ARTHUR C. DELANEY PAPERS

Collection

Identifier: TMD19

Staff Only

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The papers in this collection range from 1972 to 2004. Correspondence comprises the bulk of the Arthur C. Delaney collection, especially with other 10th Mountain veterans. Rosters, induction papers, and other official military documents are included. Reports of the efforts to establish a database of 10th Mountain veteran information at the Denver Public Library are included. Also, the collection contains programs and itineraries from reunions of the organizations that Delaney belongs to.

SERIES 1 WORLD WAR II MILITARY SERVICE 1942-2001 BOX 1

This series contains official army documents, correspondence and newsletters from Delaney's training at Camp Hale and Camp Swift; from his service during the Kiska campaign in 1943; and the Italian campaign in 1945. Delaney's postwar research on the casualties of the war is included.

SERIES 2 ORGANIZATIONS 1959-2004 BOX 1-2

Delaney belonged to numerous organizations associated with the 10th Mountain Division including the 10th Mountain Association, 87th Regiment, L Company, Rocky Mountain Chapter, 10th Mountain Foundation, 10th Mountain Hut and Trail Association and the International Federation of Mountain Soldiers. He participated in reunions over the years and saved many programs and itineraries from these trips. These papers comprise the bulk of the series.

SERIES 3 PERSONAL 1978-2004 BOX 2

This series consists of correspondence between Delaney and his friends. It is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the individual.

SERIES 4 PHOTOGRAPHS 1943, 1983, 1993 BOX 2

The series includes original photographs from the 1943 occupation of Kiska Island and the 1983 return to Kiska memorial trip. Photographs of Camp Hale also form part of the series

SERIES 5 OVERSIZE 1982-1983 OVFOLIO 1-2

The two scrapbooks that constitute this series contain correspondence, photos and photographic negatives of Delaney's trip to Kiska after the war to place a memorial for the men who perished there.

Dates

1942-2004

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

ACCESS:

The collection is open for research.

COPYRIGHT:

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

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.