Our friends since FSU graduate school in 1958
Richard J. Berkley (1928–1987)
Email me if you have information or comment: oakes@physics.utexas.edu
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Richard Jackson Berkley
Antarctica, 1957
Berkley Island (66º 13’S 110º 39’E) is an island, 0.5 nautical miles (1 km) long, which marks the northeast end of the Swain Islands. It was first mapped from air photos taken by U. S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and was included in a survey of the Swain Islands in 1957 by Wilkes Station personnel under Carl R. Eklund. It was named by Eklund for Richard J. Berkley, a geomagnetician with the US-IGY wintering party of 1957 at Wilkes Station. Note: In the map above the lines cross at the South Geographic Pole. The +y-axis in the 0 longitude line.
Here is another map that shows Berkley Island, along with a number of other islands, rocks, etc named for those at the Wilkes Station. You will recognize the names after reading Dick's diary below. Note: South is up in the map.
Richard Jackson Berkley was born January 20, 1928, in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was the only son of Melvin Cyrus and Lillian Mae Jackson Berkley who also had an older daughter Barbara. Melvin, born April 21, 1893, in Gayville (Lawrence County), Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA, was a banker. He died January 1973 in Winter Park, Florida. Lillian J. Berkley was born September 10, 1894, in Sigourney, Keokuk, Iowa and died October 22, 1987, in Winter Park, Florida.
In high school, Richard played the trombone, played football and became an Eagle Scout. He attended the Congregational Church.
Richard completed high school in Marshalltown and along with his good friend, John McGrew, was appointed to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. While at the Academy he developed a blood disorder, purpura, which led to his removal from the Academy. He never showed any further signs of the problem during his life. He returned to Iowa and enrolled in Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, where he studied mathematics and statistics. Both his parents had attended Grinnell. His father entered in 1914, and his mother was a freshmen in 1917.
Following graduation in 1950, Richard took "the best job offered me, a welder's helper on a pipeline." He worked construction, eventually enrolling in the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology where he studied geophysics.
In June 1955, he submitted his master's thesis, "Modification of a Magnetic Airborne Detector (AN/ASQ-1A) for Use in Geophysical Prospecting." He applied and was accepted to the graduate program in physics at Florida State University; however, he apparently changed his mind after hearing of the planned International Geophysical Year (IGY) expedition to Antarctica. He successfully applied and was appointed geomagnetician. He trained at the Geomagnetic Observatory in Fredericksburg, VA. The expedition travelled by ship to Antarctica and established its operation on a penguin rookery at Wilkes Station in January 1957. Richard made many magnetic measurements during the ensuing winter. He was a popular member of the expedition evidenced by the naming of Berkley Island after him.
Returning to the U.S., Richard enrolled in the physics graduate program at Florida State University. He worked in the nuclear physics program under Professor Alex Green. When Professor Green moved to the University of Florida, Richard switched to the graduate program in Science Education. In April 1962, he married Suzanne Gunderson in Tallahassee, Florida. Before completing his degree, he decided to accept a faculty position in physics at the University of South Florida, where he remained until his death on Nov. 17, 1987 after a long battle with liver cancer. Mel and Pat called him every morning during the last year of his life. He was survived by his wife, Suzanne and a son, Jon (now deceased) and a daughter, Jennifer. Richard and Suzanne have three grandchildren, Justin and Christopher Pruitt and Abby Seguin.
At right is the emblem of the International Geophysical Year of 1957. Wilkes Station was the site where Richard spent that winter in Antarctica. It coordiantes are latitude 66° 15' S, longitude 110° 31'E.
Modern history of Antartica begins with Captain James Cook of the British Navy. In 1772 Captain Cook sailed completely around the continent but never sighted land. Cook's reports of abundant seals and whales provided a fresh incentive for commercial mariners; sealers and whalers to invade Antarctic waters during the period 1820 to 1900.
It is difficult to say who first sighted the continent. It is clear that American and British explorers did so within a short time of each other in 1820 and 1821. An American Naval officer, Charles Wilkes, is generally accepted as having proved the existence of the continent in 1838-40.
Perhaps the most important expedition of the 19th century was that of Captain James Ross of the British Navy. In two ships, especially strengthened to resist the ice, the Terror and Erebus, he headed for the part of the continent south of New Zealand. In this area, Ross sailed as far south as any man had ever done and as far south as it is possible to go by sea.
