VOLUME 36 2007 NUMBER 2

PUBLISHED BY AND FOR SOLDIERS OF THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

Excitement is high in the RockyMountain Chapter because of the Na-tional Reunion. We believe the necessarybases are covered. You will have the op-portunity to meet the new president-electof the 10th National Association.

Registrants are advised that if theywant their identity badges printed (acollector’s item) they must be registeredby July 2. After that time badges will behand-written. Partial refunds after July15 may be available only under extraor-dinary circumstances.

The August 6 Camp Hale Tour ispopular; as of May 11 there are 251signed up. There will be a caravan ofbuses and cars. The State Highway Pa-trol will escort the buses. A Leadvillecompany will provide ambulances totreat any urgent care cases because ofthe high altitude. We will visit the newJohn Compton Bridge over the EagleRiver. We will load up at 7:30 AM anddepart promptly at 8:00 AM.

There may be 10th Light soldiers at-tending the reunion, depending on theircurrent assignment. Members of thefamed 99th Norwegian Battalion plan toattend.

The times for all Reunion banquetsand events will be on a card in a bag givenyou when you arrive. There will be twoMemorial Services, one at the Marriotton Sunday, August 5 at 11:00 AM andthe second at the Tenth Mountain Divi-sion Monument on Tennessee Pass on

YOUR NATIONAL REUNIONBob Carlson (86-L)

Monday, August 6 at 11:00 AM as partof the Camp Hale Tour.

Those traveling in motor homes canpark at the Hotel parking lot, free if reg-istered for the Reunion, but there are nohook-ups. The nearest hook-up is atCherry Creek State Park about 2 milesto the east on Belleview Avenue. Park-ing for those staying at the Marriott willbe free. Attendees not staying at theMarriott must pick up a timed ticket andpay for parking when they leave.

The Commemorative Book on theTenth compiled by skiing legend JohnLitchfield includes many items neverpublished before. It can be ordered onyour registration form or can be orderedlater through the Quartermaster.

Individual dinner reservations forspecial guests must be made at least oneweek in advance so that enough food andseating space can be made available.These meals will cost $50 each subjectto space and availability.

Prior to the Reunion, persons wish-ing to sell items at the Reunion must reg-ister with the National Quartermaster,Frank Thornton or the Rocky MountainChapter Quartermaster, Denise Taylor. Itis essential that their items are entered inthe QM computer system.

Dave Little’s Living History Groupwill be set up in the Marriott hotel park-ing lot. The group has an amazing as-sortment of vintage WWII 10th Moun-tain Division equipment.

[Ed note. Following are excerpts from anarticle by Flint Whitlock (Associate) aboutartist Jacques Parker (86-C), who “foughtthe war with a pencil, pen, brush, andmachine gun.” The article appeared inWWII History Magazine, March 2007. Itshould be noted that Jacques contributedhis artwork to the masthead at the top ofthe front page of the Blizzard, a regularfeature since 1945].

As a sergeant in charge of a .30-cali-ber machine-gun squad, Jacques Parkertook part in the famous February 19,1945 night climb up the nearly sheer faceof Riva Ridge — the 10th’s first majorcombat action. Since no photographersaccompanied the 1,000-man assault,Parker’s drawings are the only visualrecord of the event.

A MOUNTAIN TROOPER’SSKETCHBOOK

ful stuff because Jacques was in theline. He was a gunner!”

After the Germans surrendered,Kappler arranged for Parker to sketch aportrait of Maj. General Hays, who Par-ker describes as “wonderful to work with— a very regular, straightforward, simpleguy.” In the summer of 1945, the 10thheld a ski race on Austria’s Gross Glock-ner mountain. Said Parker: “…We had

Given the advanced age of many ofus and the altitude of Denver, it is com-forting to know that Denise Taylor, whois in charge of medical arrangements,reports that all hotel security staff areCPR certif ied, and Rocky Mountain

AT NATIONAL REUNION,HELP IS CLOSE AT HAND

Emergency Care is nearby. Oxygen sup-plies will be available if you have a pre-scription. Check with your doctor to de-termine whether you might need oxygen.

All events at the hotel will be held atwheelchair accessible sites.

To maintain some degree of calm,Parker continued to draw and paint be-tween battles. He carried a small water-color tablet, a pen, a brush, and a bottleof india ink.

He said that “Sometimes I wouldhave 5 or 10 minutes of quiet when Icould draw something… I would eitheruse spit or melted snow to wet the tab-let.” Parker sent his best sketches backto Blizzard editor Frank Kappler at divi-sion headquarters. He carried his draw-ings in his mountain rucksack. To pro-tect the drawings, he rolled them upand sent them back to Kappler insideempty mortar tubes. Kappler lovedParker’s artwork, noting, “It was beauti-

guys like Olympic skier Steve Knowlton,and Walter Prager, the Dartmouth skiteam coach. Fritz Kaiser, a photographerwith the Blizzard, and I were assigned tocover the race. He took the photos and Idid the drawings. That was my last as-signment for the Blizzard.”

As a civilian after the war, Parkeropened his first commercial art studioand worked as a freelance illustrator.He combined his artistic skills with hislove of skiing and created over a dozenpaintings of mountain and skiing scenesthat became covers for Ski magazine inthe late 1940s and early 1950s. For thenext 50 years, Parker worked for manyof New York’s advertising agencies. Healso served as director of design forthe City of New York under Mayor EdKoch, and taught at the Parsons Schoolof Design.

Still active as a designer, illustrator,and painter, Parker looks back on his timespent with the mountain troops with deepregard and appreciation. “The 10th gaveso many of us a profound sense of broth-erhood and accomplishment. It was an-other dimension to our lives.”

The Riva Ridge Climb.

Maj. General George P. Hays

VISIT THE 10TH WEBSITEwww.10thmtndivassoc.org

IMPORTANT BULLETIN. The date of June 2 for the late Registration Fee as pub-lished in the Registration Form will be moved to July 9. So sign up now at $250 perperson! Don’t delay! July 9 the Registration Fee goes up to $300 per person.

2007 NUMBER 2

ArizonaH. Philip Lieberman4519 W. Hayward AvenueGlendale, AZ 85301

ArmadilloSteven Worley4618 Carleen RoadHouston, TX 77092

Big SkyJim WalshP.O. Box 305Stanford, MT 59479

Delaware River ValleyPatricia Thornton112 Maple AvenueBala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Fort DrumMike Plummer121 Paddock StreetWatertown, NY 13601

Lower MichiganHarrison Coleman43000 12 Oaks CrescentUnit 5033Novi, MI 48377

Metropolitan New YorkJay Charles20 Stuyvesant OvalApartment 4BNew York, NY 10009

MidwestJacon pollack5260 Gulf Mexico Drive 406Longboat Key, FL 34228

Mt. RainierKarl Stingl10301 242nd Place SWEdmonds, WA 98020

New EnglandJohn D. Barton692 Hope StreetBristol, RI 02809

North CentralLouis F. Anderson3504 Valento CircleVadnais Heights, MN 55127

NorthwestEd Flabetich6448 SW Loop DrivePortland, OR 97221

RoadrunnerSidney L. Foil8524 Evangeline Avenue NEAlbuquerque, NM 87111

Rocky MountainGeorge Loudis1 Sutherland CourtHighlands Ranch, CO 80130

Sierra NevadaRobert Yank19416 Marna LaneSonoma, CA 95476

Southeast ChapterAl Partridge504 Eppinger DrivePort Charlotte, FL 33953

Southern CaliforniaHoward Koch12203-37 Santa GertrudesLa Mirada, CA 90638

Upper PeninsulaErwin O. HollmannW 5632 Boat Landing LanePeshtigo, WI 54157

Upstate New YorkWilliam A. Morrison341 Wormer RoadVoorheesville, NY 12186

UtahSandy Eldredge3939 Hale DriveSalt Lake City, UT 84124

Washington, DCHassell Vass3707 Red Grove RoadBaltimore, MD 21220

PRESIDENT’S REPORTJohn Duffy (86-HQ-2)

BLIZZARDPAGE 2

Chairman of the BoardNate Morrell13120 County Route 156Watertown, NY 13601

PresidentJohn J. DuffyP.O. Box 750888Forest Hills, NY 11375

Senior V.P.Steve Coffey1630 York Hills LaneReston, VA 20194

SecretaryPaul C. Kitchen, Jr.218 Terminal AvenueErdenheim, PA 19038

V.P.-Data Acquisition and AnalysisJohn Imbrie55 Pamden LaneSeekonk, MA 02771

V.P. ProgramsAl Condo3424 Ivy LaneNewtown Square, PA 19073

TreasurerDaniel Murphy, CPA7 Gage RoadBedford, NH 03110

Published by and for Members of the National Associationof the 10th Mountain Division, Inc.

Editorial material and photographs should be clearly marked with the sender’s name and address.No photographs will be returned unless specifically requested. All materials should be sent toSally Fricke Oesterling, Blizzard Editor, 9700 Cottrell Terrace, Silver Spring, MD 20903.Opinions expressed in this publication reflect those of the Magnificent Soldiers of the 10th anddo not necessarily conform to accepted journalistic standards. Editor reserves the right to rewrite,renegotiate or refuse materials submitted for publication. For consultation purposes, the editormay be reached at 301-434-3237; Fax 301-434-7722; or e-mail sallyoes@verizon.net. Membersshould also feel free to contact National President John J. Duffy at 718-591-7775 or e-mailJ.J.Duffy@worldnet.att.net. Subscription rate for nonmembers: $20.00 per year.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSThe Board of Directors, National Association of the 10th Mountain Division, Inc., consists of theChairman of the Board, National President, Senior Vice President, National Secretary, NationalTreasurer, all Chapter Presidents, the Blizzard editor, the Executive Director, the Quartermaster,the President of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation, and two members at large who may beidentified by the President. (Article IV, Section 2, National By-Laws, National Association of the10th Mountain Division, Inc.).

NATIONAL OFFICERSQuartermasterFrank Thornton112 Maple AvenueBala Cynwyd, PA 19004

BLIZZARD EditorSally Fricke Oesterling9700 Cottrell TerraceSilver Spring, MD 20903

HistorianHoward Koch12203-37 Santa Gertrudes Ave.La Mirada, CA 90638

Film LibrarianH. Newcomb EldredgeP.O. Box 539Newport, NH 03773

ChaplainRev. Webster G. Barnett9303 Lafayette #3Bainbridge, WA 98110

Resource Center LiaisonHugh Evans768 Rockway PlaceBoulder, CO 80303

Fort Drum LiaisonPat Muir20104 Ball RoadBlack River, NY 13612

Art DirectorCharles D. Hunt410 Redspire DriveGreenville, SC 29617

Membership ChairNancy BagshawP.O. Box 683Aquebogue, NY 11931

WebmasterDavid Little1198 Thornbury PlaceHighlands Ranch,CO 80129

Executive DirectorMike Plummer121 Paddock StreetWatertown, NY 13601

Chairmen EmeritiEarl E. ClarkM.N. “Mac” MacKenzieHugh EvansArthur F. Muschler*Paul J. GundermanDean Carmichael*Deceased

CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

A reminder that the Hale and Fare-well National Reunion is right around thecorner. It will be great to meet and greetmany of our veterans and families inDenver this August. I followed the ex-ample of a number of vets and extendedinvitations to the Duffy clan’s second andthird generations to tag along. Needlessto say they accepted without hesitation.I am confident that if there is a contestfor recognizing the oldest and youngestattendee, there will be many candidatesin the 90-plus age range. But I think my6-month old grand niece will win theyoungest attendee prize. However, re-gardless of age it promises to be an ex-citing reunion for us and our heirs as theylearn (and continue to learn) about theevents we experienced years ago. There-fore, it behooves each one of us to re-fresh our memories with the wild talesabout our army experiences. These sto-ries will make this a real memorablehometown gathering. In case you’re stillundecided, here are a couple of fatherlyguidance tips for you. Get off the couch,mail in your completed registration form,and make your hotel reservations today!If you misplaced the registration formand don’t know who to contact for infor-mation, no problem — call me at 718-591-7775.

Following our Reunion, in Septem-ber you can continue the festivities withtwo more events in Europe that involve10th Mountain Division veterans andtheir families. Join us at the InternationalFederation of Mountain Soldiers (IFMS)XXII Congress in Zawoja, Poland onSeptember 20, 2007, and then be part ofour Italy visit for the Torbole 10th Moun-tain Division Exhibit on September 30,2007. These two events convenientlydovetail with each other, making for aninteresting visit to WWII sites. An invi-tation is extended to all members to bein our delegation at both or either of thesetwo events. Our members should bepleased and honored that the town ofTorbole on Lake Garda is naming a 10thMountain Division trail in the foothillsof their Italian Alps. For the Exhibit’sopening ceremony, the town folks planto place wreaths at one of the five roadtunnels that were the scenes of our finalbattles in WWII. In addition, the Italianshave arranged to have an old ArmyDUKW afloat to place a wreath in thelake in memory of our 25 troopers whodrowned the night of April 30, 1945. Awreath will also be placed at the Darbymonument. If you recall, the then Colo-nel Darby was in second command of theDivision after General Duff was woundedin the PO Valley. Darby and M. Sgt. JohnT. Evans were killed in Torbole on April30. Arrangements have been made thatwe will march with the General DarbyFoundation representatives during theceremony. Thus the combined Americandelegation will demonstrate the UnitedStates appreciation to Torbole town folksfor their generosity in honoring our fallencomrades. As we have said before it istruly an enduring friendship between the

Italians and Americans.The Last Ridge documentary pre-

miered in April. After viewing ProducerAbbie Kealy’s film, we concluded it isa splendid and accurate record of the10th history. Abbie has accomplisheda very diff icult and complex task inmaking the film a collector’s item and abeautiful tribute to her uncle, StuartAbbott (86-L) who was killed in actionin Italy.

A memorial service was conductedfor the Association’s Public RelationsVice President Dick Wilson, who diedsuddenly on April 12. Dick was very spe-cial to me and to this administration, justas he was to many in the prior adminis-trations of the National Association.He will be sorely missed. I close with atribute to Dick written by Bob Parker(87-E, HQ).

Dick Wilson

“Not many 10th Mountain Divisionveterans have had the impact on thelegacy of the 10th as has Dick Wilson(85-M). First as the editor of NationalSkiing, then as editor of the DisabledAmerican Veterans magazine, then co-director of Riva Ridge Fifty in 1995,president of our New England chapter,editor of the Blizzard, spark plug for 10thMountain Division participation in theHannes Schneider Meister event in NorthConway, active in the International Fed-eration of Mountain Soldiers, and morerecently a passionate advocate for theDisabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic,held last winter in Snowmass, CO. Dickpassed away in his sleep at home inGrantham, NH on the same date as Presi-dent Roosevelt in 1945. He was for manyyears crippled by various ailments, in-cluding his war wounds, but continuedactive to the end. He was a stalwart vet-eran, a fine writer/editor, a compassion-ate supporter of today’s mountain sol-diers, and a wonderful friend to every-one who shared with him his love ofmountains and skiing.

His friends are legion, in the U.S., inEurope, and around the world. We shallall miss him.”

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 3BLIZZARD

DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISIONRESOURCE CENTER REPORT

For documentary material, contact:Dennis Hagen, Archivist • 10th Mountain Division Resource CenterThe Denver Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department

10 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, CO 80204-2731 • (720) 865-1812Email: dhagen@denverlibrary.org

For artifacts, contact:Moya Hansen, Curator • 10th Mountain Division Resource Center

Colorado Historical Society • 1300 Broadway • Denver, CO 80203-2137(303) 866-4697 • Email: Moya.Hansen@chs.state.co.us

EVENTSLOCATIONEVENT ORGANIZATIONDATE

Last Thursday Northwest Luncheon Milwaukie, ORof each month

July 10 Mt. Rainier Luncheon Lake Cle Elum, WA

July 12 New England Memorial Garden Lancaster, NH

July 15 Northwest Picnic Wieprecht’s

July 21 Northwest Pick & Plant Highway 26

July 30 Rocky Mountain Luncheon Lone Tree, CO

July 31 10th Mtn Div Found. Board Meeting Denver, CO

August 1 National Association Board Meeting Denver, CO

August 2-5 National Association Reunion Denver, CO

August 15 Mt. Rainier Luncheon Rainier, WA

August 15 Northwest Luncheon Timberline, OR

August 22-23 New England Mt. Washington Climb Mt. Washington, NH

August 27 Rocky Mountain Luncheon Lone Tree, CO

August 28 Rocky Mountain Trash Bash Highway 40

September 7-9 Big Sky Meeting Helena, MT

September 11 Mt. Rainier Dinner Leavenworth, WA

September 19-23 IFMS XXII Congress Zawoja, Poland

September 30 Rocky Mountain Luncheon Lone Tree, CO

September 30 ITALY Memorial Trail Darby MonumentDedication Torbole, Italy

October 9 Mt. Rainier Luncheon Seattle, WA

October 27 New England Luncheon New London, NH

October 27 Northwest Pick and Plant Highway 26

October 29 Rocky Mountain Luncheon Lone Tree, CO

October 30 Rocky Mountain Trash Bash Highway 40

November 13 Mt. Rainier Luncheon Seattle, WA

November 26 Rocky Mountain Luncheon Lone Tree, CO

December 11 Mt. Rainier Luncheon Seattle, WA

February 16, 2008 Midwest Belvedere Day Springfield, IL

OFFICERS

President Mike Plummer 10th Mt. Div. (Lt.) Watertown, NY

Vice President Steve Coffey Descendant Reston, VA

Secretary Gil Pearsall 10th Mt. Div. (Lt) Carthage, NY

Treasurer Dan Murphy Descendant Bedford, NH

APPOINTED POSITIONS

Executive Director Craig Boss 10th Mt. Div. (Lt) Lowville, NY

Quartermaster Frank Thornton Descendant Bala Cynwyd, PA

Blizzard Editor Felicity Hallanan Friend of the 10th Sandy Creek, NY

Membership Chair Ken Lopez 10th Mt. Div. (Lt) Carthage, NY

Scholarship Mike Miller 10th Mt. Div. (Lt) Watertown, NYCommission Chair

Webmaster David Little Honorary Denver, CO

Ft. Drum Liaison Sgts. Major 10th Mt. Div. (Lt) Ft. Drum, NYDivision Command

“Hale and Farewell” plans continueto come together at the 10th MountainDivision Resource Center. Recently,there has been a frenzy of activity here.We have just inventoried and cata-logued more than forty new collec-tions, bringing our catalogued hol-dings to 122 manuscript collectionsand 49 oral histories. Reference re-quests continue to pour in from de-scendants, news organizations and re-searchers, resulting in a lot of use ofour materials.

