The U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division (ski troops)

During World War II, the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division served in combat for only four months, but it had one of the conflict's highest casualty rates.
The division started out as an experiment to train skiers and climbers to fight in the most difficult, mountainous terrain in Europe.
Some of the men who joined the division were skiers already, while others had never seen a ski in their lives.
Their training at Camp Hale, near Pando, Colo., included skiing, snowshoeing and rock climbing. They also learned cold-weather survival tactics, such as keeping warm by building snow caves.

Click here for full story (including audio):

Battle on the Slopes: World War II's Ski Troops : NPR

 

CHRONOLOGY OF THE 10 MOUNTAIN DIVISION IN WORLD WAR II

http://www.10thmtndivassoc.org/chronology.pdf

 

A distinguished member of the 10th Mountain Division to be remembered.

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Senator Bob Dole.

Shortly after the 1996 election, President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom Citation to Senator Bob Dole.

Sgtleo

 

In the field

 

I read an article a couple of weeks ago where the actor Robert Redford and the Sundance crowd contributed to the production of a documentary about the 10th Mountain Division. I had read in past interviews posted in SKI Magazine where Robert Redford had great admiration for the 10th Mountain men. The production covered the organization and training aspects, deployment and it's combat operations in Italy. It went on to highlight some of the individual veterans, and the contributions to some of the veteran members who were instrumental in getting the US ski industry up and running, and eventually to being on par with European ski resorts. Interestingly, Bob Dole was not mentioned anywhere as a distinguished member of the division. I am still trying to locate the documentary.