From 1890, interest in Antarctica increased, created by both commercial hopes and the search for scientific knowledge. The most dramatic event was the reaching of the South Pole. After several depot laying trips, Norwegian Roald Amundsen began his run in October 1911, leaving from near the present site of Little America. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen reached the exact bottom of the world.
At almost the same time, Captain Robert Scott left Ross Island for the Pole. At the foot of Beardmore the dog teams were sent back and the reduced party set out to man-haul across the plateau. For the final dash to the Pole, Scott selected four companions. On January 12, 1912, they reached their goal, only to find that Amundsen had been there first. On the return trip, all five perished. (From Operation Deep Freeze 1961, Task Force 43, Naval Military History.)
II. Dick's Application to participate in IGY Antarctic Program.
On April 16, 1956, while studying graduate physics at Florida State University, Dick sent a letter to National Academy of Sciences. requesting information. He received a prompt reply with an outline of the program and suggesting that he apply. The relevant paragraph from the letter is below:
In a May 7, 1956 letter, Dick lists his experience and addresses the health issue that had led to his having to leave the US Naval Academy. On May 15, Dr. A. P. Crary, Chief Scientist, sent a letter saying that Dick was being seriously considered for the program. Dick was 28 years of age. His application photo is at right. The following is from his application..
"Education: My primary and secondary education was received in the Marshalltown Public School system, graduating in 1946. While in high school, I took part in band, football, student council activities, edited the yearbook, was a member of the honor society and Letterman's Club, and, in 1946, received a Merit Award in the Pepsi-Cola Scholarship competition as one of the top ten participants in Iowa on the competitive examinations. Matriculated to Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, where I was awarded the B.A. degree in 1950. My undergraduate major was mathematics with minors in physics and chemistry. At Grinnell, I participated in intramural sports, was active in Student Government, a member of the freshmen men's honor society, and president of the senior men's honor society. Attended Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, the spring quarter of 1952 as a special student in the General Engineering Department. Attended the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico from Sept. 1952 to June 1955 at which time I was awarded an M.S. in Geophysics. Took part in intramural athletics and the activities of the physics and graduate earth science clubs.'
"Work Experience: My early work experience includes carrying papers, de tasseling corn, and a summer in charge of the first aid station at a Boy Scout camp. My high school summers were spent as a laborer on construction jobs, and I worked during the school year as checker and cashier in the cafeteria and selling tickets at high school plays, games, etc.
Two college summers were spent on construction jobs, and during my senior year, I worked as busboy, cashier, and soda jerk in the student union. '
"Following graduation, I waited tables, detasseled corn, did some building construction work, painting, etc. From Oct. - Dec. of l950, was employed as a pipe-line welder's helper at Marshalltown and Iowa City, Iowa by the C. E. Wilson Construction Co. of Kansas City, Kansas. Was similarly employed in Jan. and Feb. of 195l at Bonner Springs, Kansas; Buffalo, Okla.; and Medicine Lodge, Kansas, by the C. H. Gragg Construction Co. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. From April, l95l to Feb. l952, on jobs at Stockton, Kansas; Alma, Orleans, and Albion, Nebraska; and Great Bend, Russell, and Valley Center, Kansas, my employer was the Jayhawk Construction Co. of Great Bend, Kansas. Although originally hired to operate an oxy-acetylene beveling machine on a pipe-line take-up job, at various times I helped welders, operated a pipe locater, helped on heavy equipment overhaul, operated a side-boom tractor, drove trucks, and for five months ran a field office and handled the weekly payrolls.'
"In June, l952, I was employed as a graduate assistant by the Research and Development Division of NMIMT, Socorro,, N. M., where I assisted with explosives and instrumentation work on a classified project for Navy BuOrd. This project was supervised by Mr. M. L. Kempton, a senior engineer in the R&D. In Jan, l953, I became a full-time employee as a field engineer and ordinance man and stayed with the project until June, l954. Had charge of one of the two small crews which did the fieldwork for the project. We prepared various configurations of explosives, the required instrumentation, and the targets, if any, for the desired tests. Have fired, using both black powder fuses and electrical techniques, Composition C-3, granulated TNT, dynamite in various strengths, and Prima Cord. Also hand-loaded and fired modified 50 cals, 20 mm and 6 pounder cannon, and experimental pieces. '
"During this period, I also had occasion to use blast gauges; cannon pressure gauges; drum, Fastax, movie, and still cameras, Potter counter chronographs, and various oscilloscopes--often equipped for photographing. Did some design and construction work and became familiar with instrument, carpenter, machine, and welding shops. Held Department of Defense Operator's license for staff cars, carry-alls, cargo trucks to 2-1/2 tons, and all fire equipment. In June, 1954, I was transferred to the Ground Water section of the R+DD under the supervision of Mr. Victor Vacquier, principal geophysicist for the R+DD. During the first few months, we ran a few refraction profiles in the arid lands along the Rio Grande Valley. My attempts to interpret these seismic records were not too successful, but did much to familiarize me with the paucity of literature on refraction surveying. We also did some work on an experimental "ground thumper" to be used for shallow refraction work. I also had occasion to run a small "seismic" survey in downtown El Paso using a sound level meter with a Rochelle salt vibration pick-up and recording amplitudes, velocities, and acceleration on tapes. During the school year, my time was almost exclusively devoted to the conversion and calibration of an old AN/ASQ-lA airborne magnetic detector for use as a continuous recording land magnetometer. This primarily involved the engineering and construction of a suitable D.C. amplifier unit to replace the original A.C. amplifier in the detector channel of the instrument.'
