#164: Climb to Glory!

The Pre-World War II history of my 10th Mountain Division.

Today's Ghosts of Arlington are:

1. Army Technical Sergeant Torger Tokle - Lokken Veck, Norway
2. Army Private First Class Tony Ragazinne - Sicily-Rome American Cemetery

Transcript

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Okay, I know this is supposed to be a series about Bob Dole, but because Dole joins the 10th Mountain Division a few years after it is initially formed, and because a kid from the Great Plains doesn't seem like a good fit for a unit made up of volunteers with mountaineering and skiing backgrounds, I wanted to take some time to tell the story of how this unique division came to be. This unit is so unique that its initial training lasts for a very long time, four years, because most senior commanders in Europe and Asia take one look at them and say, Well, that's certainly an interesting group, but what am I supposed to do with mountaineers trained to ski with ninety pound packs on their backs and their five thousand mules? In fact, before they finally get orders to Italy, many members of the Tenth Mountain are afraid that the war will be over before they get there. To quote one veteran from a 2007 documentary called The Last Ridge, we trained and trained and trained and nobody wanted us. Welcome back to Ghosts of Arlington. I am your host Jackson Irish, tracing the shadows of Arlington National Cemetery through the lives buried there. Today the pre World War II history of my tenth Mountain Division. Thank you for joining me for episode one hundred and sixty-four, Climb to Glory. Then, on november thirtieth, nineteen thirty nine, the USSR invaded Finland one hundred fifty three, with a force of one million men supported by tanks, aircraft, and naval forces. The vastly outnumbered Finnish army fought back valiantly, soldiers in white camouflage uniforms and mounted on skis contributed much to early victories over the invading Soviets. These ski troops moved swiftly and quietly through the forests deep in snow, where Soviet troops, somehow seemingly unprepared for winter warfare, could not follow. They ambushed Soviet convoys, cut Soviet supply lines, and destroyed several Soviet divisions before eventually being overwhelmed by the sheer number of invaders and surrendering in mid March nineteen forty. By then, millions of Americans had seen ski troops in action at the cinema, shown in newsreels aired on the big screen before movies. Many began to wonder if the US Army was prepared to fight a winter war in the mountains. In the era before widespread recreational skiing in America like we have today, the first ski lift in America had been installed in Sun Valley, Idaho just four years before this time, some suggested that the United States train their own ski troops. On january sixth, nineteen forty, even before the Finns were forced to capitulate, Assistant Secretary of War Lewis Johnson asks Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall if consideration had been given to special clothing, equipment, food, transportation, and other essentials necessary to field an effective force under conditions like those of the campaigns in Finland and Northern Russia. Marshall replies that the ability to wage winter warfare has always been important to the Army's Alaska command, and that for several years winter exercises have been conducted by troops at Fort Snelling, Minnesota and elsewhere. He adds winter maneuvers on a larger scale than yet attempted are desirable, but to date money for this purpose has not been available. Marshall had become a believer after seeing Greek mountain troops hold off a much larger Italian force in the Albanian mountains, the first Allied victory against Axis forces in World War II. In may nineteen forty, the American Alpine Club, an organization originally founded in nineteen oh two to provide climbers with resources to advance knowledge, inspiration, and advocacy for mountaineering, urges the war department to introduce mountain warfare training into the US Army. In July, Charles Minot, aka Mini Dole, no relation to Bob, but now that there's another important dole in this story, I will call this one mini dole going forward. The founder and chairman of the National Ski Patrol Committee, a part of the larger National Ski Association, writes a letter to President Roosevelt offering to recruit experienced skiers to help train troops in ski patrol work. Citing the effectiveness of ski troops and Finland's defense against the Soviet invasion, Minnie Dole points out in this country we have more than two million skiers equipped, intelligent, and able. I contend that it is more reasonable to make soldiers out of skiers than skiers out of soldiers. In his