master of science degree in electrical engineering from San Jose State University. In 1973 Ralph sold the first lithium-iodide powered pacemaker used in the western U.S. Proponents of the status quo, who advocated the continued use of mercury-zinc cells (similar to flashlight batteries), warned that the lithium-iodide batteries would soon begin to explode in the chests of patients. In 1976 60,000 mercury-zinc powered pacemakers were recalled and the entire pacemaker industry switched to lithium-iodide cells. In 1989, Ralph prepared a full page commentary for the Boulder Camera stating that mammography screening was both ineffective and harmful. The ad caused such a furor that Ralph was asked to debate the President of the American Cancer Society for Colorado on TV just as he had been asked to debate the President of the American Cancer Society for California, the previous year. Ralph and four local physicians were interviewed for a special report in the Camera. One physician agreed completely with everything Ralph had stated. Barry Lynes in his book, The Healing of Cancer describes Ralph's attempts to change cancer screening and treatment. Ralph retired from LEC, Inc. in 2000 after spending eleven years in technical sales. During that time he wrote a number of papers for professional societies describing the Charge Transfer System, a multipoint lightning system for preventing strikes rather than collecting strikes. He also wrote that lightning rods are ineffective and dangerous when used with electronic systems or liquids with low flash points. The proponents of the status quo prepared an extensive rebuttal in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, dated January/February 1995, stating, "Franklin considered a multipoint lightning system at the same time as he worked on the single point rod. He dismissed the multipoint system". In 1999 a blue-ribbon committee appointed by the NFPA reported after- extensive research that there is no scientific basis whatsoever for the lightning rocts invented by Benjamin Franklin more than 200 years ago. Large facilities throughout the world are continuing to switch to Charge Transfer Systems. The photo shows Ralph and a friend with Helene and Dick Ryan. When asked to describe his life since graduation, Ralph replies, "Controversial".

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