This Day in History: 1943-06-10

Ski Trooper Robert Frausen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Frauson of Franklin Turnpike returned home on leave and described the training methods of one of the Army’s newest units. He had been training at Camp Hale with the 10th Army Division under the tutelage of some of the most famous ski instructors in the US, many of them Swiss and Austrians, he related in an interview with a reporter from the Ramsey Journal. Even though they trained at temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees below zero, sunburn lotion and sunglasses were part of their regular equipment. They often spent the night in the snow by constructing snow huts, heated only by their own body warmth. All clothes and even their canteens had to be taken into their sleeping bags at night to prevent them from being frozen. He said he had chosen the ski troops because he had developed a great love of skiing and the outdoors as a member of Mahwah’s Troop 50. (Bristow)