reply to this letter, FDR refers the matter to the War Department for further study. Two months later, unaware that the US Army has been quietly working along these lines, and worried that his suggestions are going nowhere, Minnie Dole secures a meeting with General Marshall, makes his argument directly to the Chief of Staff, and leaves Marshall with a white paper on winter training. In the meantime, Minnie Dole asks for and receives funds to improve his office and staff in case the Department of War comes calling. Two weeks after his meeting, Minnie Dole writes Marshall stressing the importance of procuring correct equipment for mountain troops and urging that no decisions on equipment be made without the full approval of those experienced and able to advise. Unbeknownst to Minnie Dole, the Army is already being advised by members of the American Alpine Club. Senior club member Adams Carter writes a report that anticipates many of the elements eventually incorporated into the Tenth Mountain Division. Club member Robert Bates, working with Army Captain Albert Jackman, who would go on to serve with the Army Mountain units throughout World War II, designs a new style of mountain boot that can be used for skiing, rock climbing, and hiking. Eventually, a talented group within the US Army Quartermaster Corps develops and tests several pieces of equipment that are commonplace today, including nylon climbing rope, pile clothing, down sleeping bags, and dehydrated food. On november fifth, nineteen forty, the war department issues a directive forming ski patrol units in the first, third, fifth, sixth, forty first, and forty fourth divisions, and U.S. Olympic Captain Rolf Monson leads the first patrol to begin training at Lake Placid, New York. Shortly thereafter, the Wartment sends a memo to the commanding generals of the divisions with new ski patrols, informing them that accredited National Ski Association representatives will be visiting their units to conduct research and to prepare a report on problems with quote equipment and camping techniques. On december twelfth, noted skier and mountaineer John Woodward, formerly the captain of the University of Washington Ski Team, is commissioned as second lieutenant and enters active duty with a ski patrol in the third division's fifteenth regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington. The patrol spends the winter of nineteen forty to forty one at Longmere, near Mount Rainier, and at the end of the season, Woodward leads a patrol that circumnavigates the mountain. This initial training establishes a pattern that many winter field exercises will repeat over the next two years. After being on skis for hours at a time, at the end of the day these soldiers lay down their skis on the snow, throw their double sleeping bags on top of that, and call it good for the night. And they do this in temperatures up to thirty degrees below zero, which is insanely cold in whichever temperature measurement you use. This will help create some of the strongest soldiers America has to offer in World War II, and when they do get to Europe, they will be called on to prove it during one hundred fourteen days in combat. On march first, the National Ski Association's advisory role at the War Department is formalized, and Woodward is temporarily attached to the forty first Ski Patrol to lead a two week expedition into Washington's Olympic Mountains. In april nineteen forty one, plans for these soldiers really take off when Colonels Nelson Walker and Charles Hurtis are ordered to investigate sites capable of housing a division of fifteen thousand men suitable for year round training of mountain troops. Accompanied by a representative from the US Forestry Service, their first choice, a site in Yellowstone National Park, turns out to be a breeding ground for the nearly extinct trumpeter swan and has to be abandoned. As the snow begins to fall in the nearby mountains the following winter, mountain warfare training on a larger scale than a single patrol begins. On november fifteenth, nineteen forty one, first Battalion eighty seventh Mountain Infantry Regiment is activated at Fort Lewis under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Oslo Rolf. A West Point grad with cavalry and artillery experience, Rolf creates the first American Regiment of Mountain Troops from scratch. Fun fact, one hundred eighty seven Infantry still exists as part of the tenth Mountain Division today. At the same time as one hundred eighty seven's activation, the Mountain Winter Warfare Board is formed to better advise on equipment and training. Personnel for the Mountain Battalion are men with previous ski and mountaineering experience, and many come from the ski patrols of the