Make plans now to visit the 10thMountain Division Resource Center dur-ing your stay in Denver in August. Bustours from the reunion hotel will take you“behind the scenes” to see where all thisactivity takes place. The Denver Public

Library will also honor the 10th Moun-tain Division with a large, public displayin the 5th floor gallery from July 20through October 31. You will want to seethe more than 100 large photographs, cor-respondence and ephemera that tell the10th’s story.

If you are unable to join one of theformal tours, please plan to visit the Re-source Center section on site at the ho-tel. We will be demonstrating our data-base and our on-line research capabili-ties, and displaying numerous represen-tative items from our collection. Natu-rally, we will also be prepared to receiveyour donations. So, if you have 10thMountain Division items you would liketo see preserved, please bring them to thereunion.

We firmly believe that this slate isbest suited to lead the National Associa-tion at this critical point in its history.Here is what this slate stands for:

1. We will ensure the perpetuationof the 10th Mountain DivisionAssociation by:

A. Providing an orderly evolutionthat capitalizes on the experi-ence of all members.

B. Expanding the generalmembership.

C. Continuing to grow our futureleadership.

D. Continuing the implementationof the National Association’sStrategic Plan.

PLATFORM AND SLATE:CANDIDATES FORNATIONAL OFFICE

2. We will support the efforts ofthe descendants as they pick upthe responsibility for the historicallegacy of the WWII 10th MountainDivision.

3. We will continue to be goodstewards of our financial resources.

4. We will continue to support thevaluable work done by the DenverResource Center.

5. We will continue to supportthe Tenth Mountain DivisionFoundation.

6. We will maintain our presentrelationship with the InternationalFederation of Mountain Soldiers(IFMS).

The Last Ridge, my documentaryabout the 10th Mountain Division, hasbeen released nationally on public tele-vision. Since PBS stations schedulelocally, airing dates vary around thecountry. Many stations will air it in lateSeptember around Ken Burns’ newWWII epic, “The War,” or aroundVeteran’s Day in No-vember. It has alreadyaired in Chicago, Wash-ington DC, Milwaukee,Nashville, Cincinnati,Salt Lake City, amongother cities. Informationon dates in your area islocated on the program’scompanion website,www.lastridge.com. Ifyou missed the pro-gram’s airdate in yourarea, or can’t stand thesuspense, or if you wantto buy the DVD versionfor someone special on Father’s Day,check the Last Ridge website for order-ing information. The DVD contains anadditional 45 minutes with 8 neatBonus Tracks, so pace yourself! Thereis more interesting information on the

THE LAST RIDGEDOCUMENTARY RELEASED

ON PBSwebsite, so surf on over.

What makes The Last Ridge docu-mentary unique is its active history ap-proach. It weaves together re-enactmentsat the original training and battle loca-tions, captured German film of forces op-posing the 10th, animated 3-D maps,newly discovered letters and diaries, and

footage of the current10th Mountain Division(LT) on patrol in Afgha-nistan. The documentaryis narrated by NationalPublic Radio’s ScottSimon, and was createdto be interesting for allage groups, particularlythose far removed fromthe cataclysmic eventsof WWII.

Thank you all foryour support and interestduring the making of thedocumentary. It’s been

an honor and a pleasure to share the 10thMountain story with the world.

Abbie Kealy, Desc.(Stuart Abbott, 86-L, KIA)Writer/Producer/DirectorThe Last Ridge

VISIT LAST RIDGE WEBSITEwww.lastridge.com

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 4

The 10th Mountain Division HutAssociation celebrated its 25th Anni-versary on January 20, 2007 at the Den-ver Museum of Nature and Science. The10th manages 29 backcountry huts inthe Colorado Rocky Mountains. Con-nected by 350 miles of designated routes,the huts and trails are all accessible viaintermediate ski-touring trails. Thename Hut System honors the men ofthe 10th Mountain Division who trainedduring WWII at Camp Hale in Central

HUT SYSTEM25TH ANNIVERSARY

Colorado. Hut visitors share the spe-cial spirit of these individuals, espe-cially their pursuit of excellence, self-reliance, and love of the outdoors. Mem-bers of the Rocky Mountain Chapterwho attended the celebration werephotographed (below) while singing“Ninety Pounds of Rucksack.” They are,(left to right): Earl Clark, JacquesParker, Hugh Evans, Orville Tomky,John Litchfield, Ralph Ball, and JohnTripp.

Tom West, President of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, wrote a glow-ing tribute to veterans of the 10th Mountain Division who had been honoredas inductees into the ski hall of fame. The article appeared in the September2006 issue of Skiing Heritage, official publication of the International SkiingHistory Association. Inadvertently, the article listed a couple of prominentskiers who had not served with the 10th Mountain Division. And on the otherhand, West had correctly included a couple of 10th Mountain Division veter-ans’ names that I had omitted in an inductee roster several years earlier. Throughan exchange of messages, we succeeded in pulling together the complete ros-ter of the 34 Tenth Mountain Division veterans whose names now appear inthe U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. The list below includes the veterans’ unitand year of induction.

SKI HALL OF FAMEDick Wilson (85-M)

10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISIONWWII VETERANS IN U.S. NATIONAL SKIHALL OF FAME, ISHPEMING, MICHIGAN

Atwater, Monty, 1979 (87-HQ-2;87-HQ-1; MTG)

Bennett, Nelson, 1986 (87-I)Broomhall. Wendall, 1981 (87-A)Brown, William R. “Sarge”,

1990 (86-L)DesRoche, Ralph A. “Doc”,

1977 (85-B)Elvrum, John, 1968 (86-HQ)Engen, Sverre, 1971 (86-A)Engl, Sigi, 1971 (87-G)Foeger, Luggi, 1973 (86-HQ)Janss, William C., 1979

(10 Recon)Jay, John, 1981 (MTG)Jennings. H. Devereaux “Dev”,

1989 (85-I)Judson, David, Jr., 1992 (86-I)Knowlton, Steve P., 1975 (86-HQ)Litchfield, John, 2002 (Div HQ)Livermore, Robert (87-HQ-2;

MTG)

Matt, Toni, 1967 (MTG)Maurin, Lawrence, 1966 (MTG)Mikkelsen, Roy, 1964 (87-E)Parker, Robert W., 1985 (87-HQ)Pederson, Ernest O., 1968 (87-HQ)Perrault, Paul Joseph, 1971

(126-ENG)Pfeifer, Friedl, 1980 (87-A)Prager, Walter, 1977 (87-HQ-3)Schneider, Herbert, 1992 (86-HQ)Seibert, Pete, 1984 (86-F)Sorensen, Harald “Pop”, 1973

(87-B)Taylor, Clif, 1979 (86-C)Tokle, Torger, 1959 (86-A), KIA

1945Teichner, Hans “Peppi”, 1967 (87-L)Torrissen, Birger, 1971 (87-HQ-3)Townsend, Ralph 1975 (87-K)Woodward, John 1998 (87-HQ-1)Wren, Gordon, 1958 (87-E)

NATIONAL SKI TITLE

Excerpted with permission from the fullarticle about the annual Ski-in at CooperHill, by Andrew Wineke in the ColoradoSprings Gazette, March 23, 2007.

Tears roll down Hugh Evan’s cheeksas he finishes a mission he began 12years ago: reading all 1,002 names on the10th Mountain Division Memorial atthe crest of Tennessee Pass. For decades,veterans of the 10th have come to SkiCooper for a day on the slopes at the spotwhere they trained during WWII. In yearspast, as many as a thousand veterans hitthe hill. At this year’s event the numberof skiers had dwindled to about 30. Don’tthink that means that WWII’s ski troopsare about to hang up their poles. The 10thMountain may be legendary, but itsmembers aren’t ready to pass into leg-end. “This isn’t the last for the skiing,”Evans says. “I think we’ll get another 5to 10 years.” Think that’s overly optimis-tic? Consider John Woodward, 92. Heis still racing, spending seven weeks eachwinter running away with his age group.At Cooper, he led a column of veteransdown the mountain, holding aloft theAmerican flag as he skied. In 1942,Woodward was one of the first soldierssent from Ft. Lewis, WA to Camp Hale,then under construction outside of Lead-ville, and given the plum assignment offinding suitable slopes on which to trainski troops. “The Colonel said, ‘Wood-ward! Take 150 ski instructors and go toColorado Springs.’ Woodward said,“Yessir!’”

TENTH MOUNTAINDIVISION SKI-IN

“The guys in front are probably thebest older skiers in the world,” says Rob-ert Parker, who, as one of the foundersof Vail, would certainly know. Parker’sdedication to skiing is impressive. Henow walks with a cane and uses an oxy-gen bottle in Ski Cooper’s thin air. Itdoesn’t keep him off the slopes, though.Stan Walker, 84, was on the mountaintrying out modern-shaped skis. “They’rebetter than those,” he says, pointing tothe original hickory skis worn by ChuckRoberts, a re-enactor with the 10thMountain Division Living History Dis-play Group. “I’m only a beginner,”Walker quips, “I didn’t start until 1928.”

Sgt. Dan Churchman drove up fromFt. Carson for the reunion, just to spenda day with the veterans. “I just want tobe with my heroes.” It’s Brian Kealy’sthird time at the ski reunion. He came allthe way from England. “You just can’tski with anyone better,” Kealy says.“They’re the best in the world. Just hang-ing around these guys is good fun.” Kealyis a member of the living-history group,dressed in an authentic 10th uniform ofthe era, complete with the monster,square-toed boots the soldiers wore onskis — although he swapped them formodern ski boots before stepping on thelift. As Parker remembers, the bootsweren’t that great. Or the poles, or theskis, although they were quickly up-graded. The sleeping bags were warm,though. The important thing was theweapons, and they worked fine.”

John Woodward

At the age of 92, International Ski-ing History Association (ISHA) memberJohn Woodward (87-HQ-1, 10-Recon)won the national championship in his agedivision at the NASTAR Finals in Steam-boat Springs in late March. John will un-doubtedly win NASTAR’S other compe-tition — the low-handicap rankings con-test — for the 2006-07 season. Final re-sults will be announced in late May.

The ISHA membership rolls containmany great ski racers: Andrea M. Law-rence, Stein Eriksen, Billy Kidd, andPenny Pitou, to name only a few. But theirmany championships are past history.Woodward is the only ISHA member whois currently reigning national ski cham-pion. His racing career is on the rise!

Jim Fain, Editor and PublisherNASTAR (National Standard Race)

Newsletter

Excerpts from “Camp Hale Skis”by John Woodward, Blizzard 3rd Quarter 1995

In the summer of ‘42 skis were manufactured by three vendors. The skis werehickory laminated, flat topped with steel edges and painted white. Several instruc-tors tried out the new skis on Cooper Hill…In the soft snow they dived better thana submarine. In a week we had 2 instructors with broken legs. I proposed to Gen.Rolfe that Groswold Ski Co. of Denver ridge-top the flat top of the skis so theywould flex like normal skis. He approved. The skis came out with a perfect flex.After f inishing the skis, Groswold burned his brand on top of the originalmanufacturer’s name…This is how Groswold got credit for manufacturing mostof the Army skis. The Colorado Historical Museum's 10th Mountain collection hasseveral pairs but none of the original flat tops.

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 5BLIZZARD

HOW I GOTINTO THE SKI TROOPS

Gerry Cullinane’s episode is taken from his memoir:“From Student to Soldier: My War Years...1941-1945.”

Gerry Cullinane (87-F). In the fall of 1942 Life Magazine featured on thecover a photo of Walter Prager (87-HQ-3, 10 Recon), the former ski coach atDartmouth College and then a master sergeant in the mountain infantry. Hewas shown on a glacier at Mt. Rainier with crampons, ice axe and everythingelse. That got me excited. I thought, “Boy, this is for me!” I submitted mythree letters of recommendation and received notification from the NationalSki Patrol that I had been accepted for the mountain troops. Since voluntaryenlistments had been shut down, the only way to enlist was to volunteer forinduction through your local draft board. This I did on instructions from theSki Patrol. After induction I would be sent to Camp Hale, Colorado.

On January 19, 1943 I reported for induction into the U.S. Army. After a dayor two of Army orientation we received our orders sending us to wherever thegods had deemed. In my case I knew where I was going: to the Ski Troops! Withmy letters of recommendation and notification of assignment, I could hardlywait. Imagine the shock and surprise I had when I learned I was headed forCamp White, Medford, Oregon instead of Camp Hale, Colorado. I had failed tomake the minimum weight (for my height) for general service. I was thus clas-sified for “Limited Service,” which meant assignment to Base service unitssuch as Military Police or hospital orderly or some such job. I became an MP atCamp White where I was destined to spend the next five months. Meanwhile, Idetermined to eat and eat and eat in an effort to gain weight and get reclassified.

I was given guard duty at the stockade. The little guardhouses were about asbig as an outhouse. I had a midnight to 4:00 a.m. stretch, and in order to stayawake I began drawing on the wall of the guard shack. I drew a small picture ofa soldier skier going downhill with rifle and pack. Above the skier I wrote“$50.00 reward” and under the skier “to anyone who can get me out of thisoutfit and transferred to Camp Hale, Colorado.” And I signed my name. A dayor two later when I had the same post during a day watch, the lieutenant incharge of our unit came to inspect. He looked inside the guardhouse and guesswhat he saw! He turned to me and said, “Did you write that?” Since I had signedmy name there was little I could say other than, “Yes Sir.” He asked me why Ihad written it and it gave me the opportunity to tell him the whole story of howI was railroaded to Camp White instead of to the Mountain Training Center inColorado. I have been forever grateful to him because he immediately arrangedfor me to appear at the hospital for reclassification. I could not believe my goodluck. Three Army doctors asked me a number of questions regarding my re-quest. I guess I had gained a couple of pounds. I answered their questions con-fidently and to their satisfaction because in a day or two I was called to ourcompany orderly room and told I was being transferred to Camp Hale. I haverarely been happier in my life than the day I broke out of Camp White.

In June 1943 I took the train out of Camp White on my way to the Moun-tain Training Center of the U.S. Army. I arrived at Camp Hale with a couple ofothers I did not know and we were driven a mile or so into the camp proper. Iwas assigned to the 86th regiment, Co. H. Since I had been in the serviceabout five months, I had already been promoted to Private First Class, whichwas a big deal to some of the others who had just arrived from civilian life.The camp struck me as beautiful!

Bob Carlson (86-L). It all started in December of 1939 when I was turn-ing 15 years of age at Smiley Junior High School. A group of mostly EastDenver High School students were gathering each Saturday of the winter forbus trips for kids who wanted to learn how to ski from local ski pioneer FrankBulkley. I found a pair of skis in our basement left there by a cousin. Notknowing anything about ski equipment, I took the skis to the first bus trip ofthe season. The trouble was they were about 8 feet long, no edges and leatherstrap bindings. When I showed up the famed Frank Bulkley told me never tocome back until I got some skis I could control. The next week at Gart Broth-ers I found a pair of Silver Streak ridge top skis with cable bindings and steeledges. As I used these skis, I did my best to become as good a skier as pos-sible. Into my second year of lessons, I took first aid lessons in order to jointhe Junior Ski Patrol and be trained to aid the Senior Patrollers. I continued inthis effort until the winter of 42-43. As I turned 18 in December 1943, I re-ceived the inevitable draft notice. The 10th Mountain had achieved a lot ofpublicity by that time so I decided that nearby Camp Hale should be the firstpriority for my military service. I gathered the required letters of recommen-dation from 3 National Ski patrollers with whom I was well acquainted: EdTaylor, Art Kidder Sr. and Fred Bellmar. Art Kidder was truly remarkable as aone-legged, super-strong patrolman who skied with ski pole baskets on crutches.His daughter Barbara was one of the very best female skiers in the country. InJune 1943 I reported to the induction center at Fort Logan. I was indeed givenorders to ride the train to Camp Hale. Upon arrival, another inductee, BobMahony (86-L), and I were to report to Company L of the 86th. Imagine mysurprise when entering the barracks, the soldier checking us in was SamBulkley (86-L, F, & A), brother of Frank. Sam and I had played on the samebaseball team at East High School. The rest is history as I remained in thatcompany the entire time until discharged in November 1945.

All of us have climbed mountains andtoday have ‘mountains’ to climb. Theyjust take different forms. On March 19,2007 I did climb Homestake Peak,13,209 ft., for probably the last time. Theoccasion was part of my celebration ofhaving trekked into Tenth MountainDivision Huts with Tenth Veterans for18 years. Newc Eldredge, 85-L, startedme on these adventures in 1989. Hehad started hut tripping the year before.This year Newc had some excuse abouta heart valve replacement so could notmake it.

Bob Thompson, 86-B, John Imbrie,85-C and I made up the Veterans’ Sec-tion of this 2007 trek into the TenthMountain Division Hut, 11, 370 ft. Weski-packed (30- to 40-pound packs) 4.4miles on March 18 along with 12 others:Dave and Jane Christie (Desc. 85-F), TimDavis, Andrew Hudson, Matt Sugar,Elizabeth Williams, LTC Marvin Meekand four University of Colorado ROTCstudents — Ryan Swisher, Maron Kim,Peter Linsheid and Chris Campbell.Doug Whitehead of CBS joined us to tellour story on CBS, Channel 4, on April28, 2007.

Of course we had to start the nightbefore at the Leadville Silver Dollar Sa-loon.

After being properly broken in, wemoved across Main Street to Quincy’s fora roast beef dinner. That was after theEvans-Imbrie-Williams local Safewayshopping trip for the six meals for 15 per-sons. We did not have too many disagree-ments on what to buy.

March 18 we were up early for break-fast at the Golden Burro (really the Brass

Ass) and at the trailhead at 9:00 AM. Theski-in took us, including lunch, aboutfour hours. I was greeted with birthday(83) presents from Ted and Carol Bill-ings (Tenth Mountain Hut managers)— a chocolate cake, two big bottles ofJim Beam and a case of beer all tiedtogether with balloons. Who could askfor more? The young went out that after-noon for some ski adventures. It wasthen dinner and bed about 9:00 PM. Theconversations were wild and free flow-ing. There was much discussion on ‘de-terministic’ (planned) versus ‘stochastic’(random) events. We decided these huttrips were definitely stochastic. There isnothing like the huts for solving theworld’s problems.

We were up with the sun on Mondayand all except Bob and John thoughtthey would go for Homestake Peak. Theyoung and not so young made it to thetop about noon, the old man about anhour later, but he was very proud of him-self. Dave Christie and Tim Davis foundtheir way back home via the ContinentalDivide around Slide Lake. The old manand those he was escorting got backabout 3:00 PM after being lost for awhilein the woods at the base. The ROTCbunch built a ski jump off one of theHomestake Peak couloirs and spent therest of the afternoon playing around. Thatnight it was Evans’ cornpone pie for din-ner. Tuesday we were again up early andout by noon. It was a great trip with greatcompany and beautiful weather. We aregoing to do it again on March 15, 2008.We will trek into the Fowler/Hilliard Hut,11,500 ft., up above Camp Hale nearPtarmigan Peak. Ya’ all come!

