TORBOLE, Italy – Two Vicenza-based veterans of the 10th Mountain Division recently joined Americans on a journey to this picturesque town Lake Garda’s northern shore to honor Soldiers who fought and died there in World War II.
The tour group – roughly 70 descendants of 10th Mountain Division Soldiers – visited memorials honoring Col. William Darby, who was killed by enemy fire in Torbole, and 25 10th Mountain Division Soldiers who drowned when their DUKW amphibious vehicle sank in the lake on April 30, 1945.
Maj. Jonathan Kuhn, U.S. Army Garrison Italy’s provost marshal and Staff Sgt. Raquel Birk, a noncommissioned officer from Southern European Task Force, Africa, met the group during their Sept. 23 visit.
“It was really interesting to hear all the unique stories that brought these families together to pay homage to their families,” said Kuhn, a who served with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan. “It was quite an honor for me.”
Each conversation brought up emotional stories. One person said their father was injured in a nearby village. Another one’s father lost a friend in battle. Another had a relative who was a medic that treated many casualties.
For family members, seeing the battlefields firsthand helped paint a picture many veterans were reluctant to discuss after returning home.
“They didn't really want to bring it up,” said Paul Meyerhof, son of Tech Sgt. Robert Meyerhof, 10th Mountain Division medic during WWII. “I think it affected them greatly and they wanted to protect their kids and their family yeah from everything they experienced.”
A week earlier, in Naples, the descendants began tracing their relatives’ footsteps up the Italian peninsula, with stops in Tuscany and into the Po River valley before reaching Lake Garda. The unit fought in Italy from January to May 1945.
While walking the ground where her father fought, Jenny Esler, daughter of Pfc. Leslie Esler, remembered her dad’s thoughts on his service with the 86th Infantry Regiment.
“He felt it was his duty, he had an incredible sense of what's right and what's wrong and he felt that it was a battle that really needed to be fought, and his country was taking a stand on it, so he was gonna be part of that,” Esler said.
Michael Coss, a retired colonel who also served with the 10th Mountain said connecting the heroic actions Soldiers WWII to those serving today is important to him.
“I’m hoping to help bridge the gap between the heroic actions that they had and what we're doing in the modern (10th Mountain Division) to keep the nation safe still today,” Coss said.
The Torbole visit, hosted by the Benach Historical Research organization that keeps the memory of the 10th Mountain Division alive, including a showing of their documentary, “The Lost Mountaineers.” The film details the events that led to 25 Soldiers perishing when the amphibious vehicle sank and the efforts of local Italians to find its location years later.
Antonella Previdi, a member of the Benach organization, valued the American descendants’ visit to her country, she said.
“It tightens the relationship between the USA and Italy. It reminds us that peace is important,” Previdi said. “It was difficult to obtain peace. It was difficult to end the war and it cost a lot of suffering from both sides.”
Most remaining WWII veterans are around a century old, so it falls now onto later generations to share their stories.
“We need to be the ones to carry on the legacy and memory and the lessons learned about war and of atrocities and about peace, and about community and getting along,” said Colleen Monahan, daughter of Sgt. Thomas Monahan, a 10th Mountain Division veteran.
Afterward, on the drive back to Vicenza, Birk, who served in Iraq with the 10th Mountain said she was honored to meet the people and take part in the daylong event.
“It meant a lot to me,” she said.
https://www.war.gov/Spotlights/National-Pow-Mia-Recognition-Day/
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