The U.S. Army needs “persons with cold weather experience” read the bulletin board note. It caught the eye of Staff Sergeant Clyde Limoge, Vermont National Guard. “I know cold weather,” he thought. “Anything’s better than this Florida duty.” He signed up. That was one way the US Army found men when organizing the 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops in the 1940s.

And the word got out. Adventure! Many left north country farms, abandoned weekend ski parties. Dartmouth and Williams College skiers/racers, hardened lumberjacks, ski bums, socialite sportsmen—all heeded the call. Later, many who had never seen snow swelled the three regiments—the 85th, 86th, 87th—that formed the 10th Mountain Division.

Clyde Limoge, of Morrisville, was a trooper in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII, stationed in Italy. This photo was taken in 1945 very shortly before he was wounded. Photo courtesy of Brad Limoge.

Clyde Limoge (now deceased) from Morrisville, Vermont knew “cold weather.” “He had skied Vermont mountains since the 1930s,” according to his son, Brad Limoge. “He and his friends often would ‘herringbone’ two miles up Stowe, Vermont’s Mt. Mansfield just to earn one run down, but about his combat experiences—he didn’t share much until the last years of his life.”

Never had there been such a unique fighting unit as the Army’s 10th Mountain Division nor was there a feat as famous as its’ night time assault/capture of Riva Ridge in the Italian Apennines.

Soldiers On Skis?

The idea of soldiers on skis was not accepted readily in the 1940s despite the example of the Finnish ski soldiers who had held out against superior Russian forces in 1939. Without the dogged determination of skier Charles Minot Dole, no US alpine fighting force might have become a reality.

Active in the National Ski Patrol, “Minnie” Dole, along with Robert Landry of the National Ski Association fought to convince the Army High Command (Gen. George Marshall) and Pres. Roosevelt that a skiing fighting force might be invaluable were Americans obliged to fight in Europe’s mountains.

Shelburne, Vermont resident Gordon Lowe remembers “I was put in the 10th Division’s 87th Regiment. After basics we went to Ft. Lewis, Washington and ski-trained on Mt. Rainer. Before joining the 85th and 86th Regiments at Camp Hale, we were sent to the Alaskan Aleutians to retake Kiska Island from the Japanese. When we got there, it was abandoned.”

Lowe also spent six weeks in Lincoln, New Hampshire studying rudimentary Norwegian in case Norway was attacked. “But it had been a diversionary tactic to draw German troops away from other parts of Europe.”

Camp Hale

The first Mountain Training Center opened at Camp Carson, Colorado. Then a permanent site in the Colorado Rockies near Leadville was chosen. In November 1942 Camp Hale (named for General Irving Hale’s distinguished action in the Spanish American War in the Philippines) became the 10th Mountain Division’s home post.

“I was in the 85th Regiment,” recalls former ski trooper Alexander Ward, 90, of Richmond, Vermont. “At Camp Hale (nicknamed Camp Hell) we learned climbing, rappelling, hiking, skiing, and cold weather survival. We had the best equipment. First we packed an eight-pound rifle but it was replaced by a lighter .30-30 carbine with 18 shots in the magazine. And we carried a 90-pound rucksack. From Hale we transferred to Camp Swift in Texas for more training.

“We were deployed to Italy January 1945. Eight thousand sailed on the S.S. America renamed ‘The West Point’. We were ferried ashore in Naples on LCIs (landing craft) then moved to Pisa-our staging place.” Bill Osgood of Shelburne, Vermont, Company “C” of the 87th, also sailed on the West Point. His basic training was at Ft. McClellan in Alabama.

“The Italian ski troops joined us on patrols,” he remembers. “Known as ‘Alpini,’ they helped us in scouting, underground reconnaissance and let us use their mules to carry equipment.” One Alpini became Ogood’s friend. They met 50 years later in February 1995 at the Division’s reunion and commemorative climb of the famous assault/capture of Riva Ridge on Mt. Belvedere in the Italian Mountains.

Riva Ridge Capture

February 18, 1945. At 7:00 p.m. the signal was given to begin climbing a steep and foreboding 1,500 foot precipice. Under cover of darkness one thousand soldiers from the lst Battalion, 86th Regiment and F Company of the 2nd Battalion, began their silent ascent of a sheer ice-covered wall on the face of Mt. Belvedere. The objective: rout the Germans entrenched on the above mountain ridge—Riva Ridge—and take possession.