CLIMBING THAT MOUNTAINHugh W. Evans (85-A,C)

Climbers are, top row, l to r: Chris Campbell, LTC Marvin Meek, Ryan Swisher, PeterLinsheid, Maron Kim; bottom row, l to r: John Imbrie, Hugh Evans, Bob Thompson

IMPORTANT DATE!

NATIONAL REUNIONIN DENVER

AUGUST 2-5, 2007

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 6

The Ft. Drum chapter has a new website for the 10th Mountain DivisionScholarship Fund: www.10mtndivscholarshipfund.org. With 110 Tenth Light sol-diers killed in action, over 1,100 woundedin action, and almost 10,000 still inharm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan, theneed is now and growing. Five $5,000scholarships will be presented for thisacademic year, and five more are plannedfor next year. Your support today is greatlyappreciated. Make checks payable to the“10th Mt. Div. (Light) Scholarship Fund”and mail to Mike Plummer, Ft. DrumChapter, 121 paddock Street, Watertown,NY 13601. Also, please keep us in mind

THE 10TH MOUNTAINDIVISION (LIGHT)

SCHOLARSHIP FUNDMike Plummer (10 Lt.)

during your estate planning reviews.Another way to support the scholar-

ship fund and preserve a place in the his-tory of the 10th for a fallen warrior, amountain buddy, a family member, afriend, or for you, is to purchase a brickfor the Memorial Walk at Ft. Drum nearthe Military Mountaineer statue. Bricksare 4” x 8” and can have up to three linesof text with 14 characters per line. Thecost is $25.00, with all profits going tothe Scholarship Fund. To purchase abrick, send details for lettering, alongwith a check made out to the Ft. DrumChapter, to Craig Boss, 6880 OlmsteadRoad, Lowville, NY 13362.

Major General Michael L. Oates isnow serving as Commanding General ofthe 10th Mountain Division(Light Infantry), Ft. Drum,New York. Maj. Gen. Oatesgraduated from the UnitedStates Military Academy in1979. He holds a MastersDegree in National Secu-rity and Strategic Studiesfrom the Naval War Col-lege. His military schooling

NEW COMMANDINGGENERAL AT FT. DRUM

includes the Infantry Officer Basic andAdvanced Courses, U.S. Army Com-

mand and General Staff Col-lege, Armed Forces StaffCollege and the Naval WarCollege. Most recently, Maj.Gen. Oates served as DeputyCommanding General (Op-erations), 101st AirborneDivision (Air Assault), OP-ERATION IRAQI FREE-DOM, Iraq.

LETTER FROM AFGHANISTANGentlemen of the 10th Mountain Division (Lt) Veterans Ski Team:

I am sorry that I was unable to make it home for this year’s Hannes SchneiderCup Race at Cranmore. I am currently stationed in Herat, Afghanistan as a memberof an embedded training team with the Afghan National Army. Much like the advi-sor programs of Vietnam, I am living, eating, training and conducting missions witha mixture of Afghan and American Soldiers, in an effort to assist the Afghan gov-ernment to become a functioning democracy in a region riddled by wars. There area number of other former members of the 10th Mountain Div. (LT) alongside me onthis mission.

We meet with our Afghan counterparts daily and help them plan, resource, man-age and execute their training as well as their combat missions throughout Afghani-stan. We are experiencing great success in the western region of the country, whichis evident by the number of women’s schools and the improvements in their infra-structure since I was here nearly 3 years ago.

My current assignment is as the Corps G-5 (Civil Affairs) mentor. Most of mydays are filled with village visits and humanitarian assistance projects through outour region, roughly the size of New England. We distribute donated school suppliesand clothing from back home and assist the Afghan Army in contracting civilians tobuild schools, wells, dams, bathrooms and other infrastructure needs in the area.We’ve had an enormous amount of support from schools, Cub Scout packs, the NewYork Master’s ski racers, religious groups and various other organizations back home.Our gratitude cannot be expressed by simple words and thank you notes. For moreinformation about our mission and what we are doing here, please feel free to con-tact me by email at ray.gilmore@us.army.mil.

To John Woodward, Dick Calvert, Herbie Schneider and the rest of the skiracers in the ranks, I look forward to seeing you again next season on the hill atCranmore and throughout the Masters Racing Circuit as a member of the 10th Moun-tain Division (LT) veterans’ team, if you will have me.

Ski Fast and Play Hard. Climb to Glory.

Ray S. Gilmore, CPT, EN, Team 9805; www.team9805.com

I was listening to the nightly newswhen I heard a name that immediatelyattracted my attention. “Members of the10th Mountain Division have had theirtours of duty extended indefinitely, inAfghanistan.” I thought about CharlieSchwab. In 2003, Charlie, or Lt. CharlesSchwab as I first knew him, was 1Lt. ofCharlie Company, the platoon that theNew England Chapter had adopted.He and his platoon, my class and I allbecame year-long pen pals. It was a fa-bulous experience for all of us, conclud-ing with a visit to the school from Lt.Schwab. When I heard about the new-est development in Afghanistan I hadan instant urge to email him and findout if he was OK. Within 5 minutes,he had answered my email and thesecond chapter of our correspondencebegan.

We exchanged several emails withinthe next few days. He told me about howlow the morale within the troops wasbecause of their unforeseen extension.He asked me if I would be willing tohave my class write to his men again. Ireadily agreed. He told me that he hadbeen promoted to Captain and he pro-ceeded to send me 439 names of home-sick soldiers! With only 130 eighth grad-ers, the challenge was on! I had changedschools and teach in a public, urbanmiddle school in Waterbury, Connecti-cut in a building called the “Blue House,”with approximately 400 students —perfect! The house principal thought itwas a wonderful project. My fellowteachers were very supportive and eagerto do what they could to help. Soon, Iwas splitting platoons, passing out sol-diers’ names, putting up posters andassigning different students and differ-ent classes with deadlines. As with thepen-pal project in 2003, this project wastaking on a life of its own. The bulletin

MRS. CAPPIELLO’S CLASS:HOME OF THE

10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISIONAndrea Cappiello (Desc. 85-L)

board was overflowing with sayings like,“Write to your soldier — it’s so easy, evena caveman can do it.”

When I approached my own classesof 8th graders, most were willing to write,but some were skeptical. In fact, one par-ticular class didn’t want anything to dowith this project, until one boy namedShawn said, “My brother is in Afghani-stan.” I asked if he was in the 10th. Hethought so. Sure enough, there he wason the list, Justin Dwyer, A Troop. Thenext day, Shawn brought in a picture ofhis brother in Afghanistan. Well, thisclass soon became quite interested andthis picture became the center of my bul-letin board. Soon newsletters and emailsfrom Charlie, along with lists of soldiers’names joined it.

Probably the best thing from thisproject has been Patriotism. These arekids who we had to force to just face theflag, let alone stand and say anything.Now, even half asleep, they stand andmake the effort. The building Princi-pal, Mr. Lorusso, proudly made an an-nouncement last week when the 439 sol-dier letters were sent. He thanked usall, concluding with, “Mrs. Cappiellowould like to remind you all to salutethe flag, for your soldier.” So this pro-ject continues until we get out in Juneor the troops come home, which evercomes first. Charlie plans on comingto the school again, if they get homesoon enough. My room won’t be hardto find — it’s the one that has the pos-ter outside the door that reads, “Mrs.Cappiello’s Class, Home of the 10thMountain Division.”

Andrea Cappiello, daughter of EarlNorem (85-L), wrote an article for theBlizzard (2005, No.1) about CharlieSchwab and the pen-pal project betweenher class and Charlie Company, the NewEngland Chapter’s adopted platoon.

Major General Michael L. Oates

Student in Mrs. Cappiello’s class in front of bulletin board showing10th Mountain Division logo and a sign saying “Write Your Soldier.”

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 7BLIZZARD

Operation Enduring Freedom VIIMarch-April 2007

SPC Christopher M. Wilson1-32 Inf • March 2007

Sgt Jeremy R. Greene2-87 Inf • April 2007

Operation Iraqi FreedomSeptember 2006-May 2007

SPC Bobby Callahan4-31 Inf • September 2006

Lt. John Craver4-31 Inf • October 2006

SGT Thomas Vandling1-89 CAV • January 2007

SPC Raymond N. Mitchell III2-14 INF • January 2007

SGT Paul T. Sanchez543 MP Co • January 2007

SGT Mickel D. Garrigus543 MP Co • January 2007

CPT Kevin C. Landeck2-15 FA • February 2007

SSG Terrence D. Dunn210 BSB • February 2007

SP4 Brian A. Browning4-31 INF • February 2007

SGT Shawn M. Dunkin1-89 CAV • February 2007

SP4 Matthew C. Bowe1-89 CAV • February 2007

PFC Adare W. Cleveland1-89 CAV • February 2007

SGT Richard A. Soukenka2 BSTB • February 2007

SPC Jonathan D. Cadavero2 BSTB • February 2007

CPL Lorne E. Henry Jr.2 BSTB • February 2007

SPC Tomas L. Latham2-14 INF • March 2007

10TH LIGHT SOLDIERSKILLED IN ACTION

The Ft. Drum, Metro New York, andWashington, DC chapters recently pre-sented 100 hotel-quality bathrobes to10th Mountain Division wounded war-riors at Landstuhl Regional MedicalCenter (Germany), Walter Reed ArmyMedical Center (Washington, DC) andBrooke Army Medical Center (Ft. SamHouston, TX). Each robe has a divisionpatch on the left breast pocket andhas become the “must have” item inthe wards. When MG Ben Freakley,Commander of the 10th Mountain Divi-sion, presented them to the recuperating10th soldiers during a recent visit, oneof them told him, “This is the best giftI have ever received in my entire life.”Another soldier told him that he liked itso much that he wanted one for hismother. That kind of says it all. In thepocket of each robe was a note with thefollowing message:

This robe is presented by the NationalAssociation of the 10th MountainDivision and the 10th MountainDivision Foundation on behalf ofall Americans who understand thatfreedom isn’t free to one of America’swounded warriors. Whether you werewounded by hostile action or in anaccident in a hostile environment, youdid so in the service of your Country.Thank you for your sacrifice and mayGod speed your recovery.

These “Climb to Glory Robes” areworn and given with pride. We will con-tinue to provide them until the remain-ing 400 are gone and then determine ifwe want to supply more. One of the goalsof our Association is to continue the tra-ditions and preserve the honorable legacyof the “men of the 10th.” Taking care oftoday’s wounded is part of our effort toaccomplish that goal.

In support of this goal, the Washing-ton DC chapters (descendents and veter-

ans) along with Metro NY Chapter’s BobO’Malley (85-L) visit our 10th woundedat Walter Reed and provide them withitems bearing 10th Mountain Divisionlogo such as hats, t-shirts and sweatshirts.The chapters solicit contributions to payfor some of these items, and some aredonated by the National Quartermasterand the Fort Drum Chapter. BobO’Malley also occasionally provides ourwarriors with tours of the historical sitesof Washington DC. At Walter ReedHospital on March 21st, Maj. Gen.Freakley presented Bob O’Malley witha Commander’s Award for Public Ser-vice, along with a medal from the De-partment of the Army for his 4-year sus-tained effort in caring for our wounded10th Light soldiers at Walter Reed ArmyMedical Center.

Members of the Armadillo Chapter,with Steve Worley (Desc. 10-AT-A), havebeen visiting our wounded recuperat-ing at Brooke Army Medical Center inFt. Sam Houston, TX, and will begingiving items with 10th logo to them. Inaddition, the Fort Drum Chapter hasarranged through the 10th MountainDivision Command Group to send logoitems to our soldiers in the three ma-jor Army medical centers. The items aredistributed by the Division point ofcontact at each facility or by visitorssuch as Anna Marie Mattson (Desc.110-SIG), at Landstuhl Medical Centerin Germany.

Funds for these efforts come fromdonations from chapters, individuals,and private organizations that just wantto do something good for our woundedmen. If you want to make a donationyou can send it to: Frank Thornton, Na-tional Quartermaster, 112 Maple AvenueBala Cynwyd, PA 19004; or MichaelPlummer, President, Ft. Drum Chapter121 Paddock Street, Watertown, NY13601.

CHAPTERS VISIT10TH LIGHT WOUNDED

Mike Plummer (10 Lt)

Soldiers recovering from wounds at Walter Reed Army MedicalCenter proudly wear their 10th Mountain Division “Climb to Glory” Robes.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley presents Bob O’Malley with a Commanders’ Awardfor Public Service and a medal from the Department of the Army for his efforts in

caring for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

SPC Wilford Flores Jr.2-14 INF • March 2007

SSG David A. Mejias2 BSTB • April 2007

SSG Eric R. Vick2 BSTB • April 2007

SGT William G. Bowling2 BSTB • April 2007

SGT Robert M. McDowell2 BSTB • April 2007

SSG Jason R. Arnette2-14 INF • April 2007

SPC Ryan A. Bishop4-31 INF • April 2007

CW2 Dwayne L. Moore2-15 FA • April 2007

SSG Steven R. Tudor210 BSB • April 2007

CPL Ray M. Bevel4-31 INF • April 2007

Ryan A. Bishop4-31 INF • April 2007

SFC James D. Connell4-41 INF • May 2007

PFC Daniel W. Courneya4-31 INF • May 2007

PFC Christopher E. Murphy4-31 INF • May 2007

PFC Joseph J. Anzack4-31 INF • May 2007

SGT Anthony J. Schober4-31 INF • May 2007

SGT Jason A. Schumann3-89 CAV • May 2007

SGT Justin D. Wisniewski2-15 ARTY • May 2007

SGT Steven M. Packer2-14 INF • May 2007

PVT Byron W. Fouty4-31 INF • May 2007 MIA

SP4 Alex R. Jimenez4-31 INF • May 2007 MIA

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 8

THE MEDITERRANEANTHEATER IN WORLD WAR II[Excerpted from the book jacket].

The Mediterranean theater in WWIIhas long been overlooked by those whobelieve it was of minor importance inthe war. But in this new book, DouglasPorch, Military Historian, argues that theMediterranean was, in fact, the pivotaltheater in WWII.

In The Path to Victory: The Mediter-ranean Theater in World War II, Porchexamines the Mediterranean as an inte-grated arena that laid the foundation forvictory in Europe. Although conven-tional wisdom argues that Hitler couldnot have won WWII in the Mediterra-nean, Porch believes that the Allies mightwell have lost had they not elected tofight there. Decisions made in this the-

NEW BOOKater matured the Western Alliance, seri-ously damaged and dispersed the for-midable Axis military machine, andforged the combined Anglo-Americaneffort that was to be unstoppable whentransferred to Northern Europe in June1944.

The Middle Sea constituted a strate-gic piece of a global war; it was a pas-sage that linked far-flung theaters andprovided an entry point into southernGermany for two Allied armies. Withouta Mediterranean alternative, the WesternAllies would probably have committedto a premature Channel invasion in 1943that might well have cost them the war.Brilliantly argued, this compelling ac-count of a little-known theater empha-sizes the importance of the Mediterra-nean in the ultimate Allied victory inEurope during WWII.

Stanley Cummings (86-A, 85-B)and I were married in the summer of1940. In 1942, with Uncle Sam breath-ing down his neck, Stan completed therequirements for his law degree by thetime he was drafted. Having obtained hisletters of recommendation for the skitroops, he headed for Camp Hale in Janu-ary 1943. Six months later I joined him.

I spent six days at the Guest Houseand three days in Leadville (the first nightsleeping in the lobby at the VendomeHotel because there were no rooms)frantically hunting for a job so I couldlive in Camp. I met Jean and JakeNunnemacher (87-B). Jean was hostessof the officers’ wives Guest House forjust a week when Jake was reassigned andthey left camp. I got Jean’s job, whichmeant that I could live there. Since theofficers’ wives were only there for week-end occasions, our husbands were al-lowed to stay overnight with us when theywere in camp.

In the fall a job in the hospital labbecame available. I had to hitch rides tothe hospital but I continued to stay at theGuest House. I loved my hospital job asa histopathologist making microscopicslides of body parts from operations andfrom autopsies. It was a great group ofpeople to work with, never boring, andthe food was great. In the spring we hadto take blood samples from about 300German prisoners who had been broughtinto camp. They were mostly teenagers,and I thought how lucky they were to bealive, out of the war and well cared for.

During the fall Stan taught me rockclimbing. I took to it like a duck to waterand loved rappelling down the cliffs.When ski season started it was a differ-ent story. I was given a seven-foot pairof GI skis. I am 5’3” tall and had neverbeen on a ski tow. At Cooper Hill Stankept telling me to just stand and letthe T-bar pull me. “Don’t sit down” hekept saying. We finally reached the towand guess what I did! I fell a lot but Idon’t think I ever fell off a tow again. Ifinally learned to ski and was 83 when Igave it up.

We went to dances, saw the most re-cent movies and various celebrities suchas Lowell Thomas, Jane Wyman and JoeLouis. We went to Glenwood Springs onweekends where we rode horseback,hiked to Hanging Lake, danced at theUSO, soaked in the hot springs and atebig tender steaks. Shortly after arrivingat camp, I ran into Jean Barr from mydorm at college. We spent pleasant eve-nings with Jean and Jim (85-HQ-3) atJean’s apartment in Denver and later inGlenwood Springs. After Christmas Imoved into the new barracks built nextto the hospital for wives working incamp. They were much pleasanter quar-ters but — we were back to dating. Myroommate was Eleanor Prager (wife ofWalter, 87-HQ-3, 10 RECON) whoworked in the lab office. I also metLucille Butler and her husband Roger(85-I, 85-SVC) who took us to their homein Steamboat Springs on occasion.

In February 1944 the boys were outon maneuvers on Cooper Hill with liveammunition. Stan and Torger Tokle(86-A) were the only two from the squad

to return under their own power. One sev-ered foot and one dead soldier werebrought to the hospital. I still rememberhow I panicked when I thought it wasStan, but it was not. Stan returned on aFriday night and had a furlough startingSaturday. By noon we had embarkedon a hitchhiking trip to the West Coastand back.

We girls watched the blizzard fromthe warmth of our rooms, as we worriedabout out husbands out on the “D” Se-ries. One night we heard that they werebivouacked near camp. Lucille Butlerdrove us to the area. Much to my embar-rassment, one of the boys shouted up themountain, “Stan Cummings, your wife ishere.” It worked. About 10 minutes laterhe appeared and I was able to give him aquick hug and a few goodies I’d broughtfrom camp.

In June, the 10th was transferred toCamp Swift, Texas. Stan was assigned toescort several officers’ wives in their carson the trip down and I was allowed to jointhem. By arriving early, I landed a job inthe hospital once again, thus qualifyingfor quarters. I ran into Jean and JakeNunnemacher and I was able to acquirea two-bedroom sparsely furnished apart-ment. While I was working, Jean, whowas pregnant, made it very livable andour husbands were able to stay with usmany nights and weekends.

