March 18, 2024

The Ira Five: Part II

Three brothers, their cousin and another Ira man joined the military right after the U.S. entered World War I

Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a two-part Newton Daily News series about a unique set of brothers and two other young men from the Ira area known as the Ira Five.

In 1970, Beverly Decker Cross published the book “Recollections and sketches of northwest Jasper: Baxter, Clyde, Hoy Hill, Greencastle, Mingo, Ira, Horn.” The book recounts many World War I era events from Ira, including the time period when the U.S. ramping up troop numbers in the spring of 1917.

Cross, a valued county historian on several levels, passed away in April 2015 — nearly two years after her husband, Glen Richard “Rich” Cross died. Rich Cross told the Newton Daily News in a 2013 interview how he learned about the Ira Five firsthand, growing up on a family farm near Ira.

The Ira Five — Seward V. Castor, Clifford C. Castor and William H. Castor — all brothers — along with their cousin, Russell Rippey, and longtime friend Zenas Jones, joined the U.S. Army together in 1917, just after the U.S. entered World War I, and were able to serve together in the same infantry regiment.

Jones was the grandfather of Newton attorney and Jasper County native John Billingsley.

Billingsley said there were well-wishing parades in Ira, Baxter and Newton as the five left town for training. Their unit had both Army and Marine Corps servicemen, Billingsley said, as the U.S, hastily moved troops to the front lines to help the Allied Powers’ efforts.

“With all the Civil War veterans around, Iowa guys signed up quickly, because it’s simply what you did,” Billingsley said.

Jones left behind a few items from the war that remain in Billingsley’s possession, including a 40-millimeter artillery shell, which Billingsley believes is from a European army, along with his canteen, his tunic, and overcoat and a pot-style combat helmet.

“He liked to point out that a helmet that protected him from death later served as a nest to help bring life into the world in the form of baby birds,” Billingsley said of his grandfather.

Another book by Beverly Cross, titled “Letters Home,” details how the Ira Five landed in France in September 1917 after their training was completed stateside. Their company then trained with French troops before the entire division — the 23rd Infantry — moved to the front and went into the trenches in March 1918.

Clifford Castor was wounded in battle at Belleau-Wood in June 1918. His brother, William, gave him first aid, but was injured by “shell shock” later that same day.

Two weeks later, Seward Castor and Rippey were badly gassed in that same part of France. It took Seward about one month to fully regain his eyesight after the gas attack.

Rippey was one of more than 53,00 Americans killed during World War I. He was the only casualty from Ira, according to James R. Rhodes’ 1920 book “Honor roll, 1917-1918-1919, Jasper County, Iowa in the World War: A History of One county’s Loyalty in the Struggle for World Democracy.” There are 53 total casualties from the county listed in the book.

Other county casualties include soldiers with familiar local last names, such as Dick Dunsbergen and Virgil H. Guthrie of Newton, Leo L. Goeke and Arthur A. Petermeier of Baxter and Anthony G. Rozendaal of Lynnville.

The letters home begin with brief details about train travels to different parts of the U.S., but take a predictably darker turn once the letters are being sent from the battlefront in France. The young men — none of them older than his early 20s — alternate between thinking of home and getting into the strategy and progress of the war. There were call for various warm clothing items to be sent over to France.

Rippey was hit by sniper fire on Oct. 7, a few months after being “slightly” burned, though his injuries were serious enough to warrant recovery in a base hospital.

When he suffered the Oct. 7 bullet wounds, Rippey initially made it back to the American camp, but eventually died of his injuries at age 19. He is buried in a national French cemetery located northeast of Paris.

Rippey sent home his thoughts Beverly Cross detailed in the “Letters Home” book. In what turned out to be one of the last few letters he would write, Rippey longed to see Ira, Baxter and northwest Jasper County once again.

Sadly, he would never get the chance.

“It sure was funny when a nurse came in and say ‘Morning, boys.’ The first time I heard an American girl speak in some time,” wrote Rippey about three months before he died. “How is everybody and how is Baxter coming? I sure would like to see that town again.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com