What appears to be an unusual 3rd Army SSI: black on yellow, bevo weave | Third Army Ski School
by Phil Hess
© 2002/2003 by author | 
The pin worn on the left pocket of the Ike jacket by graduates of the ski school | 
1Lt. David B. Arnold with his spotter plane | 
Probably a souvenir patch from the ski resort at Davos, Switzerland | 
Capt. Kenneth B. Floto and his wife Carol Hughes-Floto at the Zugspitze, Nov-Dec 1946. |
Recently, I acquired a cigar box containing an assortment of World War II souvenirs accumulated by a veteran. Among the items I found in the box were a standard US Third Army patch, a patch depicting an eagle on skis with the words Davos Platz SSS, an enameled pin marked Third US Army Ski School, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and an unusual Third Army patch: three inches in diameter, black on yellow, German bevo weave with an odd device below the crossbar of the ‘A’.
I was not familiar with the Third Army Ski School, so I began an amateur inquiry. My initial efforts, seeking a staff historian at Third Army Headquarters, and speaking with the staffs of the museums at Fort McPherson and Fort Knox, yielded nothing. A successful resolution to my inquiry turned out to be as close as my computer, for a search of the Internet provided the clues that led me to the two exceptional men who were responsible for founding and running the school.
The originator of the Third Army Ski School was 1LT David B. Arnold, Jr. Prior to his enlistment in the Army, Lt. Arnold had been a member of the ski team at Harvard University, where he had completed his degree in three years. Arnold entered the Army as an enlisted man and trained for the Military Police. Following MP training, Arnold attended Tank Destroyer OCS at Camp Hood, Air Corps flight training at Pittsburgh, Kansas, and finally, at Fort Sill, he received field training as an artillery aerial spotter. And in December 1944, he received his Army Air Corps Liaison Pilot wings and was ordered to Europe, where, piloting a 90-hp L-4 Piper Cub, Lt. Arnold served as a spotter for the 204th Field Artillery Group in support of XX Corps. In a little over two months, he flew 108 combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters.
Lacking the points required to rotate home when hostilities ended, Lt. Arnold remained on duty in Germany. Whenever there was free time, Lt. Arnold strapped his skis to the struts of his little plane and flew to ski resorts in the area. One of these resorts was the Zugspitze at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, site of the 1936 Winter Olympics. The resort, undamaged by the war, was in perfect condition. Lt. Arnold expressed the opinion to several GIs he found skiing at the Zugspitze that the facility would be an ideal site for a ski school. One of the GIs in the group presented the idea to Third Army Headquarters at Bad Tolz, and soon Lt. Arnold received orders to start the school.
Word was circulated through Third Army units that a ski school for soldiers with skiing experience was to be established. The intent of the program was that graduates of the school would return to their units and serve as instructors, teaching other soldiers to ski. Every Sunday afternoon following the opening of the school in September or October 1945, each new class of eighty soldiers took the 100-minute ride on the cog railway up to the Schneefernerhaus on the Zugspitze, where, upon arrival, they gave the waiting clerk their name, rank, serial number, unit, and boot size. As the school had only 100 pairs of boots, many students had to settle for the best fit rather than an exact fit. When the members of a new class arrived at the top of the mountain, half, invariably, would confess to never before having been on skis. And most of the others, who claimed skiing experience, could provide no evidence of possessing skiing skills. Of the eighty "experienced" GI skiers comprising each class, usually no more than four or five possessed the expected skills.
The training program spanned five days. Though the intention in establishing the school was to serve a military purpose, in reality the program became pretty much just recreational skiing. But even a recreational program had benefit for the military. Removing the huge American Army from Europe with a limited number of transport ships would require as long as eighteen months. All types of training, including ski training, were a good use of a GI’s time while he waited his turn to go home.
Originally, there were about a dozen instructors at the school, all from the German Army’s Alpine Troops, whose English language skills varied widely. The head ski instructor was an Austrian named Willi Schaeffler. During the closing days of the war, knowing the war was lost, Schaeffler cleared explosives from the important tunnel in the Arlberg Pass in Sankt Anton, Austria, (85 km west of Garmisch), sparing it from destruction as the German Army retreated. During the first few months of the school, the German instructors were not paid cash wages. Their compensation was that they (and their families) were well fed for the first time in years. A favorite breakfast among them was raw bacon. With fuel shortages during the war, they had learned to eat it uncooked.
