This fine book is available now at our bookstore....

Love Letter to Americans: Observations of a Ski Trooper and Journalist

by Donald G. Brown

622 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0826; ISBN 1-4120-0458-6; US$49.00, C$58.00, EUR40.00, £28.00

Intended as a thank-you letter to those who helped the author mature and survive being a WWII Ski Trooper and a journalist throughout the US over 45 years.

Read more!

about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Foreword Senator Bob Dole 901 15th Street, N.W. Suite 410 Washington, D.C. 20005 "Donald Brown has written an outstanding book that will quickly become required reading for anyone interested in World War II, or the 10th Mountain Division. While serving as a "Thank You" to the many Americans who helped Don along the way, it also relates many wonderful and moving human interest stories about the 10th Mountain Division - a fraternity I know a little something about. Because Don is also an accomplished journalist, he has seamlessly woven his words, memories and deeds in such a way as to create a living and breathing memorial to all he served with, and all who are fortunate enough to read this work. Donald Brown is a patriot, a friend, and a gifted writer, and I highly recommend this tribute to a simpler time." --Senator Bob Dole

---

About the Author Donald G. (Don) Brown, SGT, born in Lynn, MA Oct 1, 1922. Graduated Wakefield, MA high school in 1940; University of Oregon (Eugene) with BS degree in journalism in 1948, followed by graduate study. Spent 45 years in journalism. Raised as Lynnfield, MA and Amherst, NH farm boy. Worked way through high school as newspaper reporter, laborer, Big Name Band dance hall attendant, high school newspaper and yearbook editor, farmer and heavy construction worker. Mother, a teacher; father, a policeman. One grandfather was a Boston Associated Press editor. Great-Grandparents included Boston Lighthouse keepers, sailors, harbor pilot, church leaders, legislators and many teachers. By age 19 drove his Model A Ford, hitchhiked and walked through the contiguous 48 states in preparation for a professional career in journalism, inspired by correspondent Ernie Pyle's newspaper travel stories. Enlisted 10th Mtn. Div. (Ski Troops) from University of Oregon and served entirely in 10th at Ft Lewis, WA, Camp Hale, CO, Camp Swift, TX, Camp Patrick Henry, VA, Italian combat, and Camp Carson, CO. Medals: Good Conduct, EAME Service, Bronze Star 85th Inf. Regt., American Service, Victory Medal, Army of Occupation, INfantry Rifle Marksman award and Po Valley and North Apennines Battle Stars. Honorably discharged Nov. 24, 1945, Ft. Logan, CO. Longevity with 10th, three years, 9 days service. Served in two infantry rifle companies- L, 86th Regt. and A, 85th Regt., thin in Div. HQ during combat on GEN George P. Hay's G-4 staff as sergeant in liaison with many representatives of the half-million personnel from 16 nations attached to 5th Army, British 8th Army and 15th Army Gp. His experiences with the legendary 10th Mtn. Div. which spearheaded the final fighting of the Italian Campaign impressed and inspired him for life. Therefore for the past 54 years he has kept in close contact with hundreds of 10th men and studied closely the entire history of this one-of-a-kind organization. After WWII he was appointed a major in the ORNGR by then-governor Tom McCrall. Married Marva Hutchison of Pilot Rock, OR in 1947. On June 15, 1997, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with children: Sue Anne (teacher), Barry Donald (Realtor and logger), and Rob Alan (pilot), along with 10h Mtn. Div. buddies, family and friends. Grandchildren: Heidi, Davin, Brandy and Alisyn. Marva's father and mother were Oregon wheat ranchers. Completed college under the GI Bill. Avocations include 10th Mtn. Div. history, skiing, fishing, hiking, biking, greenhouse gardening, still touring America with wife and motor home (over 200,000 miles in past few years), residential construction of conventional home, mountain log cabin, and Geodesic Dome designed by architect Buckminster Fuller - now permanent residence in central Oregon, reading, writing and crossword puzzles. Marva: Retired, public school teacher for 40 years and a patient, long-enduring participant in the 10th Mtn. Div. ventures, get-togethers and discussions with 10th veterans and wives. Brown is a retired journalist after 45 years with New England and West Coast newspapers, on-air radio and television (ABC and NBC affiliates), and magazines. He owned and published a newsletter for 20 years from Oregon. Served with American Newspaper Guild (CIO) as chapter president, General Laborers Union (AFL), as construction worker, Elks Lodge, Lions Club, Eagles Lodge, La Pine, OR American Legion Post 45, Kingston, NH VFW Post 1088, lifetime member, member BSA Lynnfield, MA, and forever a member of the 10th Mtn. Div. Assoc. Presently researching, verifying and drafting a proposed book of his memoirs planned as a thank you letter to Americans for providing his education, nurturing him through the Great Depression, helping him to see America and survive that terrible war, and for building faith in himself, his fellow Americans, and the greatest country God ever created. He knows what's right with America.

