10th Mountain Division Monument
In 1958, WWII 10th Mountain Division veterans Gene Hames, Earl Clark, Frank Romano and Hugh Evans established the Tenth Mountain Division Foundation to memorialize the history and exceptional achievements of the 10th Mountain Division; and to perpetuate its legacy for future generations.
Memorializing the 10th: In the late ‘50’s, the Foundation’s first project was the red-granite monument at Tennessee Pass, Colorado, near the wartime site of Camp Hale and the 10th’s ski training area at Cooper Hill.
Memorial Day
Upon its gleaming surface are etched the names of the nearly 1,000 comrades who made the supreme sacrifice while serving our country in WWII. The Foundation dedicated 10th Mountain Division Monument on Memorial Day, 1959 and since then has been conducting a service each Memorial Day that is open to the public.
American Military Cemetery
In addition to the Memorial Day services and continuing maintenance of the Tennessee Pass Monument, the Foundation provides funds for placement of Memorial Day flowers at the gravesites of the 326 soldiers of the Tenth lost in battle, and who remain interred at the American Military Cemetery near Florence, Italy. The Foundation also arranges for the placement of a wreath during the official Memorial Day ceremonies at that Cemetery.
monument projects
Over the years, the Foundation has also funded select monument projects around the country including most recently the ‘North Country honors the Mountain’ monument near Ft. Drum in Watertown, NY
Providing scholarships
As 10th Mountain veterans children and grand-children were getting to college age, the Foundation leadership responded to their financial assistance needs and has since provided hundreds of academic scholarships.
Today, the Foundation supports financially needy children and descendants of 10th Mountain veterans both by directly awarding scholarships and providing funds to the 10th Mountain KIA program.
To help promote the Division’s legacy, the Foundation, in collaboration with the Charles and Loyola Murphy Family Foundation, also provides scholarship assistance to any military history graduate students focused on the 10th Mountain Division.
Collecting and sharing memories
In 1987, the Foundation collaborated with and provided funding to National Association to create the “10th Mountain Division Resource Center” involving the Denver Public Library and the Colorado Historical Society. These organizations, in cooperation with the National Association and the Foundation, gather and preserve all personal papers, documents, records, photographs, maps and material of the men of the 10th. Today, the Foundation provides funding to support a dedicated curator and their archival work, which includes the maintenance of a digital database of information for about 30,000 men who served in or were attached to the 10th Mountain Division during WWII.
10th Mountain Soldiers and their families
Beginning in 2011 under the Presidency of Descendant Tom Hames and the initiative of Trux Dole, grandson of the Division’s founder Minnie Dole, the Foundation evolved its mission to a more programmatic focus. Building on that initiative in 2016, Dole, as President, re-organized the Foundation to align with the new mission and provide clarity for both donors and potential applicants on giving and getting support.