Lt. Arnold rotated home in January 1946 and was succeeded by Captain Kenneth Floto. During the early war years, Captain Floto served in all three of the regiments that would become the 10th Mountain Division: enlisting in the 87th Mountain Infantry, then assigned to the 86th following Infantry OCS at Fort Benning, and soon thereafter serving as a company commander (1LT) in the 85th Infantry. Eager to get into action, he volunteered for duty with the 3rd Infantry Division. His assignment in early January 1944 was C Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment. I asked him if my information was correct - that he had earned the Distinguished Service Cross for Valor at Anzio. He replied quietly that he had been in the right place at the right time to help stop a German attack. (The attack was by three German Divisions. The 3rd Division suffered 995 casualties in that one day.) ‘Right time, right place’ had not always been the case for him, because he also received four Purple Hearts.
When the war ended in Europe, Captain Floto had a ‘bucketful of points’, but not ready to leave the best skiing in the world, he looked around for something that would keep him in Europe. He and two other captains took a liberated Mercedes staff car on a sight-seeing trip through southern France, returning to Germany by way of Italy and Austria. The trip included Garmisch, where, given his experience in skiing and mountaineering, he found the perfect job.
The Chief of Special Services in the European Command agreed, and Captain (later Major) Floto was placed in charge of the operation of the ski school from January 1946 until he left the service, in 1948. Captain Floto’s responsibilities included surveying sites all over Europe that had potential as recreation centers. He used the opportunity this afforded to gather equipment for Garmisch. Alpine Troop warehouses and local manufacturers provided the best equipment. The 6'6" skis of the Americans were not well suited to Alpine skiing and ended up painted and used as decorations.
In 1946, when sponsorship of the school passed from Third Army to Special Services, the school was renamed the Garmisch Recreation Center. The school, its staff of former German Alpine Troops increased to 25, was operational year round. The mountain is only 9,721 feet high, but it is kept cold by a glacier. During the few times the snow conditions were not good, the school taught rock climbing. As use of the facility as a recreation center increased, Major Floto recruited the local Bergwacht, whose members were trained in skiing and mountain rescue. Under Major Floto’s direction, first aid was added to the Bergwacht’s training, patterned on that of the US National Ski Patrol. Wire was strung along all the slopes down from the Kreutzeck Haus, where all trails started, and field phones were installed along the route to report accidents.
From the early days of the school, the soldiers were awarded the ‘Third US Army Ski School’ pin. The pin was worn by graduates on the left pocket of the ‘Ike’ jacket. The same design continued to be issued in 1946 and beyond, but the Third Army inscription was replaced by Garmisch Recreation Center.
The pin was designed and procured by Carol Hughes, a young lady from California who was the Special Service Club Director. While working in Garmisch, Miss Hughes became Mrs. Floto, the bride and lifelong wife of Captain Floto.
As for the patches from the veteran’s box, the Davos Platz SSS patch is almost certainly a souvenir of the ski resort at Davos, Switzerland, southwest of Garmisch, a resort that would have attracted serious GI skiers. Although the Third Army patch variation that is pictured with the Ski School pin has yet to be positively identified–neither Mr. Arnold nor Mr. Floto recognize it–I believe it is associated with the Third Army Ski School. Cadre and ski teams from recreational centers in the area had their own unauthorized insignia, and this may be one of them.
Epilog
Willi Schaeffler came to the United States and became coach of the ski team of the University of Denver. While coaching, he met and married the daughter of the University’s Chancellor. Mr. Schaeffler both designed the ski course of the 1960 Olympics, held at Squaw Valley, and coached the US Olympic Ski Team that competed there.
Mr. Floto returned to the United States and was involved with three ski resorts in California. In 1951, he was the awarded a number by the National Ski Patrol, an honor certifying that he had proficiency to serve with the Ski Patrol in any area of the United States. Recalled to active duty with I Corps during the Korean War, Mr. Floto remained in the Army as a career soldier, serving all over the world. His last command, as a full colonel in 1968, was with MAAG Ethiopia, working with Haile Selassie. Mr. Floto directed the US Army’s downhill ski team in Europe and the Alaskan training center for the biathlon, the Olympic event that combines cross country skiing and rifle marksmanship. And he served on the US Olympic Winter Committee and the Federation Internationale de Ski. With his extensive experience, Mr. Floto was recognized as a cold-weather military operations expert.
Mr. Arnold finished business school at Harvard and eventually helped push a start-up company that developed two processes used in the electronics industry toward huge success in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Mr. Arnold has served the Boston Symphony Orchestra, WGBH, the New England Aquarium, the United States Ski Foundation, Business Executives for National Security, the Wang Center for Performing Arts, Emerson Hospital, Conservation Law Foundation, Boston Lyric Opera, DeCordova Museum, the New England Ski Museum, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital, Gloucester Fisherman’s Museum, and Boston Hill Ski Area. His years of wide and varied volunteer work have earned him respect as a leading citizen of Boston. The word ‘DOFF’ painted on Lieutenant Arnold’s plane is a shortened version of his wife’s nickname Doffie. Married in December 1943, the Arnolds are nearing their 59th anniversary. |