third, forty first and forty fourth divisions and participated in the winter warfare program of forty to forty one. Over the coming months, the National Ski Patrol will continue to recruit volunteers for the Army. Minnie Dole establishes a system in which the National Ski Patrol obtains three letters of recommendation attesting to a recruit's competence in mountaineering or skiing, the only time in US history that a civilian sports organization has recruited, screened, and approved volunteers for the military. By mid nineteen forty four, Minnie Dole and a small group of ski association helpers will have recruited more than seven thousand men for the division. Of course, this mission takes on greater importance when the attack on Pearl Harbor pushes the US into a war for which it is not ready, even though it has seemed likely for several years by this point. Astounded Americans unite behind President Roosevelt and enlistments exceed the peacetime armed forces' ability to handle them. The barracks at Fort Lewis swell with new volunteers, and soon the Army is considering activating another two battalions of the eighty seventh Mountain Infantry. While the military is figuring out what to do with so many recruits, Lieutenant Colonel Rolfe is looking for ways to get his soldiers ski instruction that just isn't available near the Washington coast. From February to june nineteen forty two, he rents Paradise and Tatouche Lodges, two resort hotels high up on Mount Rainier. The mountain battalion's experiences there inspire new verses for an old Western ballad quickly adopted by the ski troops. In the song, Trooper Spins Heavy Weapons Company trains on snowshoes and thus spends quote two months in paradise and never learned to ski while the winter warfare board waited anxiously about. In reality, the board is extremely busy testing new winter rations, clothing, equipment, and over snow transportation. In May, an expedition summits Mount Rainier, an event film by Lieutenant John Jay, who has already begun producing ski training films for the Army. After the war he will go on to become a legendary creator of ski films. In march nineteen forty two, when Lieutenant Colonel Rolfe's boys are up on Rainier, the War Department is reorganized and the training of all ground troops in the continental US is placed under the command of Lieutenant General Leslie J. McNair, who sadly will gain infamy as being one of only four US three star generals killed in World War II and the only one to die due to friendly fire. McNair was a key figure in the activation of the eighty seventh Mountain Infantry the year prior, and various plans for expanding mountain training are discussed and scrapped due to a shortage of men and equipment. The military got over the oh no, we have too many volunteers problem real quick, and soon needed more. However, the decision is made to activate a mountain division in the spring of nineteen forty three and contracts are drawn up for the construction of a division training site. In april nineteen forty two, construction of Camp Hale begins in the high Rockies near Pando, Colorado. The camp is named in honor of late Brigadier General Irving Hale, a veteran of the Spanish American War and Philippine Insurrection, and former chief of the Colorado National Guard. The location of the camp earns its inhabitants the nickname Commando Pandos and a logo with a panda on skis. Longtime friend of the podcast Ryan Hunt and his Mountain Up Clothing, a tenth mountain themed clothing line, owned by a tenth mountain vet, uses the logo on some of his wares and uses the website pandocommando. com for mountain up. I happen to be wearing his signature hat in the bio portion of Ghosts of Arlington Podcast dot com. When construction is completed, the camp is in such a remote location that modern Army supply lines, specifically how supplies are delivered, don't work, especially in the winter months, and they have to resort to a more classic method pack mules. In May, Second Battalion eighty seventh Infantry Regiment is activated at Fort Lewis and three hundred eighty seven is activated in June. On september third, nineteen forty two, the Mountain Training Center or MTC is activated at Camp Carson, Colorado near Colorado Springs, with a newly promoted default Colonel Rolf commanding. As the provisional command of a new mountain division, the MTC's mission is to develop TTPs, tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as field manuals and to test equipment to conduct training in mountain warfare. The previously mentioned Lieutenant John Woodward, stationed at Fort Lewis, is ordered to form an MTC training detachment by picking one hundred experienced mountaineers and skiers from the eighty seventh. The one