In July, Stan reported to Ft. Benning,GA for OCS, and, pregnant and withmorning sickness, I joined him near theend of August. He graduated just beforeThanksgiving, which we spent with myparents in Summit, NJ, the first I had beenhome in two and a half years. Stan wasordered back to Texas, where he was as-signed to 85-B. I wouldn’t see him againfor over 20 months. Stan was woundedon Mt. Della Spe on April 15th or 16th.He could not rejoin his unit before the10th came back to the states, and so endedup in the occupation troops with the 88thDivision. In August 1946, I packed mytrunk and my baby and went to Italy onthe Marine Shark. There Stan met his 16-month-old son for the first time. A yearlater we went home to start our lives inGreenfield, Massachusetts

AN ARMY WIFEJean Cummings

When Col. Johnnie L. Knight, a gen-eral dentist, arrived in Bagram, Afghani-stan on 4 August 2006, he naturally as-sumed he would be assigned to the 14thCombat Support Hospital (CSH). Insteadhe was transferred to the 198th MP Bat-talion of the 10th Mountain Division. Be-ing assigned to the 10th was a dreamcome true for the 25-year veteran reserv-ist. Col. Knight’s father, Master SergeantWilliam M. Knight (605-A) was one ofthe original 10th Mountain soldiers whenthe 10th was formed at Camp Hale, COin 1942.

While serving his tour, Col. Knightspoke often about his father and the sto-ries his father had shared with him aboutthe 10th and WWII. A friend and fellowsoldier, Command Sergeant Major Coff-man picked up on the stories and decidedthat the 10th should present Col. Knight’sfather with some type of award.

TWO GENERATIONS OF THE10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

Johnnie L. Knight (Col, USAR)

On 13 October, 2006, an awardsceremony was held at the 198th MPBattalion Headquarters in Bagram.Col. Knight accepted, on behalf of hisfather, the “Command Sergeant Ma-jor’s Award of Excellence.” Sgt. MajorsCoffman and Hokkanen presentedthe award with the blessings of Bri-gade Commander Col. Rose Miller,Brig. General Tata, Maj. General Ben-jamin Freakley, and the 10th MountainDivision. When Col. Knight returnedfrom active duty, an awards ceremonywas held at VFW Post 1191 in Paducah,Kentucky Col. Knight presented theAward to his father, Master SergeantWilliam M. Knight, on behalf of the10th Mountain Division. A story bookending for both father and son. Pre-sentation of this award to his father wasthe greatest moment of Col. Knight’s 25-year career.

On behalf of the 10th Mountain Division, Colonel Johnnie L. Knight (on right)presents the "Command Sergeant Major's Award of Excellence" to his father,

Master Sergeant William M. Knight.

Stan Cummings meets his 16-month-old son for the first time.

I would never wish that war experi-ence on anyone. It was dreadful and Iwould not choose to go through it. How-ever, as we were both fortunate enoughto have lived through it, I wouldn’t wantto give up the experience either. I learnedto be self-sufficient, to cope with the vi-cissitudes of life, and to accept the upsand downs. I became a stronger personand learned to travel light, which, as alife-long traveler, has been a convenientlesson.

VOLUME 9 2007 NUMBER 2

PUBLISHED BY AND FOR DESCENDANTS OF THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

Excerpted with permission from the fullarticle in the December 2006 issue of5280: Denver’s Mile-High Magazine.

THE ELDERLY MAN approachedme and asked if I would mind taking apicture. He signaled his three friends tocome over and handed me his camera,The men looked a bit old to be skiingway up there. Then I noticed the 10thMountain Division logo at the tip of eachof their skis. I knew that logo — it wasthe mark of Colorado legends, men torespect. Most important for me, though,it might be a key to my past. I blurtedout the same question I’d asked everyother 10th veteran I’ve ever met. “Doesthe name Robert ‘Snuffy’ O’Neil ring abell to any of you?” One of the menswung his head around like he’d heard aghost. “Snuffy O’Neil, did you say?”Before I could answer, another man re-peated the name. “Snuffy O’Neil…why,I haven’t heard that name since beforethe war ended.”

Robert “Snuffy” O’Neil (87-K) wasmy grandfather. He died of a heart at-tack six months before my twin brotherand I were born. It devastated our mother.For as long as I remember, I had been onthe hunt for more information aboutthe patriarch I never knew but alwaysheard about. I constantly dropped hisname, just in case someone out theremight remember him. Until that day atVail, I’d never had any luck. These menwere my first Snuffy connection. Theywere in town for a 10th Mountain Divi-sion reunion tour through Colorado highcountry. I immediately joined the tour.In so doing I found out more about my

SEARCHING FOR SNUFFYDevon O’Neil

grandfather (and myself) than I everwould’ve believed was lost.

I introduced myself and began to ex-plain my mission — but before I’d fin-ished my sentence, Nelson “Nellie”Bennett (87-I, MTG), took over. “Thelast time I saw Snuffy he fell 80 feet offa rock cliff and didn’t even have a scratchon him!” I carried with me one of theonly photographs my brother and I haveof our grandfather, taken just before thatfall. He has his hemp climbing ropecoiled across his shoulder and is stand-ing below the C Street Cliffs at CampHale. I showed the photo to Bennett, whoexplained that he had been standing di-rectly above my grandfather when he fell.“That’s Snuffy all right.” he said. Bennetttold me he and my grandfather were bothclimbers, and he told me about Snuffy’sart, explaining that his work used to runin the Blizzard. Another veteran, retiredLt. Col. Earl Clark (87-HQ-1), alsobrought up my grandfather’s cartoons,which had been displayed on the wall ofthe officer’s club at Hale. “They had greathumor,” said Clark. “He took the hard-ships and made fun out of them for ev-erybody. You couldn’t look at what he’ddone without getting a smile on yourface.”

But more than just a funny guy, itturns out my grandfather was a damngood mountaineer, too. Dick Over (110-SIG) told me about my grandfather’srole in the Mountain Training Group.“The MTG was a very special core groupof skiers, rock climbers, and outdoorspeople — they trained other troops. Theytested equipment, they tested systems

Q. Casey, what connection do youhave to the 10th MountainDivision and how did you getinvolved with the Foundationand Descendants?

A. My late father, Pfc. Kenneth Klahnwas in the Division. He served at CampHale, Colorado, overseas in North Italy,and all the way to the deactivation ofthe division. I remember that we cameacross the Association together in the1970s, and my Dad became a memberfor one year, 1974, I think, but nothingever came of it.

Q. What unit was your father in?

A. 1st Gun Section, C Battery, 605thField Artillery Battalion (Pack). He wasa muleskinner, and he was a .50 calibermachine gunner. My Dad was in the FieldArtillery, which had him in action behindour infantry, but he also supported theriflemen by being up on the front linesfiring his .50 heavy machine gun.

Q. When you think of the 10thMountain Division, what is thefirst thing that comes to mind?

A. Excellence. Originality. Super Fit-ness. The Tenth didn’t define soldier fit-ness in WW II — they were in a categoryway beyond that. I think about leadership,and initiative. Like one narrator has said,there never was another organization likethe Tenth Mountain Division.

Q. How was it that you becamea professional painter?

A. I guess I had an early mid-life crisisabout ten years ago, and decided that Ihad to go full-time as an artist as a “now-or-never” thing. I have been an artistsince I began drawing at age four. Ofcourse, every little kid is an artist, butwhen my parents gave me a brush andsome paints, and I painted an Army tankin profile, the result was the start of alifetime of drawing with a pencil forhours a day, nonstop, for years. Now, I’vebeen in some nice galleries, and havebeen juried into some very strictly vettedart fairs. I recently have been juried-in to the prestigious Pastel Society ofAmerica

Q. What inspired you to paintRiva Ridge?

A. I wanted to choose a scene that will

“read” immediately to the viewer — some-thing that is instantly understood for whatit is and also for what it symbolizes. RivaRidge wasn’t the only action to take placefor the division, but it symbolizes the dra-matic and unambiguous offensive energythat the 10th Mountain Division intro-duced into the Italian Campaign. If theAllies were a little sleepy after the win-ter months in a static front, I think ev-eryone was wide awake — Germans andAllies alike — after the Riva Ridge As-sault. The Riva Ridge battle has that kindof history-making power as an event.

Q. How did you come to thedecision to donate a painting forthe 10th Reunion in August 2007?

A. I like to try to make a donation some-where with my art every year. I’ve hadthe passion, as the Italians say, to do thisvery artwork for some time. I have moreof an interest in doing something for theDescendants organization than I do foropening a new market by putting it upfor sale.

Q. Will prints/copies of the donatedpainting be available as well?

A. I don’t make prints of my currentstuff. But the Riva Ridge drawing willbe a different sort of thing. I guess I’llhave to do a study of that, and see if Ican make it work. I’ll try and figure itout before I send the original to Colo-rado in August, though.

Q. What is your next 10thMountain inspiration we canlook forward to?

A. I kind of alluded to the series of G.I.sbefore. When I was in the service, we allhad that picture of the G.I. in the back ofour minds. Tough; easy-going; able; lib-erator — these words all come to mind. Iwant to draw those narrative images thatwe can all recognize in the image ofthe G.I. And, I want to start with theMountaineers — the Ski troopers, who(you won’t be surprised when I tell you)I think were the greatest of the greatestgeneration.

You can see examples of Casey’swork at these sites: http://thecolorist.blogspot.com/2007/02/italian-land-scape-sketches.html and http://100italianpaintings.blogspot.com/2007/03/drawing-today.html.

DESCENDANT ARTISTDONATES RIVA RIDGE

PAINTING FOR NATIONALREUNION

Interview of Casey Klahn By Tyler Tollman (87-B, Desc)

L to R: Nelson Bennett, Earl Clark and Dick Over with photo of Snuffy O’Neil.

continued on page 4

DESCENDANT BLIZZARD 2007 NUMBER 2PAGE 2

Arizona ChapterMary (Bockelmann) BroughtonPO Box 25964Prescott Valley, Arizona86312-5964ruffrider@commspeed.net

Armadillo ChapterSteven T. Worley731 KreutzbergBoerne, TX 78006sworley@ci.sat.tx.us

Big Sky ChapterJames WalshPO Box 305Stanford, MT 594579Waltana98@yahoo.com

Delaware River ValleyChapterPatricia Finn Thornton112 Maple AvenueBala Cynwyd, PA 19004patfrank3@verizon.net

Fort Drum ChapterMike Plummer121 Paddock StreetWatertown, NY 13601PLUMMIKE@aol.com

Lower Michigan ChapterTo be assigned

Metro New York ChapterDonald Perkins, Treasurer*PO Box 20011New York, NY 10017nbcushman@yahoo.com

Midwest ChapterPatricia LaRocca1151 Parkside CourtCarol Stream, IL 60188pattylarocca327@yahoo.com

Mt. Rainier ChapterRichard Morse4812 NE 40th StreetSeattle, Washington96826-9164morse32@comcast.net

New England ChapterSusan HagermanPO Box 60Enfield Center, NH 03749sue.m.hagerman@valley.net

North Central ChapterNikki Fahey

Northwest ChapterMarney RaddockBox 7661Salem, OR 93703marney@open.org

Roadrunner ChapterTo be assigned

Rocky Mountain ChapterTo be assigned

Sierra Nevada ChapterVal Rios6816 S. MapleFresno, CA 93725vrios913@aol.com

Southeast ChapterLarry Fields, Chaplain6300 Deane Hill DriveKnoxville, Tennessee 37919lfields@cbcbearden.org

Southern CaliforniaChapterMary Roddick Ghan25642 La CimaLaguna Niguel, CA 92677mghan@Cox.net

Upper Peninsula ChapterMarilyn Kahl1738 Wilkinson AvenueMarquette, MI 49855mkahl@maisd.k12.mi.us ORupsnowdancer@aol.com

Upstate New York ChapterTo be assigned

Utah ChapterRon Sawdey2016 Emerson AveSalt Lake City, UT 84108risawdey@comcast.net

Washington, DC ChapterPamela Pikla3707 Red Grove RoadBaltimore, MD 21220pam_pikla@yahoo.com

10th MOUNTAIN DIVISION DESCENDANTSOFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(* denotes Executive Committee)

PUBLISHED BY AND FOR DESCENDANTS OF THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

The Descendant Blizzard is edited by Bryan Pullen. Descendants: News, stories,announcements, letters, photos etc. are most welcome — this is your Blizzard!Contact Bryan Pullen at 708 S. 6th Street, Davis, OK 73030 or email: bryanpullen@cableone.net.

AT LARGE BOARDMEMBERS

Val RiosPresident6816 S. MapleFresno, CA 93725Vrios913@aol.com

Martha J. Hays,*Legal CounselBallard Spahr Andrews& Ingersoll, LLP1735 Market St. 51st StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19103hays@ballardspahr.com

Patricia Finn Thornton*Past President112 Maple AvenueBala Cynwyd, PA 19004patfrank3@verizon.net

Denise TaylorQuartermaster4075 Depew StreetWheatridge, CO 80212mountaingirl555@msn.com

Sharon Ahrens*Secretary34 Johnny Cake LaneNew Hartford, CT 06057sea1946@yahoo.com

Larry WilsonVP-Chapter CoordinatorPO Box 3Columbia Falls, MT 59912lwilson@aboutmontana.net

Sandy Eldredge*VP- Publicity3939 Hale DriveSalt Lake City, UT 84124sandyeldredge@utah.gov

MEMBERSHIPCOMMITTEE

Susan HagermanNew England Chapter

Denise TaylorQuartermaster

Sharon AhrrensSecretary

Pamela PiklaWashington, DC Chapter

RESOURCECOMMITTEEDENVER LIBRARY

Abbie Kealy5316 Glen Falls Rd.Reistertown, MD 21136Abbiekealy@comcast.net

ON BELAYPROJECT

Pam Pikla3707 Red Grove Rd.Baltimore, MD 21220Pam_pikla@yahoo.com

GOLD STAR10TH MOUNTAINDESCENDANTS

Norman Burkey308 Colgate Dr.Forest Hill, MD 21050normanburkey@comcast.net

ORAL HISTORYPROJECT

Myrna Hampton4803 Monterey St.Carmel, CA 93923mchofcarmel@sbcglobal.net

10TH MOUNTAINDESCENDANTMERITSCHOLARSHIP

Val Rios6816 S. MapleFresno, CA 93725Vrios913@aol.com

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DENVER!

As the “Hale and Farewell” reunion rapidly approaches I wish to urge alldescendants to attend this special event. It may very well be the final opportu-nity to be with so many of our WWII 10th veterans. The reality is harsh. Weare losing so many of our dear 10th friends and this is likely to be the last eventin which so many of the 10th veterans will be gathered in one place. Pleasejoin us in saluting and honoring them!

Knowing the Legacy. Many descendants have been fortunate to know thestory of their father, uncle, or grandfather who served with the 10th. But thereare others who were not as fortunate. Some never knew their fathers becausethey were killed in action. Others never had the opportunity to learn abouttheir 10th history because many of our WWII 10th veterans returned homeand never wished to speak about that period of their lives again. So for manydescendants there remains a void in knowing the history of the 10th and thestories of our veterans.

The Hale and Farewell reunion will provide an opportunity to be in themidst of our esteemed veterans; to listen to their stories, to hear once again orfor the first time, that time in their lives when they were once young and wentto war. There will be regimental and unit dinners where we will be able to bewith other men who served alongside our 10th veteran. The Living Historygroup will display gear and equipment used by our 10th veterans during WWII.Tours of the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center will be available and aspecial trip to Camp Hale is planned on Monday, August 6th. Yes, “Hale andFarewell” will provide opportunities for descendants to better know the legacyof the 10th. This is an event you won’t want to miss!

Preserving the Legacy. Since its inception, Descendants Inc. has contin-ued to increase in membership. To date we have close to 1,000 members andmany more contacts are in our database. Kate Raabe and Pat Thornton, my twopredecessors, worked diligently to organize Descendants Inc., and develop itsmembership into a very special and unique organization. I believe we are theonly national organization of descendants of WWII veterans. The task at handis both immediate and challenging. As we witness the transition of the 10thMountain Division Association, it will be of extreme importance that we re-main faithful to our mission and vision statement:

Mission Statement: The 10th Mountain Division Descendants Inc.,is an organization made up of the children, grandchildren, brothers,sisters, nieces, nephews, etc. of the WWII 10th Mountain DivisionSoldiers. We have come together with the goal of preserving the legacyof the 10th Mountain Division and to give our support to the veteransand their wives and widows of the 10th Mountain Division NationalAssociation.

Vision Statement: The enduring significance of the war and peace-time contribution of the men of the WWII 10th Mountain Divisiondepends upon their descendants’ knowledge of the events, values andactions that shaped their lives. The challenge to successive generationsof the 10th Descendants is to celebrate this legacy by establishingcommonalities with the experiences of their 10th ancestors and forginglinks to the historical past.

As a means to meet this challenge, Descendants Inc. is in the process offinalizing our Action Plan. Last summer at our annual Descendant Board meet-ing held in Silver Spring, MD, we completed two-thirds of our Action Plan.It is anticipated that the Action Plan will be completed and ratified at ourAugust 2nd Board meeting this summer in Denver. It is hoped that throughthis Action Plan, the legacy of the WWII 10th Mountain Division soldierswill live in perpetuity!

The Action Plan will be available as part of the registration material at theHale and Farewell Reunion this summer. Following the reunion it will be postedon the Descendants’ website at www.10thmtndivdesc.org

VIRES MONTESQUE VINCIMUS

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEVal Rios (Desc. 87-K)

DESCENDANT BLIZZARD PAGE 32007 NUMBER 2

Not unlike many young men of thetime, the SS America was recruited intoUnited States military service and likemany of these young men it was labeledwith a new moniker. It wasn’t that ofPrivate, Corporal or Sergeant but that ofUSS West Point.

As the SS America, it was the premiercruise ship of the day. The nation’s FirstLady Eleanor Roosevelt christened itbefore a crowd of 30,000 cheering spec-tators. The following day Hitler invadedPoland and set forth events that wouldshorten the SS America’s reign as “Queenof the luxury liners”.

The SS America reported for militaryservice in June 1941 by returning imme-diately to the shipyards where she wasborn. It took just eleven days to converther to the Navy’s largest troop carrier. TheNavy officially commissioned the shipas the USS West Point but she was affec-tionately nicknamed “The Gray Ghost”by its crew.

“The Gray Ghost” nickname derivedfrom two features of the renovated ship.First, it was a reference to the fresh grayand blue camouflage paint job it received.Second, it was homage to the capabili-ties of the ship’s speed and elusiveness.However, the strength of the ship’s speedpresented a weakness. Too fast for anyaccompanying ships, the West Point of-ten traveled unescorted, which did notafford it any protection.

