Bergen
CHANDLER W. BERGEN
October 12, 1919 January 27, 2020
Chandler W. Bergen, retired Army lieutenant colonel and editor of Western Horseman magazine, passed away on January 27, 2020. He was a long term resident of Colorado Springs.
He was born October 12, 1919, in New Jersey to Morrell and Dorothy (Chandler) Bergen.
His wife, Melitta E. Bergen, died May 17, 2004, in Colorado Springs.
During World War II, he commanded an infantry rifle platoon in the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, in the battles of Guadalcanal and New Georgia islands, and a rifle company in the Battle of Luzon, in the Philippines. When Japan surrendered, his regiment participated in its occupation. He enjoyed Japan and extended his tour to travel and ski, returning home after serving 42 months in the Pacific theater.
In 1948, he was assigned to the occupation of Germany, where his unit provided communications for the Berlin Airlift. In Europe, he enjoyed alpine skiing and climbing mountains, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. He competed in kayaking and in 1950, paddled across the English Channel from Dover, England, to Cap Griz Nez, France, a journey of five hours and forty-two minutes. Returning to the U.S., he was assigned to the Mountain and Cold Weather Training Command at Camp Carson, Colorado, in 1952-1953. He also attended the advanced ski mountaineering instructor's course at the Scuola Militare Alpina, in Aosta, Italy, with the elite mountain troops of the Italian Army.
While stationed in Colorado, by coincidence he became reacquainted with Melitta Niitsoo, whom he had first met in 1948 when he was stationed in Germany, while she was working for the American Red Cross. An Estonian, she had come to Colorado as a displaced person and was working in Denver. They shared many interests and were married on June 26, 1953.
The next assignment was to the U.S. Army Mountain School at Camp Weir, Japan. During his second Japanese tour, LTC Bergen trained U.S. and Japan Self Defense Forces troops in mountain and winter operations.
He later returned to Germany for a second tour. He was selected as the U.S. representative to the Conseil International Du Sport Militaire Ski and Winter Survival Course at Norefjell, Norway. In the winter of 1958-1959 he was a member of the U.S. Army downhill ski team in Garmisch/Partenkirchen, Germany, which won the Inferno Downhill Race in Murren, Switzerland, competing against military teams from other NATO nations. The trophy was presented by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
After retiring from the Army, he went to work as a typist for Western Horseman magazine in 1964, retiring as its director and editor in 1985. He had a lifelong interest in the arts. With his wife, he designed and donated a monument to skiing to the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, and Mr. Bergen commissioned a white Colorado marble sculpture of a mountain lion by Ernest Geolfos. The monument, donated to the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and relocated to the El Pomar Center in 2016, was a testament to his wife for her strength and courage as a displaced Estonian woman during WWII.
Mr. Bergen belonged to the National Ski Patrol System and was an active skier until the age of 76. He was a life-long fly fisherman, and also enjoyed opera, fine bamboo fly rods, and very dry martinis. He was also a member of the University of Colorado Heritage Society and President's Club. He and his wife were benefactors to the Kramer Family Library and the UCCS journalism school. He was a member of the Retired Officers Association and First Lutheran Church.
A Mercedes enthusiast, he drove until his 100th birthday.
His loving companion of 10 years, Glena Meicke "Mike" Nash died on February 21, 2019. His three brothers, Walter, Robert, and Alling Bergen, and his sister, Patricia Stewart, also died before him.
A graveside committal service with military honors will be held at a later date. Please visit www.swan-law.com or call 719-471-9900 for service updates.