hundred twenty sixth Engineer Mountain Battalion with Lieutenant Colonel John Parker commanding is activated at Camp Carson and joins the MTC. Eventually two companies are authorized, with Company A doing experimental work on constructing aerial tramways and Company B working on experimental construction of suspension bridges in mountain terrain. This is also about the time that a world class athlete named Torger Torkoal volunteers for service. This stocky five foot six inch tall young man was nineteen years old when he immigrated to the United States from Norway and immediately, like literally the very next day, became the talk of alpine sports. So completely dominant in his event, he quickly earned the nickname The Babe Ruth of Ski Jumping, and in his short career won forty two of the forty eight sanctioned events he entered and in the process set distance records on twenty four mountains. The war cut short his already amazing career, but when given the chance, he jumped at the opportunity to serve his newly adopted country on skis. As more non skiers entered the division, he was one of the first instructors that they met. Torquell is quickly promoted to tech sergeant, more or less the World War II Army's equivalent of today's sergeant first class, often reserved for those with specialized technical skills, and his cheerful, unassuming teaching style made him a favorite among the troops. I know I am jumping ahead in our story, but sadly on march third, nineteen forty five, Torkoal will be killed in action while fighting with the eighty sixth Infantry Regiment near Iola, Italy during the campaign to reach Ayano Castle. Army technical sergeant Torger Dahl Torkel is buried at the Lokan Cemetery in Lokenburg, Norway. In November, the mountain training center moves from Camp Carson to Camp Hale, and over the next few months the mountain battalions still at Fort Lewis do as well. So does a newly created infantry regiment, the eighty sixth, the tenth cavalry reconnaissance troop, and a few artillery battalions. When the commander of the sixth oh fourth Field Artillery Battalion is asked how many cattle and troop cars he will need to move his men and mules from Carson to Hale, he says none. My men are tough. We'll walk it. And they did, all one hundred seventy miles, about two hundred seventy five kilometers, going up from just over six thousand feet or eighteen hundred meters above sea level, to more than ninety two hundred feet or twenty eight hundred meters in elevation. I'm sure his men loved him for that. But it starts a trend. In July, the six hundred fifth Field Artillery does the same thing when it moves from Carson to Hale. In february nineteen forty three, Minnie Dole visits Camp Hale, after which he sends a report to Washington expressing grave concerns about morale in the eighty seventh and inadequacy of tactical training and the high daily sick rate, including many cases of the so called Pando hack, caused by breathing smoke produced by coal burning furnaces and trains. In july nineteen forty two, a Japanese force invaded and occupied two of Alaska's mountainous Aleutian Islands. About one year later, when it is decided that the time has come to repel these invaders, members of the eighty seventh Regiment are sent north for the mission. Finally, the army has found something it needs specially trained mountain troops for. It is during this campaign that the tenth suffers its first overseas death when Private Kenneth Heintz drowns during a landing exercise in Alaska, but he would not be the last. On August twenty, fifteenth, through a thick morning fog, the eighty seventh lands at two coves along the north shore of Kiska, one of the occupied Aleutians, and quickly climbs precipitous cliffs to occupy positions along a ridge. Unbeknownst to the Americans, this extreme fog has allowed the Japanese to slip through the naval blockade around the island and withdraw. But the soldiers who believe they are going into combat for the first time do not know this and things quickly turn into a fiasco. Eighteen men are killed by friendly fire from jumpy green troops. This poor showing is nearly enough to convince the army to disband its mountain division and reassign the soldiers to other units. But in the end, the 10th is given another chance to prove itself in battle. While those members of the 87th are away, the 85th and 90th regiments arrive at Camp Hale and on july 15, 1943, the 10th Light Division Alpine is organized with Brigadier and later Major General Lloyd Jones in command. In August of 43, Minnie Dole sends a telegram to leaders of the National Ski Patrol, noting that the War Department has authorized them to recruit an additional two thousand qualified volunteers for the ski troops