The USS West Point was given ordersto transport members of the 10th Moun-tain Division’s 85th and 87th regimentsto Italy. On January 4, 1945 the soldierswho had endured the three-day train ridefrom Camp Swift were assigned bunksand herded aboard the ship. Upon board-ing ships, the soldiers’ pay increasedby twenty percent. For example a Pri-vate’s monthly pay increased from $54to $64.80. For many of the soldiers ofthe 10th Mountain Division this was theirintroduction to sea travel. The crowdedliving conditions, rhythmic bobbing ofthe waves and continual zigzagging ofthe ship made it very difficult for manysoldiers to keep down a meal. PFC BudSutton recalled, “I guess the fear anddread of where we were going had a lotto do with people getting sick on the wayover.” This uncertainty of what was tocome surely wore hard on the hearts,minds and subsequently on the stomachsof the soldiers.

The USS West Point was decommis-sioned in early 1946 and despite rumorsof being sunk seven times, returned safelyto harbor. Overall, the ship completed 145missions, made 41 Atlantic crossings and15 across the Pacific and carried 505,020passengers. Returned to United States

THE LIFE OFTHE USS WEST POINT

Bryan Pullen (Desc. 85-M)

Lines and once again named America, theship was restored to her previous speci-f ications and f inally took her long-awaited maiden voyage to Europe as aluxury liner. She continued her serviceas the America until 1964 when ChandrisLines purchased her for use to transportimmigrants from England to Australiaunder the name RHMS-Australis.

The Australis transported over300,000 immigrants to their new homeprior to being sold to an American com-pany in 1978. This was a failed businessventure that offered cruises to Halifaxand Nassau, again sailing under the nameAmerica. Interestingly, Chandris Linesre-purchased the liner in 1979 and thename was changed to Italis. During thistime the ship offered Mediterraneancruises from Genoa and Barcelona butby the end of the year the ship was out ofservice and was anchored in Greece.During this time the ship changed own-ership several times. In 1980 its newowners named it Noga. Then in 1984 itwas sold again and named Alferdoss. Af-ter a botched business deal to sell the shipfor scrap, it was sold to a Thai companyin 1994. They intended to anchor the shipoff the coast of Phuket and convert it intoa hotel.

The American Star was being towedto Thailand and as the ship approachedthe Canary Islands, inclement weathersettled in causing rough seas. The tow-lines snapped under the stress of the shipbeing tossed side to side. In the earlymorning of January 18, the AmericanStar ran aground on the west coast ofthe island Fuerteventura. The ship brokein two forty-eight hours after it beached.Declared a total loss, it was abandonedto the elements. Worked by the tides,the stern section eventually succumbedto the ocean and submerged completely,but not before locals looted the ship ofall its brass, wood and remaining artwork.

The bow section for years has defi-antly stood against the elements but asrecently as April 2007 the starboard sidecollapsed. The remainder of the ship isslowly sinking and falling into the At-lantic. Despite the towing disaster, theship may have been given an extensionof life. No one will ever know if theAmerican Star would have survived thedevastating tsunami off the coast ofPhuket on December 26, 2004 where itwas to be anchored. While some may seethis as an ignoble end to a great ship, oth-ers may find comfort knowing the fineship that was once the USS West Pointavoided the scrap yards and rests at homein waters where she performed her mostimportant missions, quietly living out herfinal days.

Following are excerpts from the di-ary of my father, Charles J. McCarthy(616-FA-A), April to August 1945.• April 14. The division attacked this

morning. What a day! Still out on theO.P [observation point] — may be re-lieved tomorrow; I hope so. Saw Jinkstoday. He was a worried lad.

• April 15. My first wedding anniver-sary. This morning I laid in a foxholewondering what next year will be like.

• April 16. Had a little peace last nightafter being relieved from the O.P., butthat didn’t last long — at 2315 a callcame in for one officer to go out asF.O. [forward observer]. I’m it. I’msweating it out. I’m now waiting to at-tack. p.s. I received the greatest pieceof advice today of my life. “Stay withthe Company Commander and keeplow.” Lt. Hansen.

• April 17. Attack, attack! All day long!It’s rough going but all is OK up tonow.

• April 21. We’ve been moving prettyfast all day and everyone is about todrop. A few firefights but nothingmuch. Front was bombed by a Heinkle109. Cpl. Ritter was hit by artillery.

• April 23. Moved about 25 mi. or moreto the banks of the Po River. The en-emy is close. Tonight a series of bomb-ings by two Jerry planes. Despite thefact, I wrote two letters tonight bycandle light in a foxhole. Jerry is surelyon the run.

• April 24. Sgt. Mannefeld was killedearly last night by 30 mm. A.A. [anti-aircraft] coming from across the Po.This morning another of our men waskilled. This is the first I’ve heard ofusing small A.A. on personnel. Boxfrom mom and plenty of letters. Can’tanswer tonight.

• April 25. Today we drove to within 20km of Verona. The faster we go thebetter I’ll like it. Tomorrow morning

SOLDIER’S DIARYKaren Woodard (Desc. 616-FA-A)

we’ll see the Alps! The faster we movethe shorter the war. I’ll be seeing you‘Nette.

• April 26. We didn’t get to Verona. Webivouacked on the outskirts. The Alpslook plenty formidable. The plan is togo the Brenner Pass. Tonight we weresupposed to go to Fornace, but hadto go into position south of the river.Rain set in. Wrote to Jeannette andmom and dad.

• April 28. Received orders to report toDivision as Traffic Control Officer —G2. We are now on Lake Garda — it isbeautiful. The villa is new and plentyspacious.

• April 30. Have been pretty busy forthe past day or so. I like this job quitewell but I don’t think it will last long.Biggins got me a Russian 30 cal. au-tomatic today and is going to see abouta P38. Finished the letter to Jeanette.Pretty tired tonight.

• May 2. Was relieved of my job withdivision HQ. It was a good job welldone, so says Col. Irvin. PFC Earl Mills,ASN 37559810, (616-FA-C), pulledthe lanyard on the last round fired inthe Italian Theater at 1845 today. Thewar in Italy is officially finished!

• May 9. Today is VE day! All Germanarmies surrendered and will not fightagain. Now let’s get Japan! We had theday off. Bought ‘Nette and mom somestuff today.

• August 2. We boarded the boat todayat noon. We sail at 1500. GeneralMcNarney gave us a farewell speech.This 10th Mtn. Div. is surely a hot out-fit. We (the WO’s and 2nd Lts) havequarters in the hold! A lovely voyagethis is going to be. Farewell to Italy.

• August 11. Sighted land at 0950. Itsurely looked good. Got off the boatat 1800. Went to Camp Pat. Henry fora good meal with lots of milk. Sent‘Nette a telegram.

The U.S.S. West Point in 1944. Note how the camouflage paint job blends into the wake.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDEDFOR REUNION ACTIVITIES

There are still some National Reunion events that could use some volunteers. If youcan offer your services to any of these events please send an email to the following:• Oral History volunteers: abbiekealy@hotmail.com or

mchofcarmel@sbcglobal.net• Descendant Program volunteers: danwhittemore@comcast.net (Colorado)• Reunion Job volunteers: debvolunteers@comcast.net (Colorado)

IMPORTANT DATE!

NATIONAL REUNIONIN DENVER

AUGUST 2-5, 2007

DESCENDANT BLIZZARD 2007 NUMBER 2PAGE 4

of climbing, they tested all sorts ofthings.” “He’s one of the few guys I re-member,” said Andre Benoit (86-B).As for Snuffy, he taught skiing in As-pen after getting out of the serviceand eventually moved to New England,where he raised two daughters in thehouse he and my grandmother builtwith their own hands. Growing up, I pic-tured him almost like a character inone of his cartoons. He had that sillyname, and in his pictures, the hulking,strong body and dimpled smile. But Inever knew much else about the manbehind that grin.

After talking to the 10th veterans thatweek, I realized they have a humility and

reservation about their past, too. It’s anunspoken authenticity that would be nomore obvious if they wore a badge ontheir forehead. I’d like to think Snuffywas just like them, a man among legends.As I watched those graying men maketheir graceful turns down the mountainin front of me, I saw my grandfather forthe first time. It’s good to know Snuffy.And it’s good to know that, through him,I’ve begun to know myself.

Devon O’Neil is the sports editor ofthe Summit Daily News (Colorado).Devon asks that anyone who knew hisgrandfather Snuffy O’Neil please contacthim at: P.O. Box 1357, Breckenridge, CO80424. Email: doneil@summitdaily.com.

Searching for Snuffy, from page 1

10th Mountain Division Descen-dants, Rocky Mountain Chapter, wouldlike to encourage you to give serious con-sideration to attending the Hale and Fare-well reunion, to be held in our backyardduring the f irst week of August. Wewould love to be your hosts and tourguides! The veterans have said this is thelast reunion they are planning. If youhave been to a 10th reunion before, youknow how special they are, and you won’twant to miss this one! If you haven’t beento one before, this is the last chance youand your children will have to be part ofsuch a unique experience.

In addition to honoring and spend-ing time with our remaining 10th veter-ans, traveling to Camp Hale and the Ten-nessee Pass memorial, viewing exhibitsfrom the Resource Center, rubbing shoul-ders with the 10th Mountain Division re-enactors, and having a room full of quar-termaster items to purchase, we have alsomade a special effort this year to do someadditional planning for descendants in at-tendance. There will be a golf outing, an“after party” for adult descendants fol-lowing the welcome banquet, a dancefollowing the regimental dinners, and anevening in downtown Denver Saturday

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHAPTERKate Raabe (Desc. 86-MED)

night, including multiple restaurant andentertainment options and a trip on ournew light rail rapid transit system. Othertours can be arranged as well.

Bring your family and make this partof your summer vacation! There is a fabu-lous children’s registration price of only$90! Spend some additional time in col-orful Colorado either before or after thereunion to appreciate the Rocky Moun-tains and explore the many sightseeingopportunities available for visitors to ourtourist-friendly state. The nightly roomrate at the headquarters hotel is only $59plus tax! And, although you will note thatthe registration materials states that thereunion registration cost jumps after June2, we have been able to extend the baserate up until July 2nd. There is still timeto send in your registration at either price!Do it now! Please join us for this not-to-be missed opportunity.

For a copy of the registration form,go to the News and Events section ofthe 10th Mountain Division website, atwww.10thmtndivassoc.org. If you needadditional information, contact DonPalmer at 303-847-6747, dhpalmer@aol.com; or Debbie Gemar at 303-513-0093, debbiegemar@hotmail.com.

The annual Riva Ridge/BelvedereDay Luncheon was held Saturday, Feb-ruary 24th, in Laguna Hills, CA. It wasa nice day for veterans, descendants, andguests in attendance. The luncheon waspreceded by a meeting of the SouthernCalifornia Association Chapter veterans.Howard Harvey (86-I, 86-M), filled inas MC for SC President Howard Koch(86-C). A special thank you was givento Diane (Desc. 85-C), Milt and JasonFisher for design and publication ofthe Southern California Chapter “Ruck-sack.” It is a very nice newsletter!

Following the luncheon a discussionwas held regarding the Chapter Director

SOUTHERNCALIFORNIA CHAPTER

Val Rios (Desc. 87-K)vacancy, and with the support of des-cendants present, Mary Roddick Ghan(Desc. 85-K), was elected Chapter Di-rector. Descendant President Val Riosshared information regarding the De-scendant Action Plan and how this planwill focus on preserving the legacy of the10th Mountain Division WWII veterans.Everyone was encouraged to attend theupcoming Denver Reunion.

In attendance were descendants,Greta and Cade Meyerhof, Cyndi RipleyTrue, Diane, Jason and Milt Fisher,Pamela Mason Wagner, Kathleen FinnJones, Mark Wenger, Mary RoddickGhan, and Val Rios.

On Sunday, March 24, 2007, appro-ximately 80 people gathered at BorealRidge for the annual 10th MountainDivision Biathlon sponsored by theSierra Nevada Chapter. The day wasabsolutely beautiful. This year therewere 63 contestants in the various divi-sions. There was even one descendantwho participated in the event, ConradRios (Desc. 87-K), and while I won’t

2007 TENTH MOUNTAINDIVISION BIATHLON

Val Rios (Desc. 87-K)

say where he placed out of the 63 con-testants, I can tell you that he hit all histargets in the shooting portion of theBiathlon.

Special thanks go to CheltonLeonard (86-E) who is the event coor-dinator. Thanks go also to the Auburn SkiClub. Members of their club take care ofall the management details for the event.They are an awesome group!

Front row, l to r: Val Rios, Greta and Cade Meyerhof, Cyndi Ripley True, DianeFisher, Pamela Mason Wagner, Kathleen Finn Jones. Back row: Jason & Milt Fisher,

Rick Clark, Mark Wenger, Mary Roddick Ghan.

L to R: Chuck Hardesty, Cruz Rios, Val Rios, Dominic Rios, Jacob Rios

SIERRA NEVADA CHAPTERDescendants at Sierra Nevada Annual Picnic

L to r: Paul and Diane Harpainter, Samantha Gruys, Ellen Davison, Myrna Hampton,Dave Burdick, Val Rios, Matt Harpainter.

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 9BLIZZARD

FOR THE 10TH REUNION YOUWILL NOT WANT TO BE WITHOUT:

Blazer patches for your Class A’s: $10.0010th Mountain Division Neckties: $45.00Short-sleeved Golf Shirts with 10th logo: $25.00Golf Caps with 10th logo: $15.00

Quartermaster – Frank Thornton (Descendant)

Place your orders with your 10th Quartermaster Frank Thornton.Email: patfrank4@verizon.net • Phone: 610-667-2911

12 Maple Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Pick up your copy of the DVD of “The Last Ridge,” Abbie Kealy’ssuperb documentary on the 10th Mountain Division now showing onPBS stations. DVD: $20.00

See QM CATALOGUE on 10th website: www.10thmtndivassoc.org

We were loaded on trucks at the re-placement depot outside of Pisa just af-ter President Roosevelt died. I recognizedthe 10th Mountain I.D. on the bumper,so I knew I wouldn’t be an orphan any-more. The trucks took the switch-backroads with engineers’ tape just beyondthe wheels and signs indicating minesbeyond the tape. We were dropped offnear a small mountain. The first sergeanttold the eight of us “Dig in and be quietbecause the Germans are very close tous.” Digging in was four inches of dirtand 400 feet of rock. We ended up sleep-ing near a parked vehicle. We were with85-HQ-2 in a heavy weapons platoonwith 37 mm and 50 caliber guns. I neversaw either in basic training. The men inthe platoon were underwhelmed to seeus and said, “Here are our replacementsand they are going to get us killed.” Whata greeting! Our platoon was attached toa different line company almost everyday. I was ammo bearer to both machinegun and cannon. The men saw that theydidn’t die so we were OK.

We raced through the Po Valley. Weended our advance in Malcesine just be-fore the Nazis blew up the tunnels. Therewe stayed until the war ended in Italy onMay 2nd. We then moved to occupationduty on the Yugoslavian border. I becamea clerk-typist for our platoon leader be-cause I was the only person to raise myhand when he asked if anyone knew howto type. I had this job until we wereloaded on trucks to go somewhere — wedidn’t know where. I was on the last ofthe trucks, the dustiest place to be. Westopped in a mountain village with a vinojoint in the town square. Needless tosay, every bottle of vino came off theshelves. At Florence a group of us weresent out on a detail. When we returned,everyone else was gone, cleared out. Wewere left behind.

A few days later we were put aboarda troop train headed south. As the traincame to a high hill we had to disembark,help push the train to the top of thehill, and then reboard. This went on fora couple of days and everyone was filthydirty and very tired. In a rail yard inNaples, all of our duffle bags were piled

NO SOLDIER SHOULD BELEFT BEHIND

Jacob Pollack (85-HQ -2)at one end of each rail car. When weawoke, every duffle bag had been stolen.The only thing I owned was the filthyuniform I had on. I was issued new un-derwear and a clean uniform — that wasit.

I was taken to an airfield to board aB-17 bomber. There were 20 GIs to abomber. The bomb racks were removedand canvas benches were installed oneach side of the fuselage. I could go tothe plexiglas nose cone. The feeling waslike floating on air with an unobstructedview. We flew to Port Lyautey in NorthAfrica and were assigned to tents for afew days. One or two GI’s had to taketurns staying in the tents because the na-tives would take anything that wasn’tbeing watched.

My turn came to fly to Dakar. We keptcircling the field at Dakar, and finallylanded and coasted to the other end ofthe runway. We knew there was a prob-lem because crash trucks lined the run-way. The hydraulic system on the C-54was out. The plane was repaired and weflew across the Atlantic to Natal, Brazil.

At Natal I was issued a new uniform.We next flew in C-47s along the coast ofBrazil to British Guinea and then islandhopped through the Caribbean. At a stopwe were given a sheet saying that a bigbomb was dropped — so many thousandtons of TNT. On the last leg I told thepilot that my brother was a C-47 pilot. Itturned out that he and my brother gradu-ated together. We landed in Miami andall the ice cream and donuts we couldeat were waiting for us.

A troop train took us to Camp Blan-ding, FL. After some physicals andshowers, we boarded another troop trainto Ft. Sheridan. The second bomb wasdropped and we all waited near radiosin anticipation of the war ending. I gotmy furlough papers on V-J Day. Mygirl friend, now my wife of almost 60years joined me. At Ft. Sheridan I was aclerk-typist writing discharge papers formany of the men from the 10th Moun-tain Division.

That is the story of my exodus fromItaly. It is still very vivid even after allthese years.

RETURN TO ITALY 2009Following is a letter to John Duffy from Fabrizio Giannozzi of the Florence U.S. Consu-late, who is involved in Political and Economic matters for our Consul General. AmongFabrizio’s duties are to organize and arrange the Memorial Day ceremony at the Flo-rence American cemetery. His kind offer to encourage Italian Youth groups to join andparticipate in our 2009 Return-to-Italy ceremony is a wonderful step toward enhancingthe enduring friendships we have achieved with the Italians.

Thank you so much for thinking of us and sharing the Blizzard with us. It was anhonor to be a part of your visit to Italy, to meet some of the members of your distin-guished organization and to exchange thoughts and experiences with you all.

I have to confess that the dedication the 10th Mountain Division has shown tothe United States and to my country, then and now, truly moves me.

It is wonderful to know that you plan to return to Italy in 2009. We are alreadylooking forward to seeing you. In fact, I was thinking we could give your next visita new meaning if we organized a meeting occasion with Italian youth groups. If youlike the idea, let us discuss it when you come on the advance tour. As you said, wedo this mainly for the young ones nowadays.

Sincerely and with affection,

Fabrizio Giannozzi, Florence USA Consulate

American and Italian students meet during the 2006 Sempre Italia tour.

It’s easy. Go to the web site, www.10thmtndivdesc.org, and click onDescendant Application Form.

