Sun Valley attracts more than its share of notable characters, from entertainment celebrities to professional athletes to bodybuilding politicians. Few, however, have as interesting a tale to tell as John Woodward.
Given Woodward's humble disposition, it's not surprising that someone sharing a gondola cabin with him might not have a hint that the tall, lean 94-year-old played both an important role in both the development of skiing in the United States and with the infamous U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II.
On Wednesday, Woodward sat down at the Sun Valley Inn to reminisce with two other veterans of the 10th Mountain Division: Nelson Bennett, former head of the Sun Valley Ski Patrol, and Lou Whittaker, famous mountaineer and Ketchum resident.
Woodward and Bennett were in town for their annual trip with the Ancient Skiers, a group of about 400 skiers from the Pacific Northwest over the age of 65 who have been hitting the slopes on Bald Mountain for the past 27 years.
Whittaker, the young buck of the group at a spry 81 that would put most local athletes to shame, missed the division's decisive and famous action in Italy, but perfectly understood the mountain mentality that drove his elder counterparts to seek out one of the most rugged and well-trained units in the nation's military.
"The ski training didn't end up helping too much," Woodward said about his time in the rugged Italian Apennines mountain range. "The biggest advantage was being able to take care of ourselves in the cold. Our guys were always ready to go."
Woodward himself was an instrumental figure in this training, joining the precursor to the 10th Mountain Division, the 15th Infantry Regiment, after captaining the University of Washington ski team.
After receiving his commission as a lieutenant through the ROTC program at school, he asked to enter active duty as long as it could be part of a mountain unit, an interest sparked after hearing about Finnish soldiers on skis defeating a much larger Russian force in 1939.
Woodward led men through training exercises around Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains in Washington. In 1942, he was part of the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, and continued his work, selecting a group of 100 skilled skiers and mountaineers from the 87th to help instruct at Fort Lewis, Wash.
To help fill the ranks of the 87th, a recruitment letter was sent to the National Ski Association of America, including Nelson Bennett in Sun Valley, looking for "skiers and climbers who are physically fit for rigorous mountain training. Those who have lived and worked in the mountains are particularly desired ... Character references, as such, are not required."
Bennett nicely summed up the changes that were taking place for the mountain troops.
"It really took three years for the 10th to be put together," Bennett said. "The division was not really even a division until shortly before it went overseas."
That moment came at the end of 1944, when the first mountain troops landed in Italy, where it would spend the next five months. Actions would include the Riva Ridge Operation and battle for Mount Belvedere, one of the last battles of the war.
"In some ways we were overtrained," Woodward said of this group of ski racers and mountain climbers. "We were held back because there were other flat ground troops. We were offered to Eisenhower and he said, 'I don't want those ski bums.'"
In the mountains of northern Italy, the 10th Mountain Division, including the 87th Regiment, finally had its skills put to the test with an attack up the sheer faces of Riva Ridge. The goal of the operation was to clear German forces out from their high-elevation observation posts so American forces could take Mount Belvedere, which sat across a valley and was heavily protected by German artillery.
"The artillery was falling all the time—you had to stay three feet underground," Woodward said. "The Germans were so good that if you stuck your hand out they would fire an 88 [mm] shell at it."
After these successful operations, the division headed through the Po Valley, hot on the heels of the Germans.
"In the valley, we would go into these houses where [German] coats and hats were still hanging," said Woodward, who held the rank of major through the war and was then promoted to colonel.
Woodward said the end of the war was met not with a party, but with "a sigh of relief."
"It took awhile to realize the war was over," Woodward said. "I felt really unfortunate for the guys who got killed when the war was just about over."
That sacrifice did not go unnoticed by the locals, though. Woodward said he has returned to Italy four or five times with fellow 10th Mountain Division veterans and been greeted by signs that thanked the mountain troops for saving the Italians from the Germans.
After the war, both Woodward and Bennett returned from Italy to resume careers in the ski industry.
Bennett served as Sun Valley's superintendent of recreational facilities (ski patrol, trail maintenance, race team and mountain management) from 1945 to 1960. He was general manager of White Pass in Washington from 1960 to 1984 and later a ski business consultant.
Woodward patented the first flexible heel release binding and was a partner for 25 years at the Anderson and Thompson Ski Co., which developed the world's first laminated ski.
Woodward, Bennett and Whittaker have had an untold number of experiences in the mountains and on the slopes over the past half century, some of which have surely been lost to time. But Whittaker noted that one aspect of their military history that was both universal and impossible to forget was the bond forged through the intense mountain training. It was a theme Woodward readily agreed with.
"You knew the eight or nine guys in your squad better than you knew your own brother," he said.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
John Woodward, left, Nelson Bennett, center, and Lou Whittaker enjoy the fresh air in Sun Valley Village. Photo by David N. Seelig
