Veterans of Winter Sports

A fairly universal attribute, and sometimes a necessity of Veterans life, is sports. Typically, sports are considered a leisurely activity for civilians, but it is also an enjoyable activity that can help break up the military regiment for Veterans. It is also encouraged by service leadership as it helps in the conditioning of a soldier and/or sailors especially when they are not actively engaged in their military duties.

In our area of the country, with its wintery weather so prevalent, winter sports are a mainstay of the culture here; skiing, skating, and even some ‘indoor’ sports are considered a standard of military life in the wintertime. Sometimes the sports are played at camp during war theater or during R&R. Other times they are played at the soldier’s or sailor’s base; often on fort grounds or on a ship’s dock or the deck of a ship. Either way sports has provided physical, mental, and even spiritual benefits for military personnel.

Take for example the 125th Field Artillery of the U.S. Army. Pictured here is Robert ‘Bob’ Watts, a well-known member of the prestigious fighting unit that spent over 500 days in combat in WWII.

Bob Watts of the 125th Field Artillery (US Army) skiing in Italy

From their landing in northern Africa in 1942, across to Sicily and then up the entire Italian peninsula in 1943, the 125th F.A. was actively engaged virtually every day they were in theater. However, there was always some time allotted to get some physical fitness. How could one pass up on a chance to ski in Bologna, Italia even in the midst of conflict in WWII?

Winter sports are not just on skis, but also on skates. Between figure skating, hockey, bandy and speed skating are all winter sports enthusiasts exercise on blades. Take Frank Brimsek from Eveleth on the Range. He had a budding professional career playing goalie for the Boston Bruins that he had to put on hold for the War. He managed to take his university training in mechanics and applied it to his duty with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and managed to play hockey with club teams within his stint with the Coast Guard. After the war he returned to his professional hockey career.

Frank Brimsek of the Boston Bruins was nicknamed ‘Mr. Zero’ for his numerous shutouts. He also served in the US Coast Guard during WWII.

And ‘winter sports’ doesn’t always mean outdoors. Even though the rest of the world considers and plays basketball in the summer, we treat it as a winter sport. Exercise that can be done indoors too during inclement weather.

One such Veteran was Burton Olson who, unlike most of his classmates, was too tall and lanky for hockey, but was perfect for basketball. He played for the Denfeld Hunters and then enlisted in the U.S. Army after his senior year.

These are just three examples of winter sports that are prevalent in cold weather but there are others too. Biathlon, bandi, ice fishing amongst others come to mind when trying to stay in shape and be entertained in the winter.

And don’t forget to honor our Veterans by documenting and studying their histories. We currently have over 29,000 Veterans catalogued in our Veterans Information Database but only 8k of them have a story on our website. For more information about any of our documented Veterans of northeastern Minnesota, go to www.vets-hall.org to read some of their stories. If there is any interest in volunteering to write any of the 21k+ Veterans stories during the cold winter months, or anytime, reach out to the Veterans Memorial Hall.

-Jay Hagen, Veterans Memorial Hall Program Manager.