Tenth Mountain Division

The famous Tenth Mountain Division saw some of the fiercest fighting in World War II; but it began, in a way, as an extension of the Dartmouth Outing Club. At the time, Dartmouth dominated collegiate ski competition and was a center for mountaineering. When the army needed mountain troops, it turned naturally to Dartmouth people. The very first recruit to report for duty was Charlie McLane '41, captain of the Dartmouth ski team. He arrived with his rack-sack and skis and wearing his letter sweater. "I'm reporting for duty with the new mountain division," McLane said.

"Son," replied the sergeant-in-charge, "you are the mountain division."

McLane, and the 14,000 men who followed him, were admitted only after they submitted an application and three letters of recommendation. Over the years the legend has grown that the Tenth had the highest I.Q. of all the infantry divisions.

In all, more than 115 Dartmouth students, alumni, and employees flocked to the newly formed ski troops more than from any other college. Among them were John Rand '38, director of the Outing Club; Larry Jump '36, who had been captured and released by the Germans before he joined the Tenth; Percy Rideout '40 and Bob Merserve '43, ski coaches at Dartmouth; Walker Weed '40, later director of the Hopkins Center Student Workshop; Walter prager, Dartmouth's most famous ski coach; John Montagne '42, assistant director of admissions; Bob Monahan '29, later New Hampshire state senator and Dartmouth College forester; and Harry Bond '42, who became a Dartmouth professor of English.

The Tenth distinguished itself in the Italian campaign of 1945 by breaking the back of the heavily fortified Gothic Line a 120-mile front across the northern Apennine mountains. In 114 days, while crippling or destroying nine German divisions, the Tenth suffered 922 killed and 4,154 wounded, the heaviest casualty rate of any infantry division for its time in combat. It was the most decorated division in the Mediterranean the eighth most decorated out of 95 infantry divisions in World War II.

Shortly after the cessation of hostilities, the Tenth organized the first postwar international ski race in Austria. Walter Prager won the slalom. Following the war a number of its Dartmouth veterans became leaders in the burgeoning American ski industry. Many years later, Newc Eldredge '50 helped to found the International Federation of Mountain Soldiers, dedicated to "peace and human rights."

Dartmouth skiers formed the core of one of thewar's most famous outfits.