JOIN THE 10TH MOUNTAINDIVISION DESCENDANTS

BLIZZARD SCHEDULE

SEND MATERIALS TO:Sally Fricke Oesterling, Editor • 9700 Cottrell Terrace, Silver Spring, MD 20903

Fax: (301) 434-7722 • email: sallyoes@verizon.net

Issue No. Period covered Articles deadline

1 September 06-January 07 January 1

2 February-June May 1

3 July-December October 15

COMPLETE ASSOCIATION ROSTERFOR SALE AT NATIONAL REUNION

Association Roster 1955 to 2007, by Barbara and John Imbrie (85-C), and JohnEngle (87-L, 86-G), lists over 8,000 men who joined the National Association ofthe 10th Mountain Division at any time, and the principal units in which they served.

VISIT THE QUARTERMASTER SUITEAT THE NATIONAL REUNION

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 10

On Saturday, May 12th, the SierraNevada Chapter held its annual picnic onthe grounds of Sebastiani Vineyards andWinery located in Sonoma, California.The event was hosted by Chapter Presi-dent Bob Yank (85-K) and his lovelywife Grace. Those in attendance broughtsnacks to share and there were plenty ofgood eats to go around. Bob Yank sharedinformation regarding the upcomingDenver Reunion, encouraging everyoneto attend if at all possible. Bob and Gracealso spoke about the Chapter “Adopt-A-

SIERRA NEVADAVal Rios (Desc. 87-K)

Platoon” project and how much the 10thLight soldiers have appreciated theirgift packages. Mention was also madeof the recent passing of Vice PresidentTom Curtis (87-A). Descendant Presi-dent Val Rios gave an update of the 2007Biathlon held at Boreal Ridge. He alsobriefly spoke about the Descendant Ac-tion Plan, which will help ensure thelegacy of the WWII 10th Mountain Di-vision veterans. Despite a mild chillingwind it was a beautiful day and everyonehad a good time!

The Midwest chapter celebrated Mt.Belvedere Day on February 17 for theChicago area at Bloomingdale Golf Cluband for the Southeast at General ButlerState Park in Carrolton, KY. Fifty peopleattended at Bloomingdale. DescendantsJohn and Patty LaRocca (Dick Soutar,616-HQ) made the arrangements forthe luncheon. The Chicago meeting wasconducted by descendants Carl Nawrotand Jerry Jurina. An Elvis impersonatorprovided entertainment at the Chicagomeeting.

Members were saddened by the re-cent death of Martin Bockelmann (126-A) who had been very active over theyears.

Ten attended in Carollton, Ky where12 had to cancel due to severe weatherconditions. Don Steffen (604-A) coor-dinated the Kentucky meeting. DoloresKuper, wife of Maurice (616-HQ) at-tended with daughter Julie Fuhs andgrandson Grant. Clara and Ken Speedy

MIDWESTKen Hanson (85-MED-2)

(87-SVC, 87-HQ-3) came with theirdaughter and son-in-law Shirley andSteve Shields. The group plans to meetagain, same time, same place, on Febru-ary 16, 2008.

The annual spring luncheon in theChicago area May 6 was held at Diplo-mat West Banquets in Elmhurst, IL,with preparations made by Desc. JaniceFuglsang. Desc. Chapter PresidentPatty LaRocca reported on our Adopt-a-Platoon, 642nd En CO group fromFt. Drum, and displayed photos re-ceived from the platoon. There were 45Midwest family in attendance. Plannersfor the 2007 Midwest Reunion, Desc.Sharon Green and her dad Jake Pollack(85-HQ-2) reported on the final reunionplans for June 11-14 in Springfield,IL. Highlights of the reunion will bevisits to the Abraham Lincoln Mu-seum, Lincoln’s home, tomb and warmemorial, and to Salem, where he livedin earlier years.

Belvedere Day is celebrated on bothCoasts of Florida. On the West Coast, BillDyer (87-E ) moved the annual boat rideat Sarasota to dry land due to the un-steady sea legs of some guests. On theEast Coast, Caroline and George Rosen-field’s (85-E) open house in Melbournehas become a tradition. They were as-sisted by son Andy (Desc) and grandsonJared. Temperatures around 50 degreesdrove everyone inside. (Yeah! That’s coldin Florida.) Helen and Bud Wiley (85-C) and Pat and John Benson (87-G)came to enjoy the camaraderie and bar-becue. Don Montgomery (85-F) broughtJohn Lapak to listen to 10th Mountainwar stories. Art Brodeur (87-M) andVince Staknis (86-E) told tales of the10th in Italy, Bill Stewart (10th Infan-try) regaled them with stories of life inGermany during the Cold War. SamSomers (10th Light) entertained withaccounts of the division at Fort Drumfrom 1998 to 2002. Aniceta Staknis,Christina Somers and Carol Zelina lis-tened tolerantly: they heard it all before.

Southern hospitality was upheld atGreenville, South Carolina for springbreak on April 27th and 28th. Ed VanRomer (87-I) usually hosts the reunion,but he was hospitalized. Coness Gillespiereplaced Ed, and did a superb job assistedby Jewel and Charlie Hunt (86-C).Charlie displayed his ski trooper carv-ings and 10th Mountain notebooks.

Barbara and Wally Moore (86-H)have missed the last few spring breaks,but happily they were able to come thisyear. Barbara’s sister Teddie DeLonyand husband John joined them. DickHawkins’ (85-L) wife Billie passed awayin December and is remembered fondlyby the chapter members. Dick and Billiewere very active in the chapter and at-tended several national reunions.

The hospitality room draws the mem-bers like an ice cream parlor draws kids.Chairman Emeritus Paul Gunderman(605-Med) was there with Dolores. Maryand Bill Weber (616-HQ) came fromNew Port Richey, Florida. While Bill hasslowed a bit, Mary is as lively as ever.Caroline and George Rosenfield (85-E)drove from Melbourne, Florida. En route,Carol and I met them in Georgia for sup-per. Chatting with the group was Joe Annand “Mo” Hallgren (85-C). They had re-located to Texas, but their hearts are withthe Southeast Chapter. Mary and GlenRobinson(87-M) discovered the Asso-ciation a few years ago while watching aPBS special on the 10th. They plan toattend every chapter and national func-tion they possibly can. Gerd and GeorgeDe Salvio (85-E) enjoyed the chapter’sSouthern hospitality.

During one of the nightly HappyHours in the lobby, some lovely youngwomen in evening gowns escorted byROTC cadets passed through. One of thecadets had a 10th Mountain patch on his

SOUTHEAST CHAPTERRay Zelina (605-A)

right sleeve and was mobbed by the vet-erans. Chris Yankow had two tours inAfghanistan with the 10th and was at-tending Furman University on his wayto a commission. He was invited to ourfinal banquet. Supper that evening waslike old times with “Speed” Murphy(85-G) telling jokes and Harry Coleman(86-B) trying to top him. LorraineColeman, as she has always done, justrolls her eyes.

Chapter President Al Partridge (86-A)took a fall on Friday and bruised his ribs,but like a good trooper, he reported for dutyon Saturday and with the help of Cindypresided at the meeting. The membersvoted to hold only one major meeting ayear. Officers for the new fiscal year areEd Van Romer-President; Ray Zelina-VicePresident and Charlie Hunt-Treasurer. SamMorrison (87-HQ-3) from the Metropoli-tan New York Chapter donated two toybears for a raffle won by Louise Conwayand Mary Weber. Harry Coleman reportedthat Ed Van Romer has purchased over3,500 bathrobes and 10th Mountain patcheswith his own funds for wounded veteransin military hospitals. Contributions to helpdefray Ed’s expenses should be sent to MikePlummer, 121 Paddock Street, Watertown,NY 13601. “Robe Donation” must benoted on the check.

Swelling the ranks at the final ban-quet were Patty and Gerald Coleman(Desc). Jack Conway (85-A) broughtClay Conway (Desc) and Brent Conway(Desc) with his fiancee Hollye. RubenMobley (87-G) brought Harold andEugenia Everrett. Ed Van Romer’s ab-sence was noted with an American flagand an MIA patch at his place setting.George Rosenfield received the Distin-guished Service Award and Carolyn theMeritorious Service Award for hostingBelvedere Day Celebrations at theirhome for many years. For their memo-rable Belvedere Day Celebrations in NewPort Richey, Bill Weber was awarded theDistinguished Service Award and Marythe Meritorious Service Award. JackConway received the Distinguished Ser-vice Award for his many years of loyalchapter support. Bernice Detwiler (W)and Joann Shahan (Desc) drive fromOhio to attend the chapter functionsand deserve their Meritorious ServiceAwards. Cadet Chris Yankow was ap-plauded for his service in Afghanistanwith the 10th. Mary Weber was so takenby the handsome young cadet that shetold him her age. She never tells that toanyone. A very special thanks to Conessfor her able handling of the reunion. She’sa real 10th trooper.

Eileen Joy writes that Eben (87-B&D) is 94 years old, but still tries tokeep up with the 10th. They live in NewPhiladelphia, Ohio. In my files, I have apicture of Eileen, with Billie Hawkinsand Carol taken at Sun Valley. Enjoy thesummer and see you in Denver.

Sierra Nevada Annual Picnic. Front row, l to r: Bob Yank, Ted Lewis, Bill Cullen.Back row, l to r: Cruz Rios, Gerry Cullinane, Andrew Kadie, Bruno Ghiringhelli,

Ted Harpainter, Clyde Carbonneau, Meryl Baxter, Art Schimke.

10th COLD WAR VETERANSThe Association seeks to expand its membership to include veterans who

served in the 10th Infantry Division during the Cold War (1948-58). Thiswill enable them to meet with their Cold War comrades, with WWII veteransof the 10th Mountain Division, and with members of the modern 10th Moun-tain Division (Lt). Please contact: National Association of the 10th MountainDivision, Attn: John Duffy, P.O. Box 750888, Forest Hills, NY 11375-0888;e-mail: j.j.Duffy@worldnet.att.net. Send articles, photographs and notices tothe Editor for publication in the Blizzard.

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 11BLIZZARD

Our own Ed Flabetich (86-A) wasrecently featured in the spring editionof The University of Portland Maga-zine. Ed’s wife Connie was also recog-nized in the article as the first womanenrolled when the University went coed.Ed is one of a group of men who haveconnections to the University who meeteach month to talk about the school andwhat used to be the old section of Port-land in their boyhood.

Our chapter recently sent two morelarge boxes containing candy, soap, andreading materials to our Adopted pla-toon, serving in Afghanistan.

Quarterly Pick and Plant Party. On

NORTHWESTSarah Wickenhagen

February 3, the day started out wet andcold, but 29 stalwarts were undaunted.The gang filled 25 litterbags with dis-carded McDonald’s cups, beer cans, andnuts and bolts from passing trucks andcars. The second job was planting the“Giant Sequoia” for Betty Wieprecht,wife of Harvey (86-F). Betty died inDecember.

The Oregon Department of Trans-portation has awarded our partici-pation in the Clean-Highway Programwith a Certif icate of Appreciationaward. Thanks again to our partici-pants. Jim Bray (87-K), Pick and PlantCoordinator.

Very few accounts of the lighter mo-ments of the “Kiska Campaign” haveappeared in the Blizzard. There weresuch moments. Perhaps some who werethere can pass on their stories to those ofthe 10th who missed out on that trip. Mystay on the island was short; after just afew weeks I was transferred out of 87-Gand sent back on a slow boat to join theMountain Training Group forming atCamp Hale.

As most will remember, the 87thfound no Japs on Kiska. The rest of theTask Force, unneeded there, sailed backto the States, taking most of the groceryprovisions with them. We were left withour K Rations but not much else. How-ever, the little pools, scattered alongstreams that flowed down into the ocean,contained a goodly quantity of salmon.Salmon are good to eat, but first one hasto catch them. Several methods wereemployed in the fishing that took place.If a salmon was close to the surface, theimpact of a bullet or two on the watersometimes stunned the fish for a fewmoments. A Bowie knife tied to a stickor pole — if you could find one as thereare no trees or large bushes on Kiska -made a spear. But a spear of this sort hadno barbs to help retrieve the fish if youraim was good. A concussion grenadetossed into the water near the fish oftenput a good supply of salmon on the menu.

There was quite a bit of wildlifearound that helped keep things interest-ing between the frequent violent windgusts, the “willa-waws”. The blue foxesthat had been brought to Kiska and raisedfor fur by the Aleuts or Russians earlierwere sometimes very tame and wouldoften come up close, looking for a treat.The ravens were also fun to watch as theyplayed King-of-the Mountain on the tele-

LIGHTER MOMENTSON KISKA

Fred Cowan (87-G)

phone poles that had been set up. Theravens also played at bombing others,carrying rocks or seashells up into theair to drop on others on the ground.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that for a brieftime there was a wind-powered electricgenerator operating on Kiska. It was lo-cated at an outpost near the northwest-erly corner of the island. Someone haddriven one of the weasels over some sortof small mine. The explosion had ruinedthe tracks and about everything else.Somehow, the driver had escaped with-out serious injury, but the machine ap-peared to have been abandoned. Withlittle else to amuse ourselves, we lookedover the ruins and discovered that thegenerator seemed to be intact as was oneof the headlights. There was also a smallkit of tools inside. We gathered up a stoutwooden post, some boards, and otherodds and ends and mostly using ourBowie knives, fashioned it all into a smallwindmill. We removed the generator, theheadlight, the fan belt, some pulleys, anda quantity of wire from the weasel. Thegenerator was mounted where it could beturned by the fan belt from the windmill.The salvaged wires led to the headlight,now located within our shelter.

All we needed now was a breeze.What we got was one of those famousAleutian willa-waws, a gust of wind ofperhaps seventy or eighty miles per hour.Our light came on. It shone brightly fora couple of minutes, then a bright flashwas followed by darkness. We had notsalvaged the voltage regulator, whichmight have handled the current devel-oped by that gust of wind. The trip backto Seattle began the next day with thebunch that was to be the MTG, and Inever found out if anyone else had wind-powered lights on Kiska.

We had a great turnout of veterans,descendants, and guests for our annualRiva Ridge/Belvedere Day on February24th. Our thanks to Warren Asa (86-G)for an inspirational invocation precedingour lunch at the Holiday Inn. Two of ourregulars were missed — Erich Wittig(86-B) was suffering from too much Ha-waii, although Janet was present assist-ing with registration, and Eric Cromie(85-C) was hospitalized after a bad fall.Howard also mentioned the recent pass-ing of associate Milan Kutin.

Acknowledgement and thanks weregiven to descendants Diane, Milt, andJason Fisher for their design and publi-cation of our new “Rucksack” and alsoto Kathy Loewy (spouse 86-B) for act-ing as our Secretary and Treasurer (inErich’s absence).

The By-Laws were discussed, witha proposed conclusion by the majoritythat would allow descendants and 10thLight members to hold office and vote.Associates and Friends of the 10th couldjoin the Chapter, but would be unable tovote or hold office. The matter wouldprobably be resolved at the National Re-union in Denver.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIABruce Campbell (86-I, 86-M), editorwith notes from Cyndi True (Desc.)

Val Rios (Desc. 87-K), President ofDescendants, Inc., spoke about the De-scendant Action Plan that is focussed onpreserving the Legacy of the 10th Moun-tain Division. Before closing the meet-ing I called on Kathy Loewy to announcea surprise gift to our chapter — a won-derful painting created by our formermember, Don Forker (86-B), whichKathy had won at a luncheon raffle yearsago. The painting is of Camp Hale, Win-ter ’43 (without the smoke!). This paint-ing will be donated to the 10th MountainDivision Resource Center in the name ofthe Southern California Chapter.

Following the meeting, copies of the“Songs of the 10th Mountain Division,”originally generated at the 30th Anniver-sary reunion in 1972, were handed out.For our entertainment, Howard Harvey(87-HQ) presented two videos. The firstwas the spot from NBC during the Win-ter Olympics highlighting the 10thMountain Division with commentaryfrom several veterans including HowardKoch (86-C). The second video wasan amusing John Jay vintage ski filmcomplete with John Jay’s trademark wittynarration.

Southern California Belvedere Day luncheon. Left to right: Warren Asa, JuliusWenger, Keith McKinney, Jim Fetzer, Howard Harvey, Bob Greider, Bruce

Campbell, Cruz Rios, Robert Meyerhof.

As reported in the Syracuse, NY Post Stan-dard, August, 1993.

On August 13, 1993, ten 10th veter-ans and 2 Japanese veterans landedon the beach that Allied troops hadstormed 50 years earlier. They rangedin age from 70 to 80 years and carriedcameras rather than rifles. This time,

KISKA, 50 YEARS LATER

Kiska comrades. L. to R. Back row: Karl Stingl, Karl Kasukabe, Jim Belcher, EugeneWinters, John McLellan, Art Delaney, Tom Stewart, Sherman Smith. Kneeling in

front, l to r: Alan Orler, George Earle, Dick Powers. Not pictured, Toyotaro Sugano.

former enemies came to share experi-ences and honor their dead. They re-claimed their old foxholes, examinedrusty shore guns and a mini-subma-rine, skirted around stacks of live, un-stable ammunition, and held a jointmemorial ceremony to honor the deadon both sides.

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 12

started with a tutorial and slide presen-tation on how the Swiss were preparedto defend their four borders from inva-sion during WWII. Following this lecturewe toured an area in the nearby moun-tains where the country had set up anti-tank defenses. Our guide pointed outvarious cement casings remaining in thewoods. The afternoon program was moretours and lectures on the region.

The following morning we visited aSwiss Army camp for a very interestingdemonstration of a rescue exercise fol-lowing a simulated helicopter crash inmountainous terrain. Once the site waslocated, the medical evacuation teamdemonstrated their ground and air effortsto care for the injured personnel. Joiningus was the U.S. Military Attaché, USArmy Col. Dorothea Erickson, stationedin Bern Switzerland. She was given a10-minute briefing about the 10th Moun-tain Division during WWII. Our grouplunched at the Swiss Army barracks.

The final day of the Congress con-sisted of more meetings, speeches, clos-ing ceremonies and a final dinner. OurSwiss hosts were marvelous and I appre-ciated the assistance they afforded thevisitors from the USA.

Sempre Avanti.

Eighty Delegates from 9 nations gath-ered in Thun, Switzerland on September19 for the four-day Congress hosted bythe Switzerland International Federationof Mountain Soldiers (IFMS) organiza-tion. The delegation from the UnitedStates consisted of Sally and Newc El-dredge (85-M), Bert Anger (86-A) andIrene and myself. I am pleased that eachdelegation has only one vote as we wereoutnumbered by the Spanish delegationnumbering 20 delegates. We presentedand discussed the papers that each del-egation submitted on the topic “LessonsLearned from Experiences in FightingBattles in Mountainous Regions.” TheCongress elected a new Secretary Gen-eral from Spain, Brig. General Jaime CollBenejam, succeeding Switzerland’s HansPeter Walker who served two three-yearterms. Next year’s Congress will takeplace in September and will be hostedby the Polish delegation.