and is asking them to redouble their efforts. Despite the patrol's best efforts, it is impossible to fill out the division with qualified volunteers, so the Army resorts to recruiting the old fashioned way. As Private First Class Tony Ragazzine recalls that when he was training in a tank destroyer unit, quote, at Revely one morning, all the noncomms were told to fall out and the rest of us were told we just volunteered for the ski troops. PFC Ragazzine was later killed in action in Italy. Large numbers of quote unquote volunteers are sent to Camp Hale from the 30th, 31st and 33rd Divisions stationed in Tennessee. On a personal note, I arrived at the 10th Mountain Division in much the same way. I was at the Captain's career course at Fort Lee Virginia and had been back from my first deployment to Afghanistan for just a few months. Everyone in my class was given two lists of possible follow on assignments. For those who had twelve months or more dwell time, in other words who hadn't been deployed to a combat zone for a year or more, were to pick from one list a list of units that would deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan in less than a year, and those with less than twelve months dwell time at the time of graduation from the course were to pick from the other list. When graduation came around I was going to have eleven months of dwell time so I took the list home, went over it with my wife and put together my top five assignments wish list. Now looking back it was silly of me to think that when the Army says less than twelve months it actually means less than twelve months because when my wife and I sat down with the assignment officer he took one look at my list and told me I had picked from the wrong list and then gave us five minutes to put together a top five list from the soon to deploy group. While we were working on our list the assignment officer remembered one more important detail. He told me to make sure Fort Drum was on the list because I was going to the 10th Mountain Division. I made sure not to put drum on the list just to mess with his metrics. He had been telling everyone they would get one of their top five choices. I do not remember what my top five were probably Lewis, Carson, Hawaii, Alaska and Germany, but I sure wasn't going to pick a place I was being told I had to pick just so this Chucklehead could feel better about himself for quote unquote giving me one of my top five choices. When I turned my wish list in I'm sure it was immediately filed in the trash can and the next day I was told I was going to the third brigade combat team tenth mountain division after graduation. About seven months later I was in Afghanistan again while the mountain troops continue to train in Colorado the Allied invasion of Italy begins. On september third, nineteen forty three British and Canadian troops cross the Straits of Messina and land on the Italian boot. Six days later four US infantry divisions force a landing at Salerno in the ankle of the Italian boot. Italy had just surrendered and Allied hopes were high but Germany had rushed reinforcements across the Alps and declared the Fuhrer expects the most bitter struggle for every yard. Twelve months of hard fighting lay ahead in Italy but the mountain troops aren't there yet. Back at Camp Hale, intense mountaineering training continues and on December 7, 1943, the two year anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a detachment from the Mountain Training Center is sent to Italy to give rock climbing instructions at a newly established British mountain warfare school. This detachment will stay in Italy until the war is over. In late December the 87th returns from Alaska licking its wounds and ski training continues through the winter of 43 to 44 then from late March through early May 44 the division holds a series of maneuvers over the span of six weeks designed to test its abilities to operate in the mountains in sub zero weather and push the men to the limit of their endurance. One result of these maneuvers is an Army ground forces recommendation to Chief of Staff General Marshall that the tenth Light Division be reorganized as a regular infantry division. The report concludes that such a change would be needed to correct deficiencies in personnel and equipment. This happens on may tenth on june fifteenth, Allied plans for an attack on Germany's Gothic line in Italy are dealt a severe blow.

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Three US divisions, several Ranger battalions, the Japanese American four hundred forty second regimental combat team twenty three to one twenty five, and four French divisions are withdrawn for the August nineteen forty four invasion of southern France.

