Sidebar by Allen Best
Camp Hale – July 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association is buying its 14th backcountry structure, the Belvedere Hut. The hut is to be renamed the Sangree Mitchell Froelicher Hut, after a member of the 10th Mountain Division who died in combat during World War II in Italy.
Sales price of the hut is $550,000. In addition, fund-raisers have collected a $200,000 endowment fund, to ensure operations. (Hut fees alone do not fully support the operations of backcountry huts.)
The hut was built in 1998 by two Leadville men, Ty Hall and Greg Follett. Highest among the huts, it is located just below treeline, at an elevation of 11,600 feet, between Leadville and Frémont Pass.
Ben Dodge, executive director of the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, called it a “wonderful example of the 10th Mountain enhancing the value of its current system. There aren’t many opportunities to build new huts, if any at all, and we need to make sure we offer a good backcountry experience.”
Starting with a major grant from Denver’s Gates Family Foundation, money was raised from numerous foundations as well as 120 individuals, including many veterans of the 10th Mountain Division to which Froelicher belonged. Supervising the fund-raising was Froelicher’s brother, Charles Froelicher, who serves on the board of the Gates foundation and is a former headmaster of Denver Country Day, a private school.
In a profile posted on the website for the 10th Mountain Division (www.belvederehut.org/bio.html), Froelicher tells about his brother. They grew up in Philadelphia and then in Baltimore. In high school, Sangree Mitchell Froelicher was vice president of the student council; played soccer, basketball and lacrosse; and was elected to the Maryland All-State Lacrosse Team.
Sangree went to Colgate University in 1941. In 1943, he learned that a number of his friends were joining the newly founded “ski” troops training at Camp Hale, and he subsequently turned down offers to go to Officer’s Candidate School in order to become a rifleman in the 10th Mountain Division.
In Italy, where the 10th Mountain Division saw all of its action in a five-month engagement during the winter and spring of 1945, Sangree Froelicher and another soldier had the distinction of being part of the fire combat action. They were dispatched at night to climb Pizzo di Campiano, the easternmost peak on Riva Ridge. Their goal was to infiltrate, capture, and take prisoners in order to assess the strength of the German forces atop the pivotal mountain.
They reached the top after a four-and-a-half-hour climb, but the German sentries were tipped off by a barking dog. When a German soldier reached for his carbine, the American soldiers opened up with their tommy guns. So began one of the bloodiest episodes of combat during World War II.
Froelicher survived that night, and indeed, the Americans managed to wrestle away Riva Ridge with surprising speed a few nights later.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., a college co-ed awaited Sangree’s return. In a memoir posted on the web, Chuck Froelicher, explains that his brother Sangree asked the family to present an engagement ring on his behalf; so they held a festive dinner and the ring was presented. In the greatest of ironies, Sangree Froelicher was fighting his last battle that same day, March 4, 1945. But the news was not relayed to his family for several weeks.
A citation for the silver star that was posthumously awarded tells what happened:
“During the assault of an enemy-held mountain village, Staff Sergeant Froelicher, though wounded, refused to be evacuated but continued to lead his men onward. In the hail of automatic weapons and rifle fire he moved about among his men, urging them forward, and himself leading the way. When an enemy machine gun held up the advance, he went forward with his rocket launcher to knock the emplacement out. He entered an enemy-held house and took six prisoners, thus reducing another strong-point of resistance. When the final objective had been captured, Staff Sergeant Froelicher braved the fire to organize defensive positions and place his men in cover, until an enemy bullet instantly killed him.”
Among the foundations that have contributed to the purchase and endowment of the Froehlicher Hut are the Adolph Coors, El Pomar Foundation, William H. Donner, Anschutz, and J.F.M. foundations.