I went to visit my buddy who lives in Denver. He owns a Vail ski condo(s). He needed to go up there to get a lease signed by his new tenants. I went along for the ride. We left on Friday evening and stayed over night. On Saturday morning he let me use his car to drive around the area while he met with his tenants.

It was great driving around in this area. It was springtime and all the trees and foliage was in bloom. I would simply pull off the road whenever I saw a place I wanted to take a hike. I saw up ahead as I was looking for my next hike a large wooden sign. As I came closer I saw a large monument. I parked and walked up to the sign. It read that it was dedicated to the U. S. Army division tenth mountain division formed in’40.

I later learned that the division was formed because the U. S. Infantry was not equipped to do battle in cold climates like Finland and Norway. And if the U. S. Had to fight in the Swiss Alps there was no fighting force available for the battle. The formation at the time was simply called ski troops. Some men volunteered for the force because it sounded like a glamorous idea.

This was camp hale that I had stepped into. I do not know what its relationship was to the town of Vale. The troops that arrived at camp hale were amazed. They did not know that such mountains existed. And the ones who were used to skiing were impressed with the equipment they trained with. Some said these were the finest skis and bindings they had ever seen. The bindings could be dangerous though.

The training was more dangerous than vacation type skiing. Each man carried a forty to fifty pound pack. The bindings even though impressive were bear trap types and did not release. You could break your leg if you did not know how to take a fall. This was rugged training.

The men learned mountain survival the hard way. They endured weeks of living in the mountains where the temperature fell to below twenty degrees below zero. The older taught the younger inexperienced troops how to survive like rubbing bacon grease all over their bodies to prevent frostbite.

The tenth division mountain division actually fought the German army in’45 in the mountains of Italy. This was a key maneuver for the U. S. Forces because the Germans were in an area where the infantry could not reach them and they were taking advantage of their position to predict the U. S. Troop movements. The mountain division however was able to get into the mountainous region and engage the Germans and take them out.

The tenth division suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any division. I returned to my friend’s ski condo with a lot more appreciation of that brave group of men who trained hard in hard conditions to defeat a battle hardened foe. My friend ask me what I saw that day. A little bit of history I told him.

Share This