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Despite the setback in Italy training continues stateside. It is decided that one of the reasons the tenth hasn't been sent to Europe yet is because they're only trained up on small arms, specifically the N1 Garand Rifle. They don't have the training on heavier weapon systems necessary to stand up to the Germans in battle. With that, the unit leaves Colorado for Camp Swift just outside of Austin, Texas, for heavy weapons and quote unquote flatland training to prepare the division for maneuvers in Louisiana. But with the war picking up the Louisiana maneuvers are canceled. Rumors begin to swirl that the 10th will be sent to fight in Southeast Asia when some subordinate units are given maps of Burma to study, while others receive Japanese language phrase books. While at Camp Swift recruits approved by the National Ski Patrol continue to join the division, but their basic training takes place at locations other than Camp Hale. On july tenth nineteen forty four officers and men recently arrived from the mountains of Colorado where even in July the weather is comparatively mild, are asked to march ten miles with full field gear in the Texas heat on a quote unquote medical march intended to provide practice in handling simulated wounds. Instead the exercise provides unwanted experience in handling large numbers of real heat exhaustion cases. But as training as Camp Swift proceeds, weekly forced marches of up to twenty five miles or forty kilometers in eight hours become commonplace. The resulting buildup of stamina will play an important role in the division's success in combat. By late September many of the troops pulled out of Italy for action in southern France return. They manage to breach the fortified Gothic line but bog down against the even higher elevation winter line. Big Army finally decides it might have a European use for the mountaineers in its ranks. On november sixth the tenth Light Division is officially renamed the 10th Mountain Division and receives the motto Climb to Glory. A week and a half later the division's deputy commander arrives in Naples to coordinate the transport of the entire division to Italy. The advanced party soon follows to help with the deployment while World War I Medal of Honor recipient and Future Ghost of Arlington, Major General George Hayes arrives in Texas and assumes command of the division he will take into combat. Hayes takes over when the division's original commander, Future Ghost of Arlington, Major General Lloyd Jones, who also oversaw the retaking of the Aleutian Islands, falls ill with a severe case of bronchitis that will keep him stateside for the rest of the war. By November 9th, the Tenth Mountain gets its division patch, a blue not quite fully circular disc, featuring two crossed red bayonets outlined in white on a blue field. As the only unit of its size in the U.S. Army to specialize in fighting in mountainous and arctic conditions, it is further recognized for its success after Germany's surrender in May 1945. That is when the now ubiquitous mountain tab over the patch is awarded to the division in perpetuity. On November 11th, the first elements of the 10th Mountain's main body, the 86th Infantry Regiment, departs for Italy aboard the USS Argentina the crossing takes eleven days. The rest of the division joins them by mid-January. But before the rest of the division arrives in country the 86th regiment moves up to the front lines overnight between January 8th and 9th. Their first mission is to capture the 3700 foot or 1100 meter Mount Belvedere from the dug-in German troops currently holding the heights a mission that seems tailor-made for the specialized yet green troops. Today there is only one other unit in the US Army that has a mountain tab over its patch. It is a brigade in the Vermont National Guard the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team the direct descendant of the 10th Mountain's World War II 86th Infantry Regiment. Okay, I know this was a lot, just know that I could have gone on a lot longer but as a 10th Mountain alum I am always happy to share my division's history. I'll share its post World War II history at the end of Bob Dole's story. And hopefully it will increase awareness of this unique experimental unit in the US military. Next time we will jump back into Bob Dole's story as he climbs to glory and fights to stay alive. I say next time and not next week because my son's high school graduation is tomorrow and with so many family members in town for that it is going to be very busy in the Irish household for the foreseeable future but it will likely be the week after next or the week after that when the next episode drops Johnson from his bedroll sprang and he called for his boots and skis skied quite well and he skied like hell but he didn't have a bend in his knees he didn't have a bend in his knees he didn't have a bend in his knees skied quite well and he skied like hell but he didn't have a bend in his knees Ow Johnson thought when a skis he bought he would ski with a maximum of ease But the thing he was taught that he soon forgot was to get a little bend in his knees.

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Wants to get a little bend in his knees was to get a little bend in his knees but the thing he was taught that he soon forgot was to get a little bend in his knee Out John and a race was a terrible screen he soon ended up in the trees and the reason he fell was you know damn well that he didn't have a bend in his knees he didn't have been to one in the house I didn't get the bottom down the down