Upon arrival, the delegates met forthree hours of discussions in the fourapproved languages: German, French,Spanish and English. I was able to getthe gist of the translations. The groupacknowledged the United States hostingof last year’s XX Congress in Stowe VTwith a round of applause. The next day

XXI IFMS CONGRESSREPORT

By John Duffy (86-HQ-2)

Opening ceremony of XXI Congress of the International Federation of MountainSoldiers (IFMS) at Gwatt, Switzerland. Delegates of the eight member nations dis-

played their flags as a band played each country’s national anthem.

Succession ceremony. Switzerland Gen. Christian Josi presents the IFMS plaqueto the newly-elected Secretary General of the IFMS, Brig. General Jaime Coll

Benejam of Spain. Retiring Secretary General Dr. Hans–Peter Walker ofSwitzerland (far right) looks on.

Farewell Banquet and exchange of gifts ceremony. Gen. Christian Josi presents amember of each country’s delegation with a Swiss Lantern on behalf of the host

country. At far left is U.S. delegate John Duffy.

The Spanish Delegation to the XXI IFMS Congress.

A tour of Switzerland’s World War II mountain defense line, showing the concretetriangular barriers erected on the four borders of Switzerland to avoid motorized

armor invasions during the European conflict.

Memorial Service at the WWI and WWII cemetery in Thun, Switzerland, thecountry’s oldest church yard. Attendees observed the formal wreath laying fromthe church’s front entrance. Seated L to R are members of the U.S. delegation:

Newc and Sally Eldredge and Irene Duffy.

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 13BLIZZARD

The Sempre Italia tour pictures in thespecial edition of the Blizzard broughtback many memories. I fortunately trav-eled (fought) from our first line assign-ment (86-F) in January 1945, until push-ing through the last tunnel to the northend of Lake Garda and the end of the warin Europe. On the way, F. Co. was as-signed the last German outpost on RivaRidge. A group of us motored to the topof the Ridge during the 1988 tour.

I remember the Club Trianon ball-room in Montecatini on R & R. The mostfun was watching the newcomers dropto the floor from the popping of cham-pagne corks.

We crossed the Po on a DUKW andmoved into Verona on a tank to secure abridge. The Germans destroyed it before

LIKE BEING THERE AGAINHal (Harry) Willits (86-F)

we arrived. At the south end of LakeGarda approaching tunnel No.1 we werepinned down by a machine gun firingfrom the ridge above the tunnel. Afterthe area was secured we were transportedup the lake by DUKWS to the last tun-nel where we waited until our planesforced the Germans back into the hillsnorth of Lake Garda. When the warended, 86-F was trucked to Udine. Agroup of us were sent to Glocknerhausin Austria to lay out ice climbing courses.I made several climbs, but was calledback to Udine to participate in a musicalvariety show to entertain the troops pass-ing through. This was also cut short. Soonwe were ordered back to the states. I waspassing through Denver on a train whenthe war ended.

MORE ON THE “PIN”Ed. note. In the Blizzard 2006 No. 1, a Mail Call item from William Kohn (86-F) askedfor identification of this pin. There were responses from Max Womack, Rod Vitty andMike Myers in recent Blizzards. Below is another letter about the pin.

Concerning the pin. I believe it would have beenpurchased from a store on the Company grounds inGermany, not the PX. This type of store was runand operated by local merchants, as a private con-cession, with no connection to the 10th. I have a tieclasp with the 10th on it. I also was issued a patchsimilar to the pin. The patch would have come fromthe 10th. Best of luck.

Armand Arsenault, 127 Avenue Ambassador, Pointe-Claire (Quebec) H9R 1S7

U.S.S. WEST POINTRe: Photo of the U.S.S. West Point in the Descendant Blizzard, 2007 No. 1, page

3. Good to see a picture of the “Old Lady.” I was First Sergeant of 85-F and sailedoverseas on the West Point. 85-F and 87-F drew MP duty on the trip. We were on thefirst deck above water level, about 8 to a room. I got very seasick, as it was a veryrough trip, so I would put on an MP Band and I’d be able to go anywhere. The sunfelt good, as the whole trip was a complete blackout.

There were so many on the ship that we got only two meals a day. The kitchennever closed. Our biggest problem was keeping the G.I.s and nurses apart!

William Ballek (85-F)

IT’S BOBMEYERHOF!

Re: Blizzard 2007 (1),page 14. The man receivinghis commemorative cap fromMayor Polmonari in Lizzanoduring the Sempre Italia Touris actually Bob Meyerhof(86-MED-I).

“SOLDIERS ON SKIS” EXHIBITFollowing are some notes from visitors to the Colorado Historical Society’s Soldiers onSkis Exhibit.

I was in the 10th Mountain Division (Light) from 1994 to 1996. I would justlike to say thank you to the 10th Mountain Division WWII veterans for all thatthey did. I am very proud to have followed in their footsteps. “Climb to Glory.”SPC Gregory Long.

Thank you for giving us the freedom in WWII. Grazie. P.S. My grandmotherused to iron the shirts for the U.S. Army, in Italy. My mom was cured from aninfection by a U.S. doctor. Maria Giulio,Venice, Italy.

As a Colorado Mountain pilot, been flying over Camp Hale for over 33 years.The low route between Leadville and Eagle. Every time passing over CampHale I think about the 10th Mountain Division, what they did for this country dur-ing WWII. Our many thanks to these men in winning the war to keep us free.Unsigned

In 2001, our family and 3 other veterans, engineers who built the tramway,went to Italy and placed a bronze commemorative plaque on the tramway’s anchorrock. Thank you for including a photo of this engineering feat in the exhibit.Brenda Bailey Little.

My son is a member of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), stationed atFt. Carson. He recently completed cold weather training. He was able to meetmembers of the original 10th at a respite in Breckenridge. He is greatly impressedby the toughness and resilience of those troopers, especially after having weatheredmultiple nights with “modern” equipment. He could only imagine what it waslike for those rugged men in the 1940s. He is proud to be following the 10th’s tra-dition. Unsigned.

LETTERS FROM ITALY

To Irene and John Duffy

I just received your special edition of the SEMPRE ITALIA TOUR. What amagnificent product, and what a treasure of memories for you all. I will put it intothe TAA archive section at the office. I am delighted to have been able to meet youand hope that we’ll do it all once again on the next time around for your trip.

Fondly,

Lynn WiechmannTuscany-American Association (TAA), Florence, Italy

Excerpts from a Letter to Bryan Pullen and John Duffy

We are Federica and Ennio Cavaletti. We had the lucky chance to run intoyour group last June in Gargnano. When we met you we had the chance to talkabout your tour, Italian lakes and Italian beauties in general, and WWII. Every-thing was very interesting, and for us, unusual. We remember with joy thosenice moments and happened to recall them just a couple of weeks ago. So youcan imagine how amazed we were when yesterday we received your wonder-ful publication on the tour! We looked at the pictures trying to figure out thepersons we talked with, then we read some lines to better understand how thetour was organized and which of the mentioned places were known by us. Wethank you very much for your gift and really feel and appreciate your spiritand sense of friendships, also mentioned in the cover article, and nice wordson Italy scattered in many pages. We really do hope you will have furtheroccasions — and not only the occasion of your already-planned 2009 tour — tovisit Italy.

Thanks a lot again. Cheers.

Ennio e Federica, Monza, Italy

To John J. Duffy

Thank you very much for your kind letter of January 23rd, and the enclosedspecial edition of the Blizzard. I was very pleased that you remembered me. Iread the report with large interest and admiration for the great success of yourItalia tour. I was very astonished about the great number of descendant partici-pants. This is a proof that the famous 10th Mountain Division will survive. Regard-ing my situation, I live since four and one half years together with my wife ina home for senior people in the vicinity of Salzburg. I am 92, my wife 90.

Cordially,

Werner Daumiller, Salzburg, Germany

Ed. note: German General Werner Daumiller is a founding member of the InternationalFederation of Mountain Soldiers (IFMS).

To John Duffy

I have received your letter of December18, 2006. It is a pleasure to hear fromyou and the 10th Mountain Division. I thank you very much for the 2007 Tenthcalendar, and I wish you and your wife and all the members of the Association allthe best of the current year. Looking forward to meeting you and all the friendsagain in 2009.

Sergio PolmonariMayor, Lizzano in Belvedere, Italy

2007 NUMBER 2BLIZZARDPAGE 14

Allen, Robert E. (85-MED), Decem-ber 22, 2006, Portland, OR. He is sur-vived by his wife Jeanne, a son, and adaughter.

Becker, Bernard L.(Barney), (86-HQ,86-G, 90-HQ, 90-K), May 5, 2007, Port-land, OR. He is survived by his wifeMarge, 3 sons, a sister, and 1 grandchild.He was an accountant for SpecialtyWoodworking Co, and a ski instructor atLewis and Clark College.

Berg, Russell W. (Spike) (87-L, 87-G,86-C, 90-L, 86-A), February 28, 2007,Wausau, WI. He is survived by his wifeKatie, a son, a grandson, 2 sisters, andhis nieces and nephews.

Bockelmann, Martin (126-A), February1, 2007, Addison, IL. He is survived byhis wife Luella, a son, 3 daughters, 6grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchil-dren. He was with Elmhurst ChicagoStone Co. until his retirement. He at-tended all National reunions beginningin 1977, and 3 return-to-Italy trips. Hewas an active VFW member at Post 2048,Elmhurst, IL.

Cowan, Caspar F. (87-G, E). December23, 2006, Seattle, WA. He is survived by2 daughters, a son, a brother, a sister, andsix grandchildren. An expert in Mainereal estate law, he authored Maine RealEstate Law and Practice, which becamethe standard text for Maine Real EstatePractitioners.

Curtis, Thomas A. (87-A), February 17,2007, Orinda, CA. Survived by his wifeLeota (Sis), 3 sons, a daughter, a sister,and 10 grandchildren. After a distin-guished career in dentistry, he retired in1991 as a full professor at UCSF DentalSchool.

Devine, William D. (Associate), March27, 2007, Louisville, KY. He is survivedby his wife Mary, a daughter and twograndchildren. He and his brother Mat-thew (85-E) were active members of theMidwest Chapter. He was a retired cap-tain of the Louisville Fire Department.

Farley, Glenn R. (87-K, 90-K, 86-F),April 11, 2007, West Linn, OR. He is sur-vived by 2 sons and 4 grandchildren.Glenn was a former president of theNorthwest Chapter of the National As-sociation of the 10th Mountain Division.

Fox, Grover H. (86-I, 86-K, 86-HQ-3,86-SVC), March 9, 2007, San Marcos,CA. He is survived by his wife Doris, ason, and 3 daughters. He worked in theprinting industry for R. R. Donnelley &Sons, Chicago.

Graham, Roy D. (86-HQ, 86-HQ-1,86-L, 10-HQ, 86-M, 86-G, 86-E),February 15, 2007, Ft. Bragg, CA. He issurvived by his wife Faith.

Halverson, Gerald O. (87-F, 87-HQ-2),Lakewood, CA. He is survived by hiswife Faith and a daughter. He was a cabi-net maker.

Hanzl, Emerick J. (85-L), Clifton, NJ.He was a faithful and supportive mem-ber of the New York Chapter and an avidcollector of Association pins.

Irwin, Robert (Bob) (85-C,), May 16,2007, Rio Verde, AZ. He is survived bya son and a daughter.

Jack, Robert B. (86-B, 86-A), May 15,2007, Iowa City, IA. He is survived byhis wife Clara, 2 sons, a daughter, 7grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren,and a brother. He owned and operatedJack Insurance Agency. With 9 fellowveterans, he helped complete a booktitled, A Full Measure, by Norman Rudi,which described his experiences duringWWII.

Kehr, George W. (602-C, 126-HQ),Hillsdale, NJ. He is survived by his wifePhyllis.

Lauer, Paul E. (Nick) (605-A), August31, 2006, Hamilton, OH. He is survivedby 3 daughters, 2 sons, 12 grandchildren,3 sister, 2 brothers and his nieces andnephews. He was a union bricklayer forover 40 years and later owned his owncompany.

McKinstry, Neal P. (10-AT-A, 10-AT-HQ, 727-A), April 30, 2007, Grand Junc-tion, CO. He is survived by his sister, ason, two grandchildren and a great-grandson. He worked for the Soil Con-servation Service in a number of Colo-rado locations. Upon retirement, he andhis wife raised Arabian horses.

Merritt, Theodore C. (87-HQ-3, 87-K,86-B, 86-E, 90-HQ-3), March 15, 2007,Sarasota, FL. He is survived by 3 sons, adaughter, a brother, a sister, 7 grandchil-dren, 4 great-grandchildren, and manynieces and nephews. He established abrick distributorship in Flemington, NJ,and contributed important innovations tothe brick industry.

Nagle, Kenneth T. (85-M), March 26,2007, Clarksville, VA. He is survivedby his wife Rita, a son, a niece, and anephew. He was Treasurer, James Talcott,New York, NY; CEO U.S. Industries,New York, NY; Assoceates, South Bend,IN; Albuquerque Federal Bank, NM; andConcord Group, Norwalk, CT.

Reynolds, Robert S. (87-HQ, 87-L),March 1, 2006, Hendersonville, NC. Heis survived by his wife Rita.

Schenck, Aaron J. (86-B), April 22,2007, Missoula, MT. He is survived by 4sons, a daughter, a brother, two sisters, 9grandchildren, and 3 great grand chil-dren. He taught high school for 29 yearsin Missoula. He is a former president ofthe Big Sky chapter of the National As-sociation, and created and edited thenewsletter “Mini-Blizzard.”

Snow, Bruce R. (10-HQ, MTC-HQ, 10-QM, 87-F), May 1, 2007, Spokane, WA.He is survived by a sister, 6 daughters,10 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchil-dren. He was a Survival Training Spe-cialist and was instrumental in develop-ing curriculum and training materialsfor the USAF’s Survival School.

Solari, Joseph James (604-MED, 604-VET), December 1, 2006, San Francisco,CA. He is survived by his friend Geor-gina Wearing, a brother, a sister, 4 nieces,a nephew, 10 grand nephews and 4 grandnieces.

Thorn, Walter C. (85-K, MTG, 87-C),April 2, 2007, Gilford, VT. He is survivedby his wife Katherine, 2 sons and 1granddaughter.

Weber, Frederick J. (86-L), May 11,2007, Helena, MT. He is survived by hiswife Phyllis, a daughter, 2 sons, and 6grandchildren. He practiced law in Havrefor 31 years, and in 1980 he was electedto the Montana Supreme Court where heserved for 15 years.

Wilson, Richard M. (85-M, 85-HQ-3,86-H, 86-K, 86-A), April 12, 2007,Eastman, NH. He is survived by a daugh-ter, a sister, and his nieces and neph-ews. He worked in the ski and pu-blishing industries, and public relations.He was assistant national adjutant-public relations for the Disabled Ame-rican Veterans organization from 1972to 1986. He held officer positions in theRocky Mountain, Midwest, and NewEngland chapters of the National Asso-ciation, and had been an editor of theBlizzard.

Zimmerman, Harold C. (Zim) (86-G),March 27, 2007, Lewisburg, PA. He issurvived by his wife Joanne, a daughter,a son, and a brother. He served as seniormerchandise manager at Allied StoresCorp., President of the Allied BuildersClub, and retired in 1985 as GeneralSales Manager of Butter-Krust BakingCo. in Sudbury.

ROY KEVIN ANDREWSI am writing a book about PFC Roy Kevin Andrews (ASN 32807003), born in

1924 in China. I would be interested in hearing from any veterans who knew himand details of the action at Abetaia on February 28, 1945.

He was inducted on February 16, 1943 at the New York City Army inductioncenter. He served with 86-C, 10 Recon, 86-G, 87-K, and 87-HQ. He was awardedthe Bronze Star for participation in combat at Abetaia on February 28, 1945. Afterthe war Kevin went to Harvard, then to Greece during the Civil War there, as ahistorian. He wrote Castles of Morea, a beautiful book on Byzantine castles in thePeloponnese. Later he wrote perhaps the best travel book ever, The Flight of Ikaros.This covers his walks in the mountains among the people in war-torn Greece. Heoften said that he had learned in Italy “never to gain unnecessary height.” Kevindied in 1989.

His mother was Yvette Borup, sister of George Borup, the Arctic explorer. Hisfather is a mystery but could have been Roy Chapman Andrews, also an explorer.

Roger Jinkinson, 55 Warwick Road, London, UK N112SDFrom USA Phone: 00442083500168Email: rjinkin@mac.com

BUDDY HUNTER

PER STOENI write this is on behalf of my friend Tiny McWade(87-HQ-3). Tiny served with Per Stoen at Ft. Lewis,but lost contact with him. Per is Norwegian and lived inBrooklyn, NY. He was married, and Tiny believes hehad one son. Per (at right) was an excellent mountain-eer. Anyone who knew Per, please contact Tiny or me.

Terry Ploot, 118 E. 8th Street, Leadville, CO 80461

Tiny McWade, 79 Schoolhouse Road, Groton,MA 01450 • Phone: 978-448-5779

WALTER W. (BROWNIE) BROWNPFC. Walter W. Brown (“Brownie”), (87-HQ-2), a ski jumper

from Michigan, now 90 years old, served with the 10th Moun-tain Division from May 1942 to November 1945 at Fort Lewis,Camp Hale and Camp Wolters and with F Co. for a short time atCamp Hale. He served in Kiska and Italy. He drove ammunitionto the front lines to H Co. while in the ETO. He speaks of bud-dies Frank Krall, “Red” Williams, Tommie Thompson, Sgt.Sweet, Arthur Bliss, to name a few. I have pictures of “BOB”,“LUKE,” “LARSONS” and a guy called “Willie” Wilson (from Oklahoma), but notmuch information. I’d love to hear from anyone with any information about myfather or these other men. Thank you.

A proud daughter, Susan Brown Johnson, 1700 Cobblestone Lane, Oxford,Michigan 48371 • Email: Litlsisrides@aol.com

Tiny and Per

2007 NUMBER 2 PAGE 15BLIZZARD

— A —

Wayne H. Alberight IIIPhilip Alford, Jr.Claudia AllanLeo D. AmesLouis F. AndersonJohn E. AndrewsTom O. AndrewsDale C. AnthenienPearl C. AnthenienMerrill H. ArchardDavid A. Ayoub, Jr.