---

Sample Excerpts

Foreward

Dear Fellow Americans,

My wife, Marva, and I visited a gift shop in downtown Durango CO in 1992 following a national reunion of my Army Ski Troops at Vail and Leadville, driving our motor home.

A lady clerk inquired about the 10th Mountain Division insignia on my cap so I told her about our warfare training at Camp Hale between Vail and Aspen in the early 1940's and how we took that experience to fight the Nazis in Italy in World War II from the Apennines to the Alps.

She was about 35 years old. And she said she had never heard about us although Durango is within hiking distance of White River National Forest where we climbed and skied. This lady insisted I write about our experiences. I had also outlined some of my career in journalism.

I told her that many books, movies and articles had been produced that dealt with the war,

"But you're a journalist and you have told me some very unusual human interest stories - not only about your buddies, but your early life being a newsman. You have a book full of memories."

Before we left her shop she pleaded that I write the book. "Do it before it's too late, so we can read it." I have heard our late historian, Stephen E Ambrose, say this often.

Many, many similar reactions have occurred around this country as I have told people about knowing so may wonderful Americans. My answer to them had been that I would think about it. I never discussed writing this book previously because for me that would have been presumptive.

I have heard many people say they were going to write a book - which they really never intended to do. You've probably heard it yourself. I could not do that.

I am a member of our 10th Mt. Div. Assn., the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1088 in Kingston NH, and American Legion Post 45, La Pine OR.

Marva and I enjoy visiting these veterans' groups all across the country and have driven our vehicles more than 250,000 miles since retirement in 1983 to see them. We feel so safe and comfortable with them because most of them have been through the mill and then some. We also belong to the Order of Elks and have the same comradeship.

Another recent visit impressed me deeply. Marva and I in late 2000 drove up to Cheney WA from La Pine. We dropped in to its Legion Post. A lady sitting next to us at the bar initiated a conversation. I told her we had driven hundreds of miles just to see Bruce Snow, 85, my former master sergeant in Tenth headquarters who lived nearby. He is one of the unsung heroes of our infantry division.

Bruce had been top ranking enlisted man in the 15,000 member Tenth on our general's staff for Logistics, or G-4.

Those of you unfamiliar with army terms may not know that's the critical section in charge of supplies of all kinds (materiel), transportation; from a mule or horse to the tanks, guns, food, and quarters from tents to hotels. Logistics handles everything needed to keep soldiers well and on the move. And the dead. I served with Bruce every day during the Italian campaign as a sergeant.

I told the lady at the Legion other accounts of our life in that war, my journalistic background and about some of the great people I have known who bolstered my love for our country. And of my faith in the goodness of most people. She grew powerfully emotional and shed tears.

"You have to write this down for all of us to read," she insisted. "And before you leave here tonight I want to give you a hug." And she did.

"Please do it. And don't forget," were her parting words. Next day Marva and I visited my cherished master sergeant. Bruce Snow was one of only three non-commissioned officers with four high ranking officers in our Tenth in late 1944 to precede the entire division to Italy in preparation for our arrival and combat.

A graduate of the University of Colorado and a native of Boulder, Bruce after that war was chief civilian staff officer with the United States Air Force Survival School for 25 years! This was only one of his many accomplishments. Bruce and his wife, Mary Ann, were married about 55 years. They had six children - all girls. I kidded my sergeant while in Cheney that anyone who raised six daughters had to be one of the world's experts in survival. He laughed in agreement.

