VAIL \u2014 You should know where you’re from and who brought you.<\/p>\n
That’s one reason Colorado Army National Guard soldiers will conduct ski and winter training during this weekend’s Legacy Days in Vail. They’ll hone their mountain skills while honoring Colorado as the original home of the U.S. Army\u2019s 10th Mountain Division.<\/p>\n
After World War II, many of the 10th Mountain\u2019s veterans returned to Colorado and put their mountain warfighting experience and skills to work to lay the foundations of Colorado\u2019s ski industry.<\/p>\n
Vail Founder Pete Seibert fought with the 10th, along with Bob Parker and so many others. Recruits included Paul and Ralph Townsend, skiing brothers from the University of New Hampshire, their teammate Steve Knowlton, Arapahoe Basin founder Larry Jump, Aspen founder Friedl Pfeifer, Glenn Stanley and Torger Dahl Tokle, holder of the world\u2019s ski jump record at the time, 289 feet.<\/p>\n
War is brutal in its simplicity.<\/p>\n
The enemy occupied the high ground. The 10th was ordered to take the high ground.<\/p>\n
The enemy was willing to kill to keep it. The 10th was willing to kill to take it.<\/p>\n
People died. It\u2019s how wars are fought. In 141 days of combat, the 10th Mountain Division saw 1,000 men killed and 4,100 wounded in some of the war\u2019s toughest fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year marks the 74th anniversary of the Battle of Riva Ridge in Italy during World War II,\u201d the Adjutant General of Colorado U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Loh said.<\/p>\n
Many 10th<\/sup> Mountain Division heroes marched straight from their high school commencement line to the front line. They liked to say they had a worm\u2019s-eye view of Italy.<\/p>\n On Feb. 18, 1945, the 10th Division took Riva Ridge \u2014 to prevent the Germans from being able to survey U.S. positions below \u2014 in a nighttime operation. The steep mountain was covered in snow and ice. At night, the Germans did not bother with guard patrols, because the conditions were so difficult that they did not believe any American unit could climb the ridge \u2014 day or night.<\/p>\n But the Germans were wrong and the soldiers of the 10th climbed, silently, to the top and secured Riva Ridge with minimal casualties.<\/p>\n The Army, being the Army, decided that if the 10th<\/sup> could do it once they could do it again. The next day they assaulted Mount Belvedere. They were victorious, but paid a huge price. Hundreds died.<\/p>\n “The 10th Mountain Division Soldiers secured their place in history by defeating Nazi forces during this daring assault on the slopes of the northern Apennine Mountains. Following the war, many of these brave veterans returned to Colorado to establish our ski industry,\u201d Gen. Loh said.<\/p>\n After fighting through northern Italy, several 10th<\/sup> survivors headed back to America, expecting reassignment to fight in Japan. While on their way, the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on\u00a0Aug. 6, 1945, and the war ended. Their troop ship pulled into New York Harbor to the hero\u2019s welcome they deserved. Fireboats shot streams of water into the air, sailboats were everywhere. Soldiers looked over the sides, anxious to join the party.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were playing \u2018Hail Hail, The Gang\u2019s All Here.\u2019 We said, \u2018That\u2019s not true. They should not be playing that,’\u201d Hugh Evans, a 10th<\/sup> Mountain Division veteran said.<\/p>\n Because, of course, their gang was not all there.<\/p>\n Every time members and others of the 10th\u00a0<\/sup>get together, as they will this weekend, someone reads \u201cSoldiers Don\u2019t Cry,\u201d first published in the April 14, 1945, edition of The Blizzard, the 10th Mountain Division\u2019s newspaper. Each time they remember, and each time they cry, recalling so many who did not live to come home: the soldier named Alan who wrote poetry, and the guy who created comic strips in the camp newspaper and made everyone laugh, before the war killed them.<\/p>\n There was the guy who snatched up a hand grenade that a rookie dropped on a farmhouse floor and the pin fell out. He was about to throw it out a window, but another unit was just outside, so he ran across the room, hung his arm outside another window and the grenade blew his arm off. He told his wife he lost his arm in a training accident because the Army categorized it as so.<\/p>\n This Legacy Days weekend, somewhere an American flag will fly at half staff. People in the crowd will call out the names of loved ones lost to wars. Someone will play “Taps.” When the last note echoes off the mountainsides, that American flag will be swiftly raised to full staff.<\/p>\n Heroes don\u2019t stay down long.<\/p>\n To see the 10th<\/strong><\/p>\n\n