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Name
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Wilson, Roger B.
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Rank, Company, Regiment
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Birth date/Death Date
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Vermont Location
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Grafton
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Awards
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Importance of Vermont
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"I have lived with a continued emphasis on mountains and nature and this love later influenced my plans to retire from Boston to Grafton in southern Vermont."
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First skiing experience
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"I learned telemark turns from my father around 1933 when I was about twelve. He had skied in the early 1900s. I first skied on a playground hill."
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College
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Harvard
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Competitive Skiing
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Putney School. "I got heavily involved in competitive skiing while at Putney School, particularly after we beat Stowe in a 4-event state skiing championship in 1938!"
Masters racing
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What was your experience in the 10th like?
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“I first joined the army at Fort Devens. I trained there for a few weeks. After basic training there was an opportunity to choose where you wanted to serve. I tool a train to Camp Hale in the summer of '43. The military experience was hard for me to believe. Later when it got colder, we went on a three week bivouac high up, 12,000 feet or so. It was 25 below zero. I slept in a two man tent with my best friend, a great guy. We were issued chocolate bars to keep our strength up as everyone was losing lots of weight. My tent-mate stole my chocolate several times. He couldn't help himself, and I understood. Everyone had a constant urge to eat fat for nourishment. When I went home on leave, my mother cried when she saw me; I looked like a skeleton.
In the fall of 1943 we started skiing. I got a job being in charge of training instructors, including officers, many of whom had never skied before. When I first got there, some friends asked me to go mountain climbing. We climbed high and I was totally done in by the altitude. I hadn't respected it.
After nine months, I became concerned that the ski troops were not going to be used. The officers in charge of them didn't seem to know what they were doing. I transferred to pilot training, which had just been shut down. Eventually, I became a radio/gunner and served in England and over Germany."
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Why did you join the 10th?
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"I knew a lot of skiers from my racing experience at Putney School and at Harvard. Several of them joined the Tenth Mountain Troops. I loved to ski."
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Ski Patrol
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Ski School
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Ski Industry
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Vermont Ski Area Connection
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Role of Skiing in your Life
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Other information
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Drifters Ski Club. "I helped to found and was the first president of a ski club called the Drifters in Jackson, NH. That club recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and is thriving today. For fifty years, I spent spring weekends climbing and skiing on Mt. Washington. The Drifters today gives a "Roger B. Wilson Headwall" award to club members going over the Headwall for the first time. I still ski modestly at 82."
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Photograph information
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Information submitted by
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