The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World WarUniversity Press of Colorado, 2005 - 256 pages The Boys of Winter is the poignant true story of three young Depression-era American ski champions and their brutal, heroic, and ultimately tragic transformation from athletes to infantrymen with the fabled 10th Mountain Division. Rudy Konieczny, Jacob Nunnemacher, and Ralph Bromaghin -- three skiers from disparate geographic and economic backgrounds -- forged names for themselves in the burgeoning sport of snow skiing during the late 1930s. With the world suddenly at war, they found themselves drawn together with several of the world's greatest winter athletes in the US 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, Colorado, where they trained to fight Hitler's troops in the mountains of Europe. Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive historical research, Charles J Sanders reveals the stories of these young men in a fast-paced and exhilarating narrative. Sanders traces their journeys from childhood to ski championships and from training at Mount Rainier and in the Colorado Rockies to bloody battles against the Nazis in the Apennine Mountains of Northern Italy. Ultimately, The Boys of Winter is the story of how some of America's best and brightest died in the war's last and most desperate battles under General Mark Clark, calling into question their sacrifices -- and those of thousands of other troops -- on the 'forgotten' Italian front in the spring of 1945. |
Contents
The Hero of the Thunderbolt Rudy Konieczny | 1 |
The Pied Piper of Pine Lake Jake Nunnemacher | 20 |
The Sun Valley Serenader Ralph Bromaghin | 41 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
10th Mountain Division 87th Regimental History Adams Adolph Alps Arlberg Army artillery Aspen Battalion Belvedere boys Bradley Brendemihl Brooks Brower Burt Interviews Camp Hale Captain Cassino Castel d'Aiano Clark Colorado combat Company David Brower David Burt Denver Public Library Division on file division's Downhill Duke Watson Dwyer Earle enemy Estes Park file in Tenth Filmed interview fire Friedl Friedl Pfeifer German Greylock guys Imbrie Infantry Italy Jake Nunnemacher Jake's Jean Joe Duncan John Imbrie killed Kiska Konieczny Interviews Konieczny's Letter to author Lieutenant Lindemann Interviews Meservey Moun Mount Rainier Mountain Division Collection mountain troops Nazi patrol Percy Rideout Pine Lake Prejsnar racer Ralph Bromaghin Ralph Lafferty recalled remembered Riva Ridge Rudy Konieczny Rudy's Sergeant Ski Team Ski Troops skiers snow Soldiers on Skis Sun Valley tain telephone interview Tenth Mountain Division Thunderbolt Torraccia troopers Truscott Watson Interviews Western History Department Whitlock and Bishop Winter
References to this book
Never Will We Forget: Oral Histories of World War II Marilyn Mayer Culpepper No preview available - 2008 |