The "Ole Battalion" of World War II

Across the Fence Extra

During the American Civil War, Colonel Heg commanded the 15th Wisconsin, composed almost entirely of Norwegians. So many of the men were named Ole, that I like to refer to them as the “Ole Regiment.”

Most people are not aware that one of the U.S. Army’s more distinct units during World War II was the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate), also composed of Norwegian-Americans. I like to call it the “Ole Battalion.”

In 1942 the army decided to organize a battalion of Norwegian nationals, who would infiltrate Norway and help free their fellow Norwegians and relatives from German occupation. The men would be Norwegians, Norwegian immigrants, and second-generation Americans of Norwegian descent. Most of the men who were transferred, or volunteered, to the 99th battalion, came from the ”Norwegian” areas in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas.

Those selected were all fluent in Norwegian, and most knew how to ski. They were a mixture of infantrymen, paratroop, and mountaineer specialists. Their insignia was a shield with a Viking ship, in the Norwegian national colors of red, white, and blue. These Norwegian-speaking, U.S. soldiers would be sent on special commando missions in Norway, behind enemy lines, and needed to blend in with the local populace. What better disguise could you have than a bunch of guys who looked and sounded like the Norwegian people.

I’ve known two men who served in this Norwegian “Ole Battalion.”

Owen Bekkum, who now lives in Madison, is a Westby, Wisconsin native. Owen grew up speaking Norwegian and learned to ski at an early age, as did most boys around Westby. He was a member of the 99th Infantry Battalion during training at Camp Hale, Colorado, and was later transferred to the 10th Mountain Division.

Thomas Skattum, of Belmont, Wisconsin, joined the 99th in England in April, 1944, and was with the unit until he was discharged after the war.

In 1942, Owen Bekkum from Westby, was a Freshman in college in Milwaukee. One of his best friends, Stanley Lunde, was his roommate. After the Fall semester they were told they didn’t need to register for the next semester because they would soon be drafted.
He was drafted in March, 1943, along with DeVerne Mathison, also from Westby.

One day while they were training with the 106th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Owen, DeVerne, and five other men in their unit who spoke Norwegian and could ski, were told they were being transferred to a Norwegian Battalion at Camp Hale, Colorado. They went by train to Denver and then headed up to Leadville and their first view of the Rocky Mountains. Camp Hale was located near Leadville at 9,300 feet. Owen said, “After South Carolina, we thought we’d died and gone to Heaven.”

The story is told that one day Marvin Skogrand from Minnesota was told to report to headquarters. They had seen in his records that he came from a Norwegian background. They asked if he knew any foreign languages, and he said no, because he didn’t consider Norwegian a foreign language. But when he found out they were looking for Norwegians to join a special unit, he told them, “I can speak Norwegian!”

Thus began the journey for Owen, DeVern, Marvin, and many other Norwegian-speaking soldiers who would soon find themselves training as ski troop commandos to help liberate Norway.

At Camp Hale, Owen and his friend, DeVerne, were assigned to different companies for training. They were immediately thrown in with men who had already been training in the mountains for several weeks. The thin mountain air was rough on the flatlanders at first. Even the big hills of Coon Valley and Timber Coulee couldn’t prepare a person for the mountains. Anyone who has visited the mountains knows how winded and tired you get the first few days just walking around.

Owen said, “We weren’t going to let on that we were tired and couldn’t keep up. There’s pride and a little bit of macho involved.” Owen said, “I didn’t weigh 150 pounds at the time!”

The training was tough. A book called The 99th Battalion by Gerd Nyquist, published in Oslo, Norway in 1981, says that 40% of the men didn’t make it through the training. Try hiking up a mountain with a backpack full of gear, your rifle, plus heavy wood skis and ski poles. It says that every soldier carried from 70 to 90 pounds of gear, depending on the assignment to be carried out. They would spend a week at a time living in the mountains and snow, and learning survival skills. It took some very tough, special men to complete that grueling training.

The winter training at Camp Hale took place for the most part on skis or on snowshoes, and spending the night outside, or taking daily trips with overnight stops. The big load of clothes and equipment, had to be carried on these trips.

They were often in altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. It was difficult to light the ovens so the food could be heated up. It was also difficult to eat the food, because it froze between the food container and the person’s mouth. Water froze in the canteens. The ski boots had to be put in the sleeping bags overnight, so they would not be frozen stiff the next morning.

Owen tells of waking up in the mornings in a sleeping bag covered with frost. His early skiing, which had consisted of skiing on back pastures, as most of us Westby kids did at one time, helped when it came to learning to ski down a mountain.

I asked Owen if he ever got hurt. “Only one time,” He said. A soldier from out East wanted to ski with him. He said he was showing off a little, how fast he could ski down the mountain, through the trees. He fell and sprained an ankle! He got back up and kept going. “If you did get hurt you never wanted to show or admit it,” he said.

After the snow had melted, the ski training was replaced with mountain climbing and rappelling down the rock cliffs to practice warfare in the mountains. The backpack was lighter, only 44 pounds, plus they carried their personal weapon and ammunition.

After successfully completing the training with the 99th Infantry, Owen was asked by Major Sofus Urberg, from Galesville, Wisconsin, to transfer with him to the 90th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. He then spent the next two years with the 10th.

In 1944, the 99th was sent to England, where Lt. Tom Skattum, joined the battalion. His platoon was the first unit of the 99th Battalion to go ashore on Omaha Beach at Normandy. They took part in the fighting in France, and fought in the Normandy Campaign, the North France Campaign, the Battles at Würzeln/Aachen, and the Battle of the Bulge.

Some historians feel the 99th should have been attached to the 10th Mountain Division where their mountain and ski training could have been put to better use in the Italian campaigns.

The original purpose of the 99th, was to participate in ”Operation Plough,” the liberation of Norway. But the only sabotage action in Norway by the 99th was ”Operation Rype.” Their main target was the railway and took place during the autumn of 1944. A small group of saboteurs blew up the railroad lines and disrupted German soldiers trying to leave Norway and reinforce the depleted German forces in Europe.

In June 1945, the 99th finally arrived in Norway. This was a very special moment for the men as they arrived in the country of their Norwegian roots. Their task was guard duty during the repatriation of the 375,000 Germans still in Norway.

Tom was among the 54 American soldiers of the 99th Battalion Honor Guard that welcomed King Haakon back to Norway from exile in England.

On November 1, 1945, Tom and the 99th Battalion arrived back in the US, and it was disbanded shortly after.

Like so many other World War II veterans, Owen and Tom feel very fortunate to have survived the war. Owen’s two best friends from Westby, Clifford Barstad and Stanley Lunde, were killed.

The training and ordeals the men of the 99th Battalion endured, has stayed with them. They were challenged, as most of us will never be challenged, and rose to meet that challenge. They had lived and survived in almost unbelievable conditions, and feel it instilled a self-confidence that they could do anything, and as a result, anything was possible.

Owen said the loss of his two best friends had a big impact on him. It made him think there must be some purpose that he survived the war.

I think the world needed him to survive the war and succeed in business and life, more than the army needed another casualty of war. If Owen had been lost in the war, would Westby have a new library? Would Norskedalen still be just an idea... not a reality? Would Westby graduates be receiving thousands of dollars in scholarships each year? Would Vesterheim be what it is today? Would the Norwegian-American Genealogical Center be the success it is today? Those are just five things he’s been involved in.

Owen Bekkum, Tom Skattum, and the men of the 99th (The Ole Battalion), one of the most unique units of World War II, truly are members of the “Greatest Generation.”