VAIL, Colo. (November 11, 2026) – In recognition of Veterans Day, the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame expanded its Letters Home digital exhibit with 25 new entries and 160 archival materials about the men and women who served in the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division during World War II.
Letters Home tells the Division’s story through the people who lived it. Letters, photographs, military documents, and firsthand recollections reveal what soldiers experienced during the war and the lives they built afterward.
Among the new additions are photographs from the Italian Campaign, including images from Mussolini’s villa, the Division’s crossing of the Po River, and Deborah Bankhart serving in the field. These photographs offer a rare visual record of the people, places, and pivotal moments that shaped the Division’s wartime experience. The expansion also includes two draft registration cards and approximately a dozen morning reports, official military records that document a unit’s daily activities, movements, and personnel. While photographs and personal correspondence offer intimate glimpses into the lives and experiences of individual veterans, these official documents provide important historical context, helping researchers establish timelines, trace military service, and connect individuals to specific events. Together, these original materials do more than add to the historical record; they help fill in its gaps, preserve stories that might otherwise go untold, and allow future generations to engage with this history through the very documents and photographs left behind by those who lived it.
“There’s something incredibly special about being able to read someone’s own words or look at a photograph they took nearly 80 years ago. These are pieces of history you can’t just Google. We hope visitors take a moment to reflect on this moment in history and walk away feeling a little more connected to these veterans and their stories.”
–Dana Zapfel, Curator and Director of Collections
The museum added materials to the existing entries for Donald Macdonald, Charles Curtis Chase, and Wilfred Slim Davis. New entries feature the stories of:
- Eugene D. Ensley
- Gerald T. Parascandolo
- Steiner B. Stondall
- Reamer A. Bolz
The museum thanks the veterans’ families for providing the materials that made this expansion possible.
The 10th Mountain Division holds a special place in Colorado’s history. Its soldiers trained for mountain warfare at Camp Hale in the Colorado Rockies and went on to fight in some of the most challenging terrain of the Italian Campaign. After the war, many returned to Colorado and helped shape the state’s ski industry by founding ski areas, building mountain communities, and introducing generations of Americans to skiing. Letters Home explores the connections between their military service and those later lives.
Visitors can explore Letters Home at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail, open daily from 10 am to 6 pm.
About the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame
Founded in 1975, the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame celebrates Colorado’s snow sports heritage by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. Located in Vail, the Museum preserves the people, places, and innovations that have shaped snow sports in Colorado and beyond through exhibitions, educational programming, and its Hall of Fame.
For more information, visit snowsportsmuseum.org.
Media Contact:
Dana Zapfel
Curator and Director of Collections
Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame
dana@snowsportsmuseum.org
