Life in the Mountain Troops... is just one damn ridge after another*

Found in his deceased father’s papers in the basement: 25 pages of yellowing onion skin paper, a typewritten narrative written by his father’s army buddy, Gene Durand, covering front lines duty as a mortar squad in the 10th Mountain Division (the ski troops) World War II Italian Campaign from landing in Naples on December 23, 1944 to the Nazi surrender on April 28, 1945. A good writer, squad leader Sgt. Durand captured the feeling of the war as an eyewitness. Sixty years later, when that 10th Mountain descendent suggested to his daughter that she use it for a school paper, he cross-checked it with the official history of the unit. Amusing to read the difference between official spin and what really happened... see the back cover for the story * For the title source, see page 29