Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, run the final mile of the Col. Darby 40-Miler in Torbole, Italy, on April 30, 2025. (Alyssa Norton/U.S. Army)
VICENZA, Italy — Six U.S. service members took off before dawn on America’s 250th birthday for a 40-mile hike along Italy’s largest lake on a do-it-yourself version of an annual challenge honoring the Army Rangers’ first commander who was killed nearby in World War II.
Five Germany-based soldiers and one airman set off at 3:30 a.m. from the Italian lakeside town of Peschiera del Garda, following Lake Garda’s eastern shore to the town of Torbole at its northern end to earn credit — and a commemorative coin — for completing the long-distance course in 12 hours, the nonprofit Association Benach said in a statement.
The historical research organization is dedicated to preserving World War I and World War II history in northern Italy and has helped organize an annual march along the same route for many years, usually in late April, honoring then-Col. William O. Darby, who was killed by German artillery in Torbole on April 30, 1945, alongside Sgt. Maj. John “Tim” Evans.
The march also pays tribute to dozens of 10th Mountain Division soldiers killed the same day when their amphibious craft sank in the lake’s frigid waters. Darby, who led the first battalion of the precursor to the elite modern Rangers, was serving with the 10th Mountain Division at the time of his death.
“We definitely came away with a few blisters, but every step was worth it,” said Capt. Javier Pino, a veterinarian based at Spangdahlem Air Base. “It was an incredible experience. To spend the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence walking in the footsteps of the men of the 10th Mountain Division was a privilege.”
Army Capt. Javier Pino, with U.S. Army Veterinary Readiness Activity, Rheinland-Pfalz, poses beside a plaque honoring Col. William O. Darby near where the founding commander of the Army Rangers was killed in Torbole, Italy, July 4, 2026. (Courtesy of Associazione Benach)
Ben Appleby, far left, co-founder and president of the historical research nonprofit Association Benach, and Antonella Previdi, far right, pose with U.S. service members at a memorial to Col. William O. Darby in Torbole, Italy, July 4, 2026. (Courtesy of Associazione Benach)
Pino was one of the five participating soldiers from the U.S. Army Veterinary Readiness Activity, Rheinland-Pfalz, which provides veterinary medicine, public health and food safety support across Europe and Africa. Others from the unit came from Kaiserslautern, Stuttgart and Ansbach, and were joined by an Air Force officer from Spangdahlem’s 52nd Fighter Wing.
Part endurance challenge, part living history, the march aims to acquaint participants with the terrain of the Allies’ final operations in northern Italy, according to its founder, a retired soldier named Rick “Ranger Rick” Tscherne, who created the event in 2010.
But Tscherne announced at the closing ceremony of this year’s traditional Darby 40-miler in April that it might be the last, as he would step down from running it.
Benach has since said it will coordinate the march and commemorative events each April 30 and is working to ensure the event continues in the long term through military and civilian partnerships, the association said in its statement.
While soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment, 10th Mountain Division and the Vicenza-based 173rd Airborne Brigade have traveled to the event for years, the military does not officially sanction or sponsor it.
And though it has in some recent years drawn more than 1,000 participants, interest may be on the wane, as fewer than 200 showed up at the starting line this April.
But in a Facebook post about a month later, citing continued interest from soldiers wanting to earn a challenge coin for completing the course, Tscherne announced a DIY format that would be open this year from May 31 through Monday.
Before they stepped off Saturday, Tscherne met with the group of Independence Day DIY Darby marchers to give them instructions.
As temperatures rose into the high 80s over the course of the day, the group likely became the first to make the trek in such sweltering conditions, organizers said. Late April highs tend to be in the upper 60s, weather data shows.
Unlike at the official event, there were no vehicles or aid stations to support participants along the way, said Benach co-founder and president Ben Appleby. And they probably did not expect cheering supporters at the finish line, either.
Little did they know Tscherne had tipped off Appleby, who along with Benach’s treasurer, Antonella Previdi, quietly prepared a welcome for them in Torbole with U.S. flags, refreshments and challenge coins beside a memorial dedicated to Darby and the other Americans who died there at the end of World War II.
Because they braved the heat on America’s 250th, Tscherne waived the cost of their coins.
“I loved the camaraderie displayed today between my unit and our Air Force teammate,” Pino said. “Today was a humbling tribute and an experience we will never forget.”
