A hike to remember

AVIANO AIR BASE, ITALY

05.07.2018

Story by Airman 1st Class Ryan Brooks 

31st Fighter Wing

“He died exactly the way he would have had it – out in front of his men in hot pursuit of the enemy," noted Gen. Mark Clark, the Fifteenth Army Group commander. "I asked General Marshall to promote him to a brigadier general posthumously, and he did.”

These men spoke of Col. William Orlando Darby, the founder of the U.S. Army Rangers. The assistant commander of the 10th Mountain Division for barely a week, Darby and another Soldier were killed by an 88mm shell just two days before the German surrender in Italy. It was April 30, 1945. He was 34.

On the same day in the same town of Torbole, at the northeast end of Lake Garda, 25 of Darby's men perished as they attempted a nighttime crossing of the lake in an amphibious vehicle during a storm.

Their legacy’s why I found myself lacing up my running shoes this morning and wiping the sleep from my eyes. I was there to run in the 9th annual Col. Darby 40 Mile Airborne Ranger March. I pushed the glow-in-the-dark button on my watch; 4:57 a.m., time to go. A short walk away from my hostel brought me to a large gathering of men and women; military and civilians; Americans and Europeans. We were 350 strong.

We gathered there, 40 miles south of Torbole, to run the same path the 10th MD soldiers marched during WWII, pushing Germany north to their final defeat on May 2, 1945. Exactly 78 years later, to the day, we stared down 40 miles to honor and remember these brave men.

The siren blew and the sea of runners rippled and waved. Mile after mile passed and the encouragement I experienced running with so many others pushed me onward. After 22 miles I felt both fatigued and hopeful. I had crossed the halfway-point.

At around the 27 mile point I stopped at a Red Cross aid station and took off my shoes to empty a respectable pebble collection I started about 10 miles back. Lacing up my running shoes for the second time today, I realized how easy this 40 miles is in 2018.

For Col. Darby and his men, the 1945 vintage was not as sweet. They marched in leather boots with heavy gear on their backs. There were no aid stations along the way. They marched with the enemy to their north and the land they liberated to the south.

"Onward we stagger, and if the tanks come, may God help the tanks." -Col. Darby

As each stride I took became increasingly difficult, those words made my feet light and my will strong. I was on my last four miles and had passed more and more limping joggers. I noticed my speed increasing in anticipation. Looking around, I committed one last postcard-worthy vista to my memory.

Adrenaline and excitement carried me in a gallop across the finish line in Lietzmann Square.

To me, the men and women I saw there recuperating at the finish exemplified the strong will and sacrificial nature necessary to bring peace in the world. Americans and Europeans ran alongside each other as brothers and sisters today under the banner of respect and unity. We are stronger together now than we ever were before. That is due in no small part to those we honor today.

During the closing memorial ceremony, the mayor of Nago-Torbole, Gianni Morandi, welcomed the Americans to his beautiful lake town and left us international attendees with some powerful words.

"It is important to keep alive the memory of the most dramatic struggle for the defense of democratic freedoms that there has ever been in the history of the world," says Morandi. "The horrors of those moments are part of our culture and of our common history, and we must draw the right lessons from them every day."

Unlacing my shoes that evening before bed I decided to contemplate his words. The thought comes to me that Col. Darby and his men didn’t know that they were going to die that day. But I think, had they known, they would have made that sacrifice for the freedoms we cherish today.

• Date Taken: 05.07.2018
• Date Posted: 05.14.2018 07:11
• Story ID: 276890
• Location: AVIANO AIR BASE, IT