One side of Belvedere gave easy access to the ridge, while the opposite side was impossible to scale. Germans posted on the ridge knew no one would attempt such a climb. They were wrong. The 86th Regiment boys reached the top without one man losing his footing and surprised the Germans. It took two days to secure the ridge with reinforcements from the 85th and 87th Regiments. On February 20, the Division took the ridge.

(Prior to the assault, the men had built a tramway to the top enabling them to quickly carry supplies/ammunition up and the wounded down in minutes. The original design is attributed to Bob Heron who later designed ski resort lifts all over the U.S.)

Regarded as one of the most daring night time attacks in military history, it was planned by Lt. Col. Henry J. Hampton (1st Battalion, 86th Regimental Mountain Infantry Commander). Seventeen men of the 86th died, 38 were wounded and three were reported missing.

Casualties

The 10th Mountain Division landed in Italy 14,101 strong but over 4,000 men were wounded and nine hundred never returned home. The 10th spent 114 days in combat. The greatest number of casualties—553— suffered in one day was on April 14, 1945 at Monte della Spe. Among the wounded was Lt. Robert Dole, later a United States Senator.

Sgt. Limoge served in Rome and Casablanca (Company “L” of the 87th) but was wounded March 1944 during night patrol. He stepped directly on a flare which ignited and drove up inside his leg and out his knee. Hospitalized nine months, he received the Purple Heart.

The six Vermonters from the 10th killed in action were: David C. Dennis, 21, of Bennington; Delmas J. Devenger, 22, of Danville; Everett R. Griffin, 20, of Barton; Edwin A. Johnson, 23, of Proctor; Robert J. Labombard, 22, of Vergennes and Herbert W. A. Spaulding, 30, of Cavendish.

War’s end

“I drove an executive officer through Florence as we pushed the Germans north,” said Ward. “We wound up in the town of Malcesine. That’s where we were when the war ended. We came home on the SS Marine Fox-a Sun Oil Company tanker. I never returned.”

Three New England monuments commemorate the 10th: In East Norwalk, Connecticut a plaque is erected honoring Distinguished Medal of Honor recipient PFC John McGrath. A second memorial stands on the Riva Ridge Ski Trail in the Berkshire East Ski Ridge, Massachusetts and the Mountain Road (Rte. 103) in Stowe, Vermont is dedicated as the Memorial Highway, 10th Mountain Division. There also is a National Memorial at Tennessee Pass in Colorado as well as one at Ft. Drum, New York. The 10th also is honored at Stowe’s Ski Museum.

Two hundred and fifty-six men residing or born in Vermont are listed as having served in the 10th Mountain Division. Many came to Vermont, New Hampshire, Colorado, and other states and established skiing as a national sport.

Gordon Lowe came to Stowe and became vice president of the Spruce Peak Ski area. Jack Murphy of the 86th established Vermont’s Sugarbush Valley Ski area and Arthur G. Draper, ex-86th helped establish New York’s Whiteface Mountain Ski area.

In November 1945, the 10th Mountain was deactivated at Camp Carson, Colorado but was reactivated at Camp Funston (Ft. Riley, Kansas) on July 1948 to train troops headed to Korea. Again it was deactivated on February 1958 at Ft. Benning, Georgia but was reactivated at Ft. Drum, NY in February 1985 (its current headquarters) henceforth to be known as the 10th Mountain (Light) Division.

In 1991 the 10th Mountain (Light) sent 1,000 troops to Operation Desert Storm. In August 1992 the Division built shelters to house Hurricane Andrew victims in Florida. The 10th was airlifted on two peace-keeping missions: first to Somalia, Africa in 1992 and in1994 to Haiti. The Division also has served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Riva Ridge Re-enactment

On February 18, 1995 a contingent of 10th Mountain (Light) Division soldiers from Ft. Drum, several Alpini and hardy veterans of the first Riva Ridge climb participated in a second climb commemorating the 1945 event 50 years later to the day. Joined atop the ridge by German ski soldiers, Italian Alpini, the Ft. Drum soldiers, the 10th Mountain veterans and two climbing instructors from the 172nd Mountain Infantry Battalion, Vermont National Guard, all stood in brotherhood, flags flying, to mark the event!

Post Script

Coincidently, Alexander Ward’s grandson, Brian J. McCormick, enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 10th Mountain (Light) Division. He served in Baghdad and recently completed his tour of duty.

Margery Sharp is a freelance writer from Hinesburg, Vermont.