Ralph W. "Gus" Ball oral history
Scope and Contents
The interview provides information and personal observations about Ball's experiences: being a member of the 87th Mountain Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash. after graduating from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass.; working with other college graduates from schools with ski teams; landing at Kiska Island; sent to N.H. to teach rock climbing and learning Norwegian; life and teaching skiing at Cooper Mountain, Camp Hale, Colo.; "D" series; time at Camp Swift, Tex. and deployment to Italy; being a jeep driver in the Signal Corps and not seeing much direct action; how mountain training prepared the 10th Mountain Division to break the Gothic Line. Post-war experiences: moving to Colo.; earning at J.D. at the University of Denver; skiing and rock climbing in different parts of the world.
Dates
- Check date
Creator
- Ball, Ralph W.,1919- (Person)
- Master, John, (Person)
- Ball, Ralph W., 1919- (Person)
- Roaring Fork Valley Historical Association, (Organization)
Language of Materials
Material is in English unless otherwise noted.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the author of the items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Biographical / Historical
Ralph W. "Gus" Ball was born in Deerfield, Mass. on September 6, 1919 and enlisted in the Army on July 29, 1942 at Springfield, Mass. At the time of his enlistment he was unmarried, had completed two years of college and working in the aviation industry. Ball joined the 10th Mountain Division at at Ft. Lewis, Wash., but was also stationed at Jolon, Calif. and saw service on Kiska Island, Alaska before being sent to Camp Hale, Colo. Initially, he served with Companies G, I and Headquarters of the 87th Mountain Infantry and was later assigned to the 110th Signal Company. Ball also served at Camp Swift, Tex. before being sent to Italy. He attained the rank of Private First Class.
Extent
1 DVD
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift;Roaring Fork Valley Historical Association;2007.
Linking Entry Complexity Note
Forms part of the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center Collection.
- Ball, Ralph W., 1919- -- Interviews.
- Camp Hale (Colo.) -- History. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Camp Swift (Tex.) -- History. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- DVDs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Kiska Island (Alaska) -- History. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Military maneuvers -- Cold weather conditions. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mini-DV Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Oral histories (document genres) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Ski troops -- History -- Interviews. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Soldiers -- United States -- Interviews. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States. Army. 110th Mountain Signal Company -- Interviews.
- United States. Army. Mountain Division, 10th -- Interviews.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Finding Aid for the Ralph W. "Gus" Ball oral history,2007[videorecording]
- Author
- Finding Aid prepared from MARC data.
- Description rules
- Anglo American Cataloguing Rules
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy Repository