— B —

Joseph F. BadamoTerry G. BairdChristine M. BakerWallace I. BarkeenMelvin R. BarrowArthur BartellFernand BaruchAllan F. BeckGeorge B. BeckerShirley BeckishJames J. BelcherSandra BellittoEdith-Adele BellmerRobin BenceNelsen A. BennettAndre E. BenoitAlfred C. BergrenKurt J. BergstromRobert F. BernerAnthony T. Bianca, Sr.Robert C. BilekEmery A. BilodeauPeter H. BinzenColin F. BircumshawLloyd BlackDan BlanusaJohn BoddingtonCarolyn BohmReamer BolzEvelyn BonanJames W. Bormann, Jr.Herbert S. BorstingKarl H. BottgerWilliam C. BradleyKaren BravoOlga BrodeckyIrving BrodeskyNorman BrooksRev. Jeddie P. BrooksThomas R. BrooksMary BroughtonRoger W. Brown, Jr.Glenn G. BrubakerChristian BrunMartin BrusseRobert W. BuckHenry J. BurickNorman BurkeyGabrielle A. BurkhamGary BurtonJames A. ButlerCharles Butzberger

— C —

George P. CahillPatricia C. CaloraBruce K. CampbellCelia G. CampbellThomas T. CampbellClaire D. CanningPhyllis A. CanonCharles Bob CarlbergLester E. CarlsonHenry J. CarlyleRichard J. CarmerJohn F. CarrollLaura A. CassidayMark R. CaulifieldLaurie ChalmersHenry C. ChaseWendell H. CheneyPatricia H. Chicoine

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION FOUNDATION GENERAL OPERATING FUND, 2006W. Harold ChildressFrank M. ChukRobert CieriJohn J. CiluzziBill ClarkNicholas B. ClinchThornton S. CodySeymour CohenAndy D. ColettiBrent ConwayCasper F. CowanCharles M. CraigRalph Crawshaw, MDFrancis J. CrowleyWilliam H. CruickshankWilliam E. CullenStanley CummingsDonald A. CurtisThomas A. CurtisLewis Curtis, Jr.

— D —

M. Leonard D’OogeGerald O. DahlkeArthur E. DamianiMarty DanemanElma DavisErnest J. DavisLeslie B. DavisThe Roland Davis FamilyFoundation c/oQuintile Wealth Mgmt.

Joyce DavisonPhebe DavolHorace J. De PodwinSusan A. DechantPietro Degli EspostiDavid L. DennisonDaniel A. DennyGregory DiamondGordon W. DickPeter DobrovolskiStuart P. DodgeDonald D. Dodge, Jr.Frank J. L. DolinsekRobert W. DomanNancy Thompson DommHoward C. DonnellyChristopher DoucetteAlbert DowdenJohn DrewFrancis J. DuffinH. Benjamin Duke IIIBil DunawayWilliam J. DuncanJean DunneJeff DurkotaHarris Dusenbery

— E —

A. Scott EarleAlice EastmanEric EatonAllen H. EbyLawrence L. EcksteinKenneth T. EldridgeStuart S. ElkindBruce A. EllerU. Berkley EllisTustin EllisonDon L. EngebretsonM. Gilbert EngenJames L. EricksomGilbert R. EricksonRoger B. EricksonJohn EridonHugh W. EvansMargaret EvansMelvin J. Evans, Jr.

— F —

Edwin C. FancherRaymond F. FarleyRobbi L. FarrowRobert FellnerRobert FeraraAlbert G. Field

A. Gardner FinnDavid M. FisherEugene N. FiskWilliam D. FletcherRobert J. FolgerMartin J. FordTed FormanMerle G. ForneyGeorge M. FrenchJanice Fuglsang

— G —

Lawson GagnetWilliam O. GallBarbara GandyJames R. GarrettMrs. Thomas C. GeelanJoan GeronimoDonald J. GeurtzeRaymond A. GianaHenry J. GlanzmanFrederick M. GolombJohn R. GordonRichard K. GorskiAmy GoyerLauralee F. GrabeChristopher J. GrahekEdward X. GreeneRichard GreeneAllen W. GreerD. N. GreggBob GreiderJohn B. GriffithsNaomi N. Gundell

— H —

Pete HackettCarroll HadsellLauretta E. HaffnerWilliam A. HagermanJames M. HainingMogens F. HallgrenBruce K. HamiltonKenneth H. HamiltonHelen HandwerkJohn L. Handy, Jr.Harold V. HansenRobert D. HansenCharles E. HardestyMichael J. HarfordJames P. HarrangPhillip E. HarrisNorma HarterMichael J. HartfordHoward R. HarveyClifford A. HavnerGlenn M. HawkinsStanley C. HeidenreichGeorge B. HellerHelen & Rolf F. HempelWalter N. HeroldWilliam M. HerringHarold W. HertelJohn A. HillRobert F. HillenbrandChristie HoffJohn HolzwarthAlfred J. Honer, Jr.John HookWilliam C. HoopleRobert HopewellHans E. HopfJames J. HoranDouglas R. HorthPauline V. HoskingDeulah E. HowardRalph F. HugJohn W. HusseyWalter A. Hyry

— I —

Kenneth E. IbachClyde IdellJohn ImbrieInternational Union ofElevator Constructors

James J. Iverson

— J —

Inge JahnMarina JenkinsSherman C. JensenRuth JobertJames JohnsonMarilyn JohnsonNorma JohnsonShirley M. JohnsonRobert L. JohnstonEdward R. JonesRobert E. JonesRichard D. JordanFayth JorgensenRaymond C. JorgensenRaymond C. JosephsonE. James Judd

— K —

John JurkiewiczElsa KaimTom KampsPenny M. KeatonJames KeckWilliam J. KehresEarl KelleyJohn W. KennedyC. E. Bud KentzEverett L. KenworthyGeorge P. KiefWilliam J. KiemanMrs. J. H. KingEdward J. KirchesJoel Z. KirschnerPaul C. Kitchen, Jr.Donald W. KobelinHoward R. KochRichard R. KoeckConrad L. KohlerSusan KrcmarikH. Robert KrearDonald R. KressePaul D. KrippnerWilliam R. Kuessow

— L —

Eileen M. LallyCarl R. LandmanJay S. LarmonRichard J. LassCyril J. LehnhardtL. Earl LehrerRichard W. Leo, Jr.Otis R. LevanwayRichard P. LewisDuane R. LindNorman C. LindhjemRobert A. LinscottDonald A. Linscott, Jr.Edward J. LittleTheodore LockwoodEinar LoftesnesJohn A. LopezF. Warren LovellJuan C. LuarcaGary C. LucasRobert A. LukasAlbin LukowskiPhilip A. LundayPhilip J. LunsfordRichard E. Lutz

— M —

Domenic MacCaroneKenneth A. MacDonaldRobert MacdonaldKenneth P. MacPhersonRichard H. MaierEric B. MaineHugh A. MajorsFrances E. MartinJames G. MartinRobert S. MartinArthur A. MartonGladys Masonheimer

Lloyd T. MattsonHarold J. McAfeeEdward B. McAllisterColeen McCarthyH. J. McGee, Jr.Brian D. McLarenMarion MeierMichael G. MelasWalter R. MelfordMarcia A. MerrittJohn F. MessinaHans MevesTina Meyerhof-MillerElmo J. MillerLafi (Cullen L.) MillerWilliam C. MillerJames T. MillsStephen MindockJohn W. MinturnHarvey S. MizelJohn MontagneMelchior A. MoorDorothy MooreJames A. MooreRosemarie MooreJames C. MorehouseRobert J. Morelli, Jr.Jill A. MorgensenMary MorissetteSamuel J. MorrisonWilliam MorrisonDuryea MortonGeorge E. MotzenbeckerRalph L. MowbrayDelbert MuehleipJohn MuenzingerDaniel J. MuffolettoAllen V. MundtLarry D. Murdock, Sr.Charles A. MurphyMaurice MurphyGeorge Muschler, MD

— N —

William Naden, Jr.Fred A. NagelRalph E. NanningaJames J. Nassar, Jr.Rita NerneyPeg NewallDavid NicholsonThomas K. NicollBrian NilssonJohn C. NinfoEarl H. NoremEdmund NormantowiczAlfred Nunan

— O —

Robert J. O’MalleyThomas P. O’Neil, Jr.David D. OgdenKenneth W. OjaDavid B. OsbornCharles “Jim” Owen, Jr.Harry Owens

— P —

Howard J. PachasaCecil A. PageDon PalmerRuth M. PalmerRobert W. ParkerCalvin F. PaynterGerald L. PellegriniHoward C. PerkinRuso H. PerkinsJoseph J. PerryAudrey N. PertlSidney C. PetermanDr. Dennis PetroskyClyde D. PfefferJocelyn PhillipsGareth PickardRaymond J. PlysDonald R. Poeschi

Jacob PollackBing T. PoonSylvia PotashDick PowersVictor PresuttiBernard J. Pustz

— R —

Max H. RaabeStephen RaabeDavid W. RabakThornton C. RaceSusan Grant RaymondRobert H. ReedWallace ReidJohn H. ReinertsenHarry J. ReinigJack T. ReseCarole RexfordLucia ReynoldsEdwin RichardsonJanet A. RichardsonFrank M. RinellaConrad RiosCruz F. RiosCharles K. RittenhouseMary RitterGlen E. RobinsonDonald RockenbachFrank C. RodaJames Richard RogersTheodore RosenHarold RosenbergG. Perry RossBarbara RuhElizabeth Russell

— S —

Robert C. SabinJohn SachsRobert R. SadlerEldred M. SaleBetty SamuelsonJoseph L. SarriRalph SchauArthur O. SchimkeHerbert SchneiderPatricia J. SchusterPeter SchwetzGennaro SciancaleporeCarlos ScuriaHoward G. SebaldRobert C. SeelhorstJesse B. ShapiroJohn J. ShivnenWalter ShmerierRocco C. SicilianoRobert B. SidmoreVictor SieversAnthony J. SilvaSidney SimonAarre SinisaloGeorge S. SisnerosDale E. SmithDonald F. SmithDuane N. SmithFrank W. SmithGordon W. SmithJohn M. SmithSteven SmithRoyal D. SnyderWill SoderbergRichard D. SoutarRussell SpaldingDavid E. SpauldingRaymond C. SpenceLee SquierFrancis St. OngeSt. Paul Travelers Foun-dationLeon V. St. PierreJames W. StanleyNorman SteadmanWendy SternbergerKen StevensCaleb Stewart

James StewartThomas B. StewartWalter H. StewartRichard M. StickrodAlbert T. StoddardKenneth A. StoneDonald W. StuartLloyd Swedhin

— T —

Kenneth S. Templeton, Jr.Edrick J. ThibodeauSam T. ThomasDavid ThompsonHans A. ThompsonRobert T. Tidwell, Jr.Raymond H. TigerOrville TomkySamuel G. TorriceAlbert H. TozloskiGordon B. TracewellRobert J. TraynorAllan J. TreuerMartha E. TurekPhillip N. TwomblyEdmund S. TyksinskiJohn L. Tyler

— U —

Bardulf UelandStan UlickDelbert D. Utgaard

— V —

Edwin H. Vale, Sr.Ted C. VanFrank C. Van Thiel, Jr.

— W —

David G. WagstaffRonald WalkenbackStanley T. WalkerIrvin WallStan J. WalshRobert M. WareMurl J. WatermanCharles W. WebbMorton M. WeissRichard B. WellingtonCrosby WellsReed WellsOliver F. WerstAlfred F. WertheimerJim WesternKenneth E. Wharton, Jr.Wheatleigh WheelockViolet WhitmoreBetty WickSteven N. WickstromAlbert A. WiedornHarvey A. WieprechtAdna G. Wilde, Jr.Ann WilliamsJames A. WilliamsCatherine H. WilliamsonHarold E. WillitsKathleen WilsonMichael R. WilsonRayburn H. WilsonLeslie A. Wilson-SurmaMarlin H. WinebergEugene P. WintersErich A. WittigBonnie WolfeJohn B. WoodwardTheodore F. WoytowiczPolly WrightSylvia Wright

— Y —

Betty YanakakisJack R. YoungStan Young

— Z —

Paul J. Zinke

FIRST CLASSU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDWoodbridge, VA

Permit #534

National Association of the 10th Mountain Division, Inc.P.O. Box 750888Forest Hills, NY 11375-0888

2007 NUMBER 2

Mailing Address:133 South Van Gordon Street

Suite 200Lakewood, CO 80228Tel: (303) 756-8486

e-mail: tenthmtnfdn@nsp.org

Earl Clark, Chairman of the Board Thomas Hames, President

Gary Burton, Executive Vice PresidentHugh Evans, Senior Vice PresidentKate Raabe, Senior Vice President

Denise Taylor, Vice PresidentJennifer Neville, Secretary

Thomas Thompson, Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers of the Foundation plus:

Jim BratskyTrux DoleJohn DuffyRobbi FarrowJanice FuglsangSue HagermanJohnLitchfieldDavid Little

ADVISORY BOARD

All Chapter Presidents

HONORARY BOARD

Stuart DodgeRalph NanningaFrank Romano

Toni NewbillRuso Donald PerkinsMax RaabeRichard SpottsPat ThorntonDelbert UtgaardSteve WilmotJohn P. Wright

TENTH MOUNTAINDIVISION

FOUNDATION, INC.

IN MEMORY OFBernard L. Becker: Edward and

Constance Flabetich, Jeri & JoeHaley, Luella A. Nissl, Carolyne &Philip Savory

Edmund D. Bennett: N. BennettMartin Bockelmann: Richard SoutarLloyd G. Bowler: 10th. Mtn. Division

Mt. Rainier ChapterT. Brian Carter: Dorothy & Paul KitchenBetty Clark: Dorothy & Paul Kitchen

Southwest La Sertoma c/o Pat Collotn,Thomas B. Stewart

Thomas J. Connors: Dorothy & PaulKitchen

Ralph “Lefty” Cormier: Joy and DickDirkes, Joanne Manchester

When spring invades the mountainsof Colorado, there is no better time toinvite a large group of disabled veteransto Snowmass to participate in the WinterSports Clinic that took place April 1-6,2007. This is the largest winter sportsclinic of its kind in the United States forveterans with significant disabilities.This year over 440 veterans from manydifferent conflicts participated in amyriad of sporting activities. This uniqueclinic is sponsored by the Department ofVeterans Affairs and the VA RockyMountain Network, directed by SandyTrombetta. The clinic allows veteranswith physical or mental disabilities theopportunity to challenge themselves todo their best in mountain conditions.

The 10th Mountain Division Foun-dation, Inc. participated in the past bysponsoring this event. In 2007, at theinsistence of one of the event founders,Richard Wilson (85-M), the Foundationrenewed our participation by sponsoringsoldiers of the 10th Mountain Division(Light) who have significant disabilitiesto participate in the Winter Sports Clinic.The Clinic tests and challenges the vet-erans to overcome their disabilities inwinter sports, in a supportive environ-ment. It is the largest therapeutic sport-ing clinic of its kind in the United States,perhaps in the world.

I was fortunate to meet three of thefour 10th light veterans sponsored by theFoundation. Each had his own uniquestory about combat, his injuries and hislong road back. What impressed me isthat each was not so far removed fromthe combat injuries. The Veterans Depart-ment is apparently encouraging these

wounded warriors to become as activeas possible, as early as possible, in thistype of program. The commitment andenthusiasm of these soldiers was remark-able. After time spent in Veterans hospi-tals around the country, these veterans areprobably the most appreciative guests inthe Snowmass area all season. What bet-ter way to readjust their mind set, than atrip to the Mountains of Colorado to en-gage in a variety of sporting events.

I met veterans from all over the coun-try including those from Ft. Drum. Sometraveled independently, some with hostsor supporters (spouses or friends). Allwere committed to get the most out ofthe various sporting events and receivedan incredible boost from the clinic andall associated activities.

Winter sports available to the woun-ded veterans ranged from skiing, hockey,rock climbing, fencing, and scuba div-ing to the more pedestrian activities ofgoing to Glenwood Springs Hot Springsor Aspen for a day of relaxation or shop-ping. But make no mistake, for the sport-ing events it was a furious battle amongthe individuals to perform at their best,to overcome the odds. I was touched bythe resilience and character of each par-ticipant. Disabled veterans could pickand choose their activities after beingdivided into teams. Of note were severalof the volunteer instructors in the vari-ous sports who paid their own way to thisclinic from all parts of the country.

Based upon the individuals I met andtheir participation in this program, it iscertainly worthy of the Foundation’s fu-ture support and funding on a continu-ing basis.

WINTER SPORTSCLINIC FOR VETERANS

WITH DISABILITIESThomas E. Hames (Desc. 85-K)Dorinda Cruickshank: Barbara & Mac

MacKenzieThomas A. Curtis: Bob JohnstonNancy Delaney: Mike, Debbie, & George

Fergione, Dorothy & Paul Kitchen,Thomas B. Stewart

Peggy Dennison: George P. Cahill, GordonMcWade

William Devine: Shirley & KennethHanson

Halvor Ekern: Joanne Manchester,Thomas B. Stewart

Stephen Gilman: Dorothy & Paul KitchenJames B. Hadley: Gordon McWade, Philip

H. StevensEugene S. Hames: Joseph Berry, Jordan

HamesSamuel S. Hawley: Philip H. StevensAlexander J. Hilles: 10th Mtn. Division

Mt. Rainier ChapterWilliam F. Hoffstetter: Richard MansfieldChet Jenson: Philip H. StevensCharles H. Johnson: John Benson, Philip

H. StevensCarl D. Kerekes: Joseph BerryRobert W. Manchester: Joanne

ManchesterRobert W. Nielsen: Delbert MuehleipPatricia Romano: Frankie J. Barr, George

P. Cahill, Arthur C. Delaney, Dr. Max &Mary Jane Raabe, Neal C. Yorker

Aaron J. Schenck: D. H. Andrew, FlatheadLake Biological Station, United Brother-hood of Carpenters LPIW Local #30 c/oM. O. Woodworth, William K. Dinsmore,Golda & Frank Hendzel, Joanne Man-chester, Harry Reinig, Ellen F. Weiss,Eddie Westerman, Sharon & Dean Yould

Fred A. Shuler: John BensonBruce R. Snow: 10th Mtn. Division Assn.

Mt. Rainier ChapterFrank S. Staples: Andre E. BenoitEdgar Stowell: Joanne ManchesterPaul Townsend: Thomas B. StewartDavid G. Wagstaff: The Wagstaff FamiliyThomas Wheeler, Jr.: Thomas B. StewartBetty J. Wieprecht: Marelle Sanderson &

SonsRichard M. Wilson: N. Bennett, Andre E.

Benoit, Estate of Richard Wilson c/oLeslie Wilson-Surma, Arthur C. Delaney,Joy and Dick Dirkes, Anna P. Hagerman,Shirley & Kenneth Hanson, Barbara &Mac MacKenzie, Louise & Stan Malnati,Richard Mansfield, Gordon McWade,Gwen & Ed Raswyck, H. HallockRichards

IMPORTANT DATE!

NATIONAL REUNIONIN DENVER

AUGUST 2-5, 2007