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    10th Mountain Division Honors It's History, Remembers It's Past

    FORT DRUM, NY, UNITED STATES

    08.17.2017

    Story by Spc. Keegan Costello 

    27th Public Affairs Detachment

    The 10th Mountain Division was unique in American military history by being the only division trained specifically for mountain and cold-weather warfare and military skiing during World War ll. It’s volunteer ranks included many skiers, mountain climbers and others with outdoor experience.
    To commemorate the history of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Soldiers, Veterans and Families attended the annual Whiteface Mountain Memorial Ceremony at the Whiteface Mountain Ski Lodge in Wilmington, N.Y. on August 17, 2017.
    In the years since the activation of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y., the Soldiers of this division have joined with its veterans in a memorial service to honor the memory of those who are no longer with us.
    Mr. Rick Hamlin, the National Ski Patrol Historian, spoke about the relationship between the 10th Mountain Division and the National Ski Patrol during the ceremony.
    The National Ski Patrol is the largest rescue organization in the world with 28,000 members and covers the entire United States and Europe, he said.
    “Our founder, Charles Minot Dole, was also the catalyst for the creation of the 10th Mountain Division. He went to Washington and prompted the Pentagon, convincing them that America needed mountain troops,” he continued.
    The ceremony provided an opportunity for members of the 10th Mountain Division, both past and present, to reflect on the history of their unit while keeping an eye to the future.
    “Mountains challenge our most mighty, few can make the climb,” Maj. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division said during the ceremony.
    “This unit not only had to live up to the challenges of nature but strived to thrive in the world’s most harsh and rugged terrain,” Piatt said.
    In March of 1962, the Italian government paid tribute to the division for their feats in the Italian theatre during World War ll by placing a bronze tablet and a chunk of brown granite from Mount Belvedere at the summit of Little Whiteface, the scene of one of the 10th Mountain Division’s greatest victories.
    During the war, mountain Soldiers seized German positions at Riva Ridge on Mount Belvedere, breaking through the German defenses into the Po River Valley and reaching the northern end of Lake Garda by the war’s end.
    For nearly five months of intense ground combat in Italy, the division was opposed by 100,000 German troops, yet effectively destroyed five German Divisions, unhinging the German defense in Italy and drawing German forces away from other theaters.
    “This new unit of ski troops required special people,” Piatt said. “It required good men who could love a mountain. It required men who could feel at home in harsh conditions, embrace the cold and feel comfortable at extreme heights all the while maintaining a fighting edge.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.17.2017
    Date Posted: 09.16.2017 03:26
    Story ID: 245622
    Location: FORT DRUM, NY, US

    Web Views: 14
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN