Ralph E. Pearson; Recovered Art Stolen by Nazis

Ralph E. Pearson, 86, who during the closing days of World War II helped recover a cache of European art treasures stolen by the Nazis. Pearson, who was a journalism instructor and author after his 30-year Army career, was a major in the closing days of World War II when his 318th Regimental Combat Team learned from a German prisoner of an art horde hidden in an old salt mine near the Austrian-German border. He and a group of his men found the mine in the mountain village of Alt Aussee and in it a treasure trove of masterpieces that the Nazis had looted during their march through Europe. Included were works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Goya. Among the paintings were the entire collection of Italy’s Monte Cassino Abbey. Also recovered were works from the church of Notre Dame of Bruges, the St. Florian monasteries and the Ghent altar, and the complete Rothschild collection. Experts valued it then at $500 million. His unit also was responsible for the capture of British traitor Norman Baillie Stewart and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hitler’s security chief. Pearson said later that they just missed Adolf Eichmann. Pearson wrote about the mission in a five-volume history of World War II, “En Route to the Redoubt.” On Jan. 7 in Austin, Tex., of injuries suffered in a car accident.