President's Message
March 2013
Dear 10th Mountain Division Veterans, Descendants and Friends:
I would like to share some items of
interest:
UPDATE ON THE 10th MTN DUKW SEARCH PROJECT
At the end of this message, you will find a copy of retired USAF Colonel
Jeff Patton's account of the most recent search for the 10th Mountain
DUKW in Lake Garda, Italy, which was lost in April, 1945. As most
are aware, the National Association, Foundation, Descendant's
Association, and the ProMare Foundation collectively contributed funds
to support this second detailed search of the area. While the
results are less than definitive, those involved in the search effort
firmly believe that this is indeed the 10th Mountain Division DUKW that
went down in April, 1945. A good YouTube video of the DUKW can be
found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx7EbeKdh5o.
UPDATE ON OCTOBER 2013 October REUNION: Planning continues for the
Reunion this
October 11-14 in Washington DC. Please visit the reunion Face Book
page
(https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/201310thMtnDivisionReunion)
often to keep
up to date on the program and other news. We are hoping to be able
to show the
new film "Climb to Glory" produced by the Colorado Ski and Snowboard
Museum
together with Warren Miller Films during the reunion. Kim Hudyma,
Pat Thornton
and their team are working hard so please mark this on your calendars
and show
your support by planning to attend. Look for the next edition of
the Blizzard
for more details as well.
2013 Ski-In: A number of us participated in the most recent Ski-In
out in
Colorado last month. While attendance was lower than in years
past, everyone
had a great time in Leadville hosted by our friends at Ski Cooper, the
Silver
Dollar Saloon and the Golden Burro, plus additional ski days hosted by
Keystone,
Breckenridge and Vail (where we were given a very nice breakfast
reception by
the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum). One of my own favorites
was skiing
“Riva Ridge” at Vail on the anniversary of the Division’s assault on
Riva Ridge.
Among other Vail dignitaries, we were joined by two 10th LI veterans of
Iraq and
Afghanistan who are now patrollers at Vail. This really is
one of the best
annual 10th Mountain activities and I encourage everyone to help keep
this
tradition alive next year.
Other News and Notices:
Email List: The email list that we are using right now is one
built by Val that
has over 1500 addresses of veterans, descendants, friends and others.
Since
there is no simple way to be sure that it is accurate and up to date,
and
because we receive a number of failed deliveries, we are going to build
a new
one. This will take time so in the meantime; my updates will
continue to come
out under Val’s email address. I would ask everyone to forward
these to whoever
may be interested, but for one reason or another may not have received
it.
Thank you for your help on this.
Italy 2015: This will be the 70th anniversary of the 10th’s time in
Italy so we
want it to be big! That means everyone should be putting it on their
calendars
now, start saving, get in shape, you name it. We have had some initial
discussions with the Hill Towns about the possibility of building a
small
memorial on Belvedere sponsored by the Descendants that would be
dedicated on
this trip. More on that as it develops.
Digitized WWII Blizzard: I received the email copied below
recently that I
think you will all find interesting. I've since poked around on
the site and
pulled up Blizzard editions, some written literally days after key
battles in
Italy. I found it fascinating to read these with their first-hand
accounts of
the Division's combat mixed in with everyday news, and hope most of you
will as
well. Hint: after going to the link below, click on the "Historic
Newspapers"
tab and then find either the Blizzard or the Ski-Zette in the drop-down
menu.
From there you can select a specific date that shows as having a file
attached
to it.
How You Can Help:
Attend Chapter and National Meetings: At the most basic level we can all
simply
attend the chapter or national meetings and other gatherings (February
Ski-In,
Memorial Day at Camp Hale, National Reunion, Italy trips, etc.) to
support those
members who give their time and effort to organize these.
Volunteer: Better yet, volunteer to organize activities or suggest ideas
to your
chapter Directors or the Association Board.
More specifically, we need expertise in some key areas:
Non-Profit, Marketing: If you have experience with non-profit membership
drives,
marketing, etc., please consider volunteering. Mike Kehoe will be
leading a team
that will focus on membership development.
Education: Pat Thornton will serve as the newly created VP for Education
and in
that role needs the help of experienced educators, grant writers, etc.
Social Networking: Last, we need people skilled in the use of social
networking
to help us take greater advantage of those tools to get our message out.
As I closed with last time, the Executive Committee listed below will do
our
best to further the goals of the Association and the interests of our
members.
However we want this to be a participative organization and encourage
all
members and friends to get involved however they can. Please visit
the
Descendant web page (http://10thmountaindivisiondescendants.org/default.htm)
for
additional information on activities and initiatives, and don’t hesitate
to call
on any of us with your ideas and suggestions.
Descendant Association Executive Committee
President: Steve Coffey, Desc., 87-F
Senior Vice President: Mike Kehoe, Desc., 616-FA-HQ
Treasurer: Don Perkins, Desc., 87-I
Secretary: Adrian Coffey, Desc., 87-F
Vice President for Education: Pat Thornton, Desc., 85-L&A
Chapter Coordinator: Phebe Davol, Desc., 86-L&A
Immediate Past President: Val Rios, Desc., 87-K
Steve Coffey
Steve Coffey
President,
10th Mountain Division Descendants, Inc
1630 York Mills Lane
Reston, VA 20194
scoffey@10thmtndivdesc.org
Father: Albert Coffey, Jr., 87-F
View February 2013 Message
