Arthur C. Delaney oral history

Arthur C. Delaney was born on October 18, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York where he spent the first ten years of his life. Then his family moved to various locations in the state, settling finally in Valley Stream, New York, where Delaney went to high school. After graduation, he worked in New York City for Shell Oil Company. After World War II started in Europe during 1939, Delaney’s work for the foreign-owned company involved customs declarations.

Seeking adventure, Delaney and a friend saved money to travel to Alaska. After a Greyhound bus trip to Seattle, Washington, they traveled steerage on a ship to Anchorage, Alaska. Obtaining work with the Army Corps of Engineers, they surveyed and helped install coastal guns at a fort in Seward, Alaska.

After Pearl Harbor, Delaney decided to enlist in the Army. The November 9, 1942 cover of Life magazine that featured a 10th Mountain soldier caught his imagination. Delaney wrote to the National Ski Patrol, the organization that recruited 10th Mountain soldiers at the time. He successfully joined the 87th Regiment, Company L, of the 10th Mountain Division. Delaney trained at Camp Hale, Colorado; Fort Ord, California; Camp Carson, Colorado; and Camp Swift, Texas. He served in combat during the Kiska campaign in 1943 and during the Italian campaign in 1945. On March 3, 1945, Delaney was wounded on Mount Della Vedetta, Italy.

Delaney recovered from his wounds in upstate New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1949 with a degree in hotel administration. He worked at the Homestead Resort at Hot Springs, Virginia and spent one winter working at Cat Key in the Bahamas. Eventually, Delaney moved to Denver, Colorado. He worked for Strick Trailers, a division of Fruehoff, from 1955 to 1966. In 1967, he and a partner bought a Coors distributorship for northeast Denver. Delaney retired in 1983, selling his distributorship back to Coors.

After World War II, Delaney was active in the 10th Mountain National Association, 10th Mountain Foundation, 10th Mountain Division Hut Association and the International Foundation of Mountain Soldiers. With other veterans from 87th Infantry, L Company, he organized a trip to Kiska, Alaska, in 1983 to place a monument commemorating their World War II actions. The group revisited Kiska in 1993 to check on the monument and pay their respects to those who lost their lives on the island. Delaney married Nancy Persons, whom he met at Cornell University. They had four children, three daughters, a son and four grandchildren. Delaney passed away on April 29, 2020.