History on a Shirt
Tenth Mountain Division t-shirt
Tenth Mountain Division Short Sleeve Royal Blue Gildan 100% Cotton T-Shirt
This shirt shows a skier with a gun strapped to his back ski-jumping off the snowy text of "10th MOUNTAIN DIVISION" and the division patch.
The Tenth Mountain Division trained at Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado to fight in the Italian Alps in World War 2. Their successes in the war included the destruction of five elite German divisions, and the Medal of Honor awarded to John D. Magrath, who died at the age of 19. The division was deactivated but later reactivated and currently exists at Fort Drum, NY, which is proud of the division's history.
But the skiing didn't stop with Germany's surrender. Veterans of the Tenth Mountain Division (some of whom had been promoting skiing even before the war) came back to Colorado and the Southwest and made skiing a regional industry - the "white gold" in "them thar 'ills". Tenth Mountain veterans developed ski hills and lifts (including Vail and Aspen), ran ski lodges, and improved ski equipment. The Camp Hale area turned into Ski Cooper (not to be confused with Copper Mountain, which is sort of around the corner from Ski Cooper). The soldiers Colorado hosted repaid the state many times over by turning mining ghost towns into world-famous resorts.