Bruce enjoyed my recounting our meeting with the lady at the Legion hall. "You write that book, Don, " he said. "You have the memory and accuracy, and you were one of the best typists I ever knew. We need you to do it." But the most persistent prodding to write a memoir has come from another man I have admired for more that 55 years.

He is retired Commander Merlyn F. Wirth, 80, U.S. Naval Air Service, now of Tyghe Valley OR.

Mike and I met in Eugene OR in 1948 during his transition between Navy assignments, civilian life, and then back to the Navy. He re-upped and remained in that service for about 25 years. Mike retired just under a captain's rating. His many accomplishments included flying anti-submarine patrol from aircraft carriers in the North Atlantic during World War II when Adolph Hitler nearly dominated those sea-lanes. And then he went to Korea, flying from carriers again.

This guy logged 650 obviously successful flights to and from those carriers bobbing like corks atop the world's stormy seas - often at night without lights or radio communications to stay alive. And frequently in combat. One black and stormy night, unbelievably his compass failed, and his radio and radar quit. His fuel was running low. Ask any pilot about those odds. Prayer was his only reserve. Then a miracle guided him back through the storm, unseen and unseeable, and of course unknown to Mike, the plane flew close to his carrier.

The crew below heard his plane and broke every security rule by turning on all ship's lights. Mike dove down for another good landing. He says that God was his co-pilot. Mike today is a leader in his church. During his Naval service after the wars he pulled duty as a public relations officer for the Navy's prestigious Blue Angels aerobatic team which helps recruit enlistees.

In that position in the 1960's Mike asked me one day if I'd like to take a ride with the Angels and write the story.

"You bet," I said.

Mike arranged the flight. I suited up at the Eugene Airport, took a crash course on what to do while in the air and how to jettison from the cockpit into the sky with my parachute if trouble developed.

I had been aboard B-17 Flying Fortresses, flown in the Boeing China Clipper Mandarin, the old Ford Tri-motor, and later one of the first DC-10 jets. I've flown in many private planes on news assignments with Federal Aviation Administration instructors and inspectors and others in the Piper Cubs and Cessnas, the 700-series Boeing jets, and turboprop jets.

But nothing in my life has matched that wild ride with those Blue Angels as they screamed through the sky. Because of Mike I still remember vividly being one of the few civilians ever permitted to fly in the Cougars at that time. It didn't help my physical preparedness that I had spent much of the previous evening at the Eugene Hotel with off-duty crewmembers and Mike in a long visit. Most newsmen and Navy personnel I have known enjoy a tot after hours. We did.

We flew that day over Oregon, the Pacific Ocean, pulled a few gravity-force pressures, and I sweated but survived what I later reported was like a shooting star ride strapped inside a baby carriage for a beautiful landing. What a hell of an experience! I joked that as a taxpayer my plane ride gave me some of my money back.

That flight with the Angels was not a joy ride. It developed into a symbolic reminder for the rest of my life of the dedication our military men and women have invested to protect liberty for our greatest country on earth, with the support of America's civilians.

They often risk their lives daily to protect us, as Mike and his comrades did many times a long time ago.

We all tend to take the blessings of our freedom for granted, inbetween emergencies when they pull us through. Our older citizens talk a lot about the wars, depressions, family tragedies, school and church life, and all the rest.

I hear gripes every day from them about how many children don't understand or care about leadership or love for freedom. I tend to agree with you older Americans. But I'm an optimist and I hope this book will encourage many young citizens to heed what our elders are saying.

Well, Mike Wirth agrees that we have to pass our experiences along in the hopes younger people will listen and act. Mike and I have hunted for deer and fished for trout, salmon, and steelhead for years. He's a super outdoorsman but had better luck as a combat pilot than with the rod, rifle, and reel.

He's been aware that I've been researching, double-checking my photos and written records, which now dominate part of our home in La Pine. And he knows that I have been considering writing this book. For too long, in fact. He told me the other day, "Don, get off your ass and do it. If you don't, I'll come back and haunt you."

We laugh a lot when we get together, but he was serious. When Commander Wirth tells you to do something, you'd better do it. So to Mike and the scores of you who have been prodding me for years: Here we go into the high blue yonder. For me it has been quite a flight and I hope you'll stay aboard for the final landing. Don't leave the cockpit yet.

