Camp Hale

By Ken Pletcher Sopris Sun Correspondent

The text from the White House press liaison came while we were at dinner in Avon. My wife Bonnie would be credentialed and able to join me the next day (Oct. 12) at the ceremony where President Joe Biden would dedicate the new Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument! We had learned that the event would actually be at the Camp Hale site just that day; I had obtained my credentials only a little earlier.

This was special. Bonnie’s father had been a ski trooper in the fabled 10th Mountain Division during World War II. Perhaps an unlikely candidate — he was a farm boy from central Illinois and was 30 when he enlisted in 1942 — he nonetheless underwent the vigorous training at the camp and was deployed to the Aleutians and then Guam for the remainder of the war. He returned to Illinois afterward, but every summer Bonnie’s family camped somewhere in the West. “Dad gave us our love of the West,” she said, noting that he would reconnect with his 10th Mountain buddies on those trips.

We had driven by the training site on National Forest land numerous times and had stopped there once or twice. And like so many others — including Senator Michael Bennet, veterans’ groups, local leaders and tribal people — we had hoped that this day would come. Here it was at last!

We couldn’t have asked for more perfect autumn weather: crystal clear bluebird sky and cool, crisp air but with a warm sun. As we waited in Avon for the shuttle bus that would take the press corps to the site, we met two young reporters from the Leadville Herald Democrat (they noticed our Melanzana shirts). They were as excited as we were to be participating in an event of such magnitude.

Arriving at the Camp Hale site reinforced what a big deal this was — a fl eet of satellite uplink trucks, banks of klieg lights and cameras on risers, a small army of sound and video technicians, several emergency vehicles and EMT crews. And, of course, Secret Service agents everywhere, including pairs of sharpshooters perched on the cliff s high above our spot. This all, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. It was a remarkable logistical achievement!

While waiting for the presidential motorcade to arrive (from Eagle County Regional Airport), I checked out an exhibit set up by the Colorado Snowsports Museum Hall of Fame. Its executive director, Jennifer Mason, said, “It means a lot to the museum to have the [monument] designation.” On display were large photos of the troops in training, literature and some of the gear used by the soldiers. I marveled again at how primitive the equipment was compared to what is available to us nowadays and how incredibly arduous the training must have been for my father-in-law and the others.

Guests began arriving and fi lled the tight semicircle of folding chairs around the dais platform — local residents and public offi cials, representatives from the two Colorado Ute tribes (including several women in beautiful traditional fi nery), many U.S. Forest Service employees and others, all of whom had worked to get the site’s national monument designation.

The main event

The dignitaries began arriving and fi lling the stage: Governor Jared Polis, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Bennet and fellow senator John Hickenlooper, Representative Joe Neguse and Scott Fitzwilliams, supervisor of White River National Forest — all key actors leading up to this day. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, President Biden was up there among them.

Polis opened the proceedings by praising Biden. “As a long-time supporter of honoring our veterans and preserving these lands, I know fi rsthand that there is signifi cant and strong local support for this designation to preserve our public lands, so I applaud President Biden for taking this action.” He was followed by the other offi cials on the dais who cited the years-long eff orts by 10th Mountain veterans, environmental groups, local offi cials and, particularly,

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The Pletchers with Sofía Friedman (center), of the White House Press

Office, displaying our "Mellys". Camp Hale, Oct. 12. Courtesy photo Bennet to get the site protected.

Finally, introduced by Fitzwilliams and greeted by cheers and applause, Biden stepped to the podium and addressed the crowd. He touched on the legacy of the Ute peoples in the area (“This is your progeny, this magnifi cent land. You’ve been great stewards of these sacred lands.”); the fortitude of the troops who had trained at Camp Hale for their February 1945 assault on German troops in the Italian Apennines (“Imagine the courage, the daring, and the genuine sacrifi ce — genuine sacrifi ce — they all made.”); and the perseverance of Sen. Bennet in getting the national monument designation (“This guy, he made this fi nally happen — at least me signing this, certainly.”).

Biden then reiterated the surprise announcement that Secretary Vilsack had made — to huge cheers — only moments earlier: the administration would impose a temporary twoyear halt on new oil and gas leases on the Thompson Divide as it explores instituting a longer 20-year

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