John T. Goegel lives in Canterbury.
The war in Ukraine is ever-present in the media. The Ukrainians’ fight to preserve their sovereignty in a war of aggression by a totalitarian state is a reminder of a worldwide struggle for freedom that involved almost 200 nations more than 75 years ago.
A photo shows two young men frozen in a moment of time (August, 1943) at Camp George West in Golden, CO. Two friends crossing paths a distance from their hometown of Brooklyn, NY. One gentleman, Morgan Vincent Desmond, I know very little of. The other gentleman is Patrick Joseph Kelly, my father-in-law. Lieut. Kelly, U.S. Army, followed the war across Europe, serving in France, Belgium and Germany. Tech. Sgt. Desmond was a member of the famous 10th Mountain Division, an elite ski troop.
With the purpose of conducting highly specialized winter warfare missions, the 10th was initially comprised of a distinct subculture of outdoorsmen (world-class skiers and mountaineers) and trained at Camp Hale (20 miles south of Leadville, CO) in a valley surrounded by 13,000-foot peaks of the Rocky Mountains. The unit was assigned its first mission in late 1944 when the Allied offensive stalled as the Apennine Mountains of Northern Italy became an impenetrable Axis fortress.
Desmond’s unit, the 86th Infantry Regiment, sailed for the Italian front on December 11, 1944 (his son would be born on Dec. 14). By January 20, all three of the 10th’s regiments (85th, 86th and 87th) were on or near the front line. The 10th Mountain Division was responsible for the Mount Belvedere area, climbing nearby Riva Ridge during the night of Feb. 18 and attacking on Feb. 20.
Sgt. Desmond was killed in action on the first day of the attack. Belvedere and the surrounding peaks were cleared after four days of heavy fighting. Sgt. Desmond’s remains were buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Castelfiorentino, Italy. In 1949, the remains were relocated to the Florence-American Cemetery; some chose to bring family members’ remains home. Sgt. Desmond’s final resting place is in the Old Stone Fort Cemetery in Schoharie, NY.
A photo, two young men frozen in a moment in time. One would return from the war in Europe to live a long and prosperous life. The other would not, having made the ultimate sacrifice.
According to the Yupiit, when one dies, it is the beginning of an infinite journey on a beautiful underground river. But there is danger along the way. The departed person’s kayak can get caught in one of the currents and be trapped forever in one of the eddy pools near the riverbanks. The traveler has no power to guide the kayak. Only those who remain behind in the world of the living can keep the kayak in the center of the river, safe from the dangerous currents and eddies. They do this through the words they speak and the thoughts they hold about the one who has departed.