Come with me through the Great Depression, Prohibition, my travels across America in my Model A Ford, my education and service in the Ski Troops, then back to college, followed by nearly 50 years in journalism, and now my retirement at 80.

The number of men, women and children who inspired me personally or otherwise contributed to this story ranges into the many hundreds. I have listed their names in a special section at the end of the book. There's no way I could have included them all in this listing. So if you read my memoir and feel slighted, please accept my apologies. You know what you have contributed to my life and to our country.

This book is representative of those with whom I have spent my life or who directly influenced it. It's been a great ride for me, and I want you to know some background that I experienced with them.

I can remember back at least 75 years. I consider myself an observer, trained to keep my eyes open by my policeman father, the Boy Scouts of America, the U.S. Army as a combat veteran who survived by observing, and as a longtime journalist whose profession would have been meaningless without constant observation.

This is a "thank you" letter to these Americans who let me share a part of their lives with them as they made contributions toward building a better country. It's not about me. I am merely your reporter. I don't seek any more bylines. I've had thousands of those for which I am eternally grateful, along with on-air exposure for years on radio and TV as a news reporter and editor. Most of you have probably never accompanied a journalist to the hundreds of places we go to gather information for story after story. So if you'd like to join me on some of my ventures I'll be delighted. These people I'll tell you about in most instances have strengthened America. I'll also introduce you to a few fools, whom the good guys mostly took care of, one way or the other.

The late great journalist, James B. (Scotty) Reston who worked his way up to become senior editor of The New York Times, encouraged me to write this memoir by his own exemplary book, "Deadline". He, too, would have called mine a "love letter." I, like Scotty, am optimistic about our future.

As a journalist I knew Robert Frost personally. He also has been a lifetime inspiration for me in observing people. And in the proper use of words.

I participated in an interview with him during my career and I visited one of his farms - at Derry NH. I love his works, especially "North of Boston," where we both lived for many years.

I have taken many of the "roads not taken" by others, starting as a member of my Wakefield MA High School Class of 1940. We eulogized him on our graduation night. I can understand so much of what he wrote, as in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening": "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

So please come with me now as I relate some human interest stories about a cross-section of the people I have known and in some instances made the news and mostly helped make ours a better country.

Please don't expect to read a re-fighting of our war in Italy or a re-hash of news stories I wrote. Critics might understandably ask, "Where are the stories he covered, what battles did he observe?"

I will refer to some of these events, but remember this is a human interest backgrounding, a briefing, of soldiers I knew and newsmakers I met. So I'd like to take you with me to my observation posts for a look-see at some very unusual men and women.

I'll be your lookout. Come to think about it, "Lookout" was the name of our WHS newspaper that I edited in 1939 and 1940.

I contemplated long and seriously about whether to write this letter to you.

I've experienced more than eight 10-year periods of living and on several occasions nearly dying in war and in peace. As a journalist all my life I've been blessed with more than my share of experiencing inordinate goodness related to people, places, and events.

Sure, there have been unpleasant incursions. But a predominance of goodness prevailed, as I explained to the gang of thugs who attacked my wife and me one night in Seattle. Remarkably, they eventually revealed their goodness. As a consequence of that episode and my continuing cogitation I decided to write perhaps my final journalistic effort.

I don't have money to pass along, but I own a wealth of experiences, some of which might benefit our youth and re-awaken memories of my older peers. So, come with me and see the goodness that helps to overcome a pernicious enemy. I've written close to 200,000 words and captioned scores of pictures in 40 chapters here. You'll find some mistakes or omissions. None of us are inerrant are we?

I pray that I've followed the advice of my U of O journalism school Dean George S. Turnbull: "Get all the facts, but get them right."

---

Catalogue Information

---

About Trafford Publishing:
Our books are manufactured one-at-a-time to fill individual orders -- part of an innovative process we invented, called "on-demand publishing." Authors and organizations from 120 countries are using Trafford for their publishing needs.
If you (or your company) wish to list a title for sale to the public, contact the nearest office or select "publishing offices" from our bookstore pages for details.

Canada • USA • UK • Republic of Ireland Contact Us URL http://www.trafford.com © 1995-2005 Trafford Publishing, a division of Trafford Holdings Ltd. Trafford's Privacy Policy: Client information will never be provided to anyone outside of Trafford and its subsidiaries except where required by law.