Explore 10th Mountain Division history at the Fort Drum Museum

By Mike Strasser, Staff WriterJanuary 14, 2016

10th Mtn Div Fort Drum Museum 1
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10th Mtn Div Fort Drum Museum
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – This display highlights the 10th Mountain Division's Somalia deployment and includes a pencil sketch titled "Ready for Convoy" and an enlarged color photograph of two Soldiers relaxing below the pile of rucksacks they had stacked in preparation for d... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
10th Mtn Div Fort Drum Museum 3
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FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Did you know there are only four military museums in New York?

Fortunately for Fort Drum community members, one is in their own backyard. Located in the Heritage Center building on South Riva Ridge Loop, the 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum Museum welcomes patrons to explore the installation and its occupants in rich, historical context through the many artifacts on display.

The museum is structured in chronological story-telling fashion that starts not with the arrival of Soldiers to the North Country, but with artifacts that show evidence of its earlier occupants. Pieces of Iroquois pottery and arrowheads, belonging to the Fort Drum Cultural Resources Program, highlight the history that dates back thousands of years ago.

"People have been living here for quite a while, and we try to present that and show that it hasn't always been the Army here," said Kent Bolke, museum curator.

Next, patrons can learn how Soldiers appeared prominently in this area at the Battle of Sackets Harbor during the War of 1812, when American forces were able to repel the British fleet into retreat. Along with victory, it established the importance of this area to the military.

The U.S. Army would later agree with that assessment, and in 1907, the New York National Guard established Camp Hughes on 800 acres here as a training encampment. A year later, the War Department purchased land to establish Pine Camp as a permanent training facility, and the Army has been in the area ever since.

Maps and photographs illustrate the training maneuvers by the 4th Armored Division and 5th Armored Division in preparation for World War II; the 45th Infantry Division conducted winter weather training here, but the weather was so bad that very little training occurred.

Another exhibit showcases some of the work of cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who was stationed here while assigned to the 45th Infantry Division. He worked on the unit's newspaper and later for Stars and Stripes, eventually earning a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1945.

The museum traces the origin of the 10th Mountain Division, which was activated in 1943 as the 10th Light Alpine Division at Camp Hale, Colo. The division would convert to standard infantry at Camp Swift, Texas, where they received the mountain tab and orders to Italy to fight in the mountains. A display case holds some of the cold-weather and mountain gear Soldiers trained with, but ironically, did not take with them to Italy where they executed combat patrols -- famous among them was the surprise nighttime assault on Riva Ridge and the subsequent capture of the Germans' key observation point at Mount Belvedere.

"All of this equipment was left behind in the warehouses at Camp Hale when they went to Camp Swift," Bolke said. "It was so important to get them to Italy that they left without most of their specialized climbing equipment."

Another display contains some of Benito Mussolini's military decorations that were found by two 10th Mountain Division officers inside the dictator's palace on May 1, 1945.

"It arrived to us just a couple years ago in an envelope, folded in thirds, from one of the veterans," Bolke said.

For a curator, it was a remarkable acquisition, although surprising to receive through regular mail.

"So after I read the letter, I got out the white gloves and began protecting it as much as I could, putting it in a fireproof safe," he said. "Eventually we would send it out for specialized conservation."

The letter was washed to remove any acidity from it, and the medals were treated and re-attached into a special frame they received free of cost.

"The framer did this amazing job framing it and didn't charge us anything," Bolke said. "He just wanted to be able to take part in this because it was just one of those great artifacts that doesn't come along very often."

Bolke said that all items are catalogued in the Army Museum System, stored at Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, and they are cleared to be displayed in a military museum.

"The rules and laws have changed since World War II about what Soldiers can and cannot bring back with them from deployments," he said. "What hasn't changed is our interest in telling the Soldiers' stories, and we do that in other ways, like through photographs and the different uniforms they have worn."

Some museum patrons may be drawn to the larger items displayed, like the M29 Weasel cargo carrier vehicle, used by 10th Mountain Division Soldiers to traverse the northern Apennine Mountains of Italy, or the heavy machine gun that was captured from the Taliban. Bolke's favorite artifact is somewhat smaller, and certainly less flashy. It's a rock.

Clear tape holds a typed message to this artifact that reads: "The coveted 'Rock of Somalia' award, presented to the windshield of Specialist Hank Othmar, during an informal ceremony on route 7, north of Mogadishu, 14 July 1993."

The "Rock of Somalia" was named by the Soldier at whom it was thrown, and it exemplifies one person's experience during a humanitarian operation that turned to tragedy.

By the mid-1980s, Fort Drum became home to the newly activated 10th Mountain Division (LI, which grew to about 10,000 Soldiers and 15,000 Family Members by 1990. Bolke likes to start with Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when talking about the modern 10th Mountain Division.

"That really became the division's first operational test, and difficult to imagine because you saw tornado-type destruction on hurricane scale," Bolke said.

As Task Force Mountain, the 10th Mountain Division assumed responsibility for providing disaster relief to the south Florida population. A Kevlar helmet on display belonged to then-Brig. Gen. Lawson Magruder III, who supported Hurricane Andrew Relief as 10th Mountain Division's deputy commanding general and later took command of Task Force Kismayo in Somalia.

Also on display from that deployment is a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, the type used by insurgents; a photo of two privates relaxing beneath a stack of duffel bags they just arranged before departure and a pencil sketch titled, "Ready for Convoy," of a 10th Mountain Division Soldier seated in a Humvee.

Not all of the 10th Mountain Division history can fit within the walls of the museum. Bolke said that it is typical for most museums to have about 10 percent of a collection displayed at one time, given the space, so they try to rotate different items in as much as possible.

Just by appearances alone, some artifacts have an inherent, recognizable "cool factor" to them. Others require more context, and it takes time to label each item with descriptive text to inform patrons of their significance. Bolke said they also have to archive each item into the Army collection, which is a way of ensuring that each artifact has a detailed record of its history. It's also imperative that artifacts are displayed properly and in a way that fits the narrative.

Bolke has two uniforms donated by Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, former 10th Mountain Division (LI) and Fort Drum commander, which are very much a part of division history but have not made their way inside the current rotation of artifacts. One is a desert pattern uniform Townsend wore as a major during Operation Anaconda in 2002; the other is the more familiar Army combat uniform pattern worn in Afghanistan that bears the rank of major general, when Town-send deployed as the last 10th Mountain Division commanding general to serve during Operation Enduring Freedom.

"He was there at the beginning of the combat missions as a major and then at the end of those missions as a major general," Bolke said. "Now, it just take takes a bit of work to get it on display."

It's that behind-the-scenes work that enables an ordinary-looking rock to be viewed in context as "The Rock of Somalia" and provides it with a noteworthy place in 10th Mountain Division history at Fort Drum.

"That keeps it from being cold, lifeless objects in a museum and into something historic," Bolke said. "What is it about that rock that makes it an artifact? The fact that there's a story to it and that story fits into the history we are telling at the museum."

"We can tell war stories here all day long -- that's what we do. If you come in here with specific research requests, we can help you with that too," Bolke said.

The museum is open weekdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.drum.army.mil/AboutFortDrum/Pages/FortDrumMuseum or call (315) 774-0355.

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