European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 30, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T the Button Man by Richard Douglass yank staff writer new de Francisci was not particularly surprised when he opened his newspaper one morning to discover that a Button he had designed almost 20 years before had just been chosen As the honorable discharge Emblem for world War ii the ways of says de like the ways of Are pretty i thought it was government Economy for them to pick something out of the files and use it after All those Back in Congress had authorized an in Signia for Roth National guardsmen and the Federal Art which advises any government Agency that is in the Market for a de Francisci to do the he had already designed military insignia for warrant the Roth and the militia so the Choice was an understandable the design was not entirely dreamed up by the sculptor what actually happened was that the War department indicated the Type of design it had in As is customary when Ever any government Agency has a similar the we suggested that the colors of the Flag and the Symbol of our National would be appropriate they left it to de Francisci to Cook up the finished he made several sketches and submitted them to the Federal Art which chose the now familiar ruptured Duck design for final do Francisci completed the Job in two then forgot All about it until he read the announcement by Secretary Stimson in the new York at the we were knee deep in the and de Francisci was knee deep in All of them written in for 16 months he had been acting As a censor for the Scis Soring mail exchanged by italian pcs in this country and their relatives in de Francisci was born in Italy by the in he came to the states when he was 16 and has been a naturalized citizen since one of the reasons the sculptor had taken the censorship Job was that he wanted to help the War and another was that there was a wartime shortage of Art but de fran a Well known american sculptor who rates several paragraphs in who who and is first Vic president of the National sculpture has not Given up the chisel for he probably wont take government work now that Hes the discharge Button was the fifth and last Federal commission de Francisci he prefers assignments that fire the imagination More than most government jobs Are Likely to a thin and balding Eric von Stroheim de Francisci wears Pinc Enez glasses and affects a jacket that is a Cross Between a dentists and a fencers when Hes at he Speaks with a slight accent and with a Liberal sprinkling of official publicity Given the Button made no reference to the that was All right with de until credit was handed out pro one report said that the design was lifted from handbook of by sales a Francisci says he never heard of the Man or the and a National newsmagazine traced it Back to a Bas Relief originally in trojans forum in de Francisci finally wrote a letter to the times giving the history of the the sculptor cant see much Point in criticizing the discharge Button for Lack of size or prom As some people have anything he would tend to make feel the present size is a Happy one for the average male de Francisci Points and after the Button was intended As a masculine not As a showy piece of feminine it int our Call in this life to bedeck ourselves like Well kept says the defend ing the simplicity of the heroes dont flaunt their heroism by words or anything larger would lose the dignity of his own design called for the Button to be made of so de Francisci Doest feel responsible alien discharges complain that the plastic i slides around into cockeyed positions in the Lapel and Breaks but the sculptor was pleased when the we responded to criticism recently by offering a free Gold plated Metal in Exchange for the plastic to any Veteran who applies at the nearest army installation with his discharge de Francisci is a Little disappointed that the insignia was not issued in his original design provided for 13 alternate red and White symbolizing the 13 original the words National defense appeared against an enamel background of Blue along the upper the sculptor is a Little miffed Over this sex if there was Ever a War for National he this was it he is not Over the nickname that Eugis have pinned on his of the pleasant things about a democracy is that people can Call things anything they he its a Nice but i dont exactly under stand what it Why is the Duck ruptured Rococo cupids and Glass Butterfly filled with medals designed by the adorn the de Francisci studio off among the emblems displayed is a Ford motor company medal showing a Model a tractor and a with Axi air plane presumably one of Fords Early trim tors flying overhead against a Back ground of smoking other designs Cele brate notable achievements in the Concrete in naval architecture and advancement in the electrical there is also a medal for service in the Texas cavalry for the three months preceding the end of world War but de Francisci concedes that this had a rather limited the sculptor also designed two Large Relief the Day air mail and the night air now in the Federal Post office in the statue of George for the 1939 worlds fair and the portrait of Henry governor of Hung the not the governor in the state Capitol at probably de Franciscis most famous is that of the Silver Dollar commemorating the Washington disarmament conference of a rather romantic the sculptor As the Model for the profile on the face of the his Bride of the previous on the reverse Side is a reproduction of an Eagle View ing the rising which was intended to symbolize the supposedly peaceful Days that were to de Francisci has been an instructor in Sculp Ture at new Yorks Columbia University since before that he studied at several Well known Art academies and under three or four famous one of the Adolph a who incidentally was born in Ger designed the discharge Button Tor Veter ans of world War so it seems Only appropriate that de Francisci should have created the world War ii you May have seen the older design in the Lapel of your father or its a five pointed Star inside a for designing the current de got if i were Only getting a Penny but ton Royalty he says with a senile and a far away look in his but would be too Good to be i was paid and thank youd and that