When Donald L. Macdonald, Jr., walked down the main boulevard of Camp Hale, Colorado, in the spring of 1943, he felt like he knew every other person he passed. Mac, as I always called my uncle, grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts, and skied here at Mt. Hood Recreation area with local instructors who went on to become early members of the 87^th Mountain Battalion, the first unit of the 10^th Mountain Division.

In the May 5, 1943, edition of the Camp Hale Ski-Zette, one of the three weekly newspapers serving the personnel of Camp Hale, Colorado, a brief piece appeared about the men from Melrose, MA.

“Lesson in geography: Melrose, Mass, has seven men in the 87^th and also five in the 86^th. We know Boston, Wellesley and Hartford could have big roll calls, as possibly could other New England cities and towns. California, Minnesota and Washington are also well represented by their finest in the 87^th. It might even be safe to lay a bet that every state in the Union would answer present to such a roll-call.”

This highlights the number of men from the relatively small city of Melrose. This clipping ran in the Melrose Free Press in July 1943. When questioned, Mac sent a letter home that he knew of at least 14 men from Melrose at Camp Hale, not 13, as well as four men from Saugus, including the two Kasabuski brothers for whom the Kasabuski rink is named, and at least one from Malden.

If it seems a little strange that so many members were from Melrose, a Boston suburb of about 25,000 in 1943, these skiing soldiers were able to take advantage of Melrose’s Mt. Hood recreation area, which converted from golfing in summer to skiing in the winter. Equipped with a ski tow and a ski jump, it ensured year-round work for their recreation staff. Melrose participated in the popular winter sport. In the late 1930s, skiing and ski jumping became popular in the northeast, and in 1939, a Winter Carnival with a ski jump competition was expected to attract 75,000 over two days. The Digital Collections on the Melrose Public Library website at https://digitalheritage.noblenet.org/s/melrose/item-set/7054 holds photos from that event where skiers jumped through a ring of fire.

Several excellent skiers in Melrose offered ski instruction at Mt. Hood and, through an outing club, took members to well-known ski areas in New Hampshire. Famous European skiers, such as Hannes Schneider from Austria, taught skiing at Mt. Cranmore. While Torger Tokle, Walter Prager, and Toni Matt, all famous skiers, lived and taught in New England. One of the outing club founders taught skiing in Epping, NH, at a ski area used by the UNH ski team during the week and open to the public on weekends. 

These skiers, outing club founders, and early 10^th Mountain Division soldiers were members of the U.S. Eastern Ski Association, the National Ski Patrol, founded by Charles Minot “Minnie” Dole, and the Appalachian Club. Minnie Dole solicited many of these men to teach skiing to Army soldiers at Lake Placid in the spring of 1941. After their return, several of them were again solicited to join the 87^th Mountain Battalion, the first mountaineering unit. In the early days, soldiers needed to present three letters of recommendation, including one from the National Ski Patrol, to be considered for the Mountain troops.

Over the next 18 months, the 10^th Mountain Division was formalized. It was made up of the 87^th, the 86^th, and the 85^th infantry regiments, engineer, field artillery, and anti-tank battalions, along with medical, signal, reconnaissance, and other supporting units. Over those 18 months, soldiers with no skiing or mountaineering skills became part of the 10^th. At times, there were plans to scuttle the mountaineering troops and disband the men to other units to be sent into battle wherever they were needed. In the end, the 10th Mountain Division remained intact and was sent to the Apennine Mountains of Italy, where they routed the Germans and drove them back to the Po River Valley. The German commanding officer was impressed by the 10^th and requested and was granted the right to surrender to the commander of the 10^th Mountain Division. Members of the 10^th went on to found ski areas across the country, including Vail, Waterville Valley, and Breckenridge. My uncle Mac survived the war, unlike approximately 25% of his fellow soldiers, and continued to ski for the rest of his life, including a stint managing the Cooper Hill ski area in Leadville, Colorado, which was once the ski training grounds of the 10^th Mountain Division.

A. E. Macdonald is the author of The Macdonalds of Cedar Park, about her Melrose-based family during WWII.