"Since June, 1955, I have been employed by the Physics Department of the Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, under the supervision of Dr. A.E.S. Green. He has been attempting to shed some light on the basic physical significance of phenomenological nuclear potentials--much of it by testing the theoretical proposals in this field. Since the work is semi-empirical in nature--formulating a diffuse boundary independent particle model of the nucleus based on bound state energy levels--we rely heavily on calculators and graphical computing techniques. During the past year, I have carried out or supervised the calculations and drafting for several papers which have been or will be published. My plans for this coming summer have not yet crystallized, but I hope to be working for a research organization having received a tentative commitment from such a group. "
Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is the codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", 1957-58, "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an initial operation before Admiral Byrd proposed 'Deep Freeze'). Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since that date, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as a general term for US operations in that continent, and in particular for the regular missions to resupply US Antarctic bases, coordinated by the United States military.
Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States. Here is a summary taken from Gil Dewart's excellent book "Journey to the Ice Age", published in 2003 by Ruobei Tang Publishing Company. The actual site on Clark Island was found by a scouting party from the Icebreaker Glacier, late on January 29, 1957. The party was led by Captain Charles Thomas and included Carl Eklund, Rudy Honkala, Dick Cameron and Willis Tressler. Glacier was escorting two heavily laden cargo vessels, Arneb & Greenville Victory, and in the early hours of January 30, the three ships anchored safely in open water off the southeast shore of Clark Island.
Construction of the station was carried out by 92 skilled workers of the "Mobile Construction Battalion -1" assisted by "MCB-Special" a smaller group who would be wintering over with the scientists. Collectively, these enlisted craftsmen were known as the "SeaBees". The civilian scientists also helped as did about 60 'volunteers' from the crews of the ships.
"The first structure to go up was that ubiquitous feature of military construction sites, the Jamesway hut, similar to the legendary Quonset, which is made of semi-circular wooden arches that support an insulating and waterproof cover to form a semi-cylindrical shelter; the floor consists of wooden panels. A large Jamesway can be erected in an hour by 4 men. The Seabees quickly assembled several of these prefabricated houses for use as temporary quarters, warehouses, mess hall and Operational Headquarters.........After the site at the Southwest point of the peninsula had been graded, the first of the 19 pre-fabricated Clements Buildings that were to make up the main base was started on February 3. The Clements huts were composed of 4X8 foot red exterior aluminum and wood panels that could be used interchangeably for wall, floor or roof. The standard rectangular Clements building was 20 feet wide, 8 or 12 feet high and might be any length in 4 foot increments. The panels were held together by metal wedge clips and the joints sealed with cold-weather rubber gaskets. The roof was supported by metal trusses that fitted into slots in the wall panels. These structures were designed to withstand winds of 100miles per hour plus a large safety factor. They were set on foundation trusses that left an air space between floor and ground in hopes (that proved in vain) that wind blowing beneath the buildings would prevent the accumulation of snow drifts. Finally they were guyed down with steel cables bolted to bedrock (one of our advantages compared to some of the other Antarctic stations up on the ice, was that we did indeed have solid bedrock)......By February 11 the living quarters, mess hall were standing and work had begun on the [auroral] tower......On the 14th, we moved our personal gear ashore and took up residence in the barracks........Major construction was finished on February 15.......On the morning of February 16 the new base was officially commissioned "Wilkes Station" at a brief flag-raising ceremony."
Operation Deep Freeze II included research at Wilkes Station that involved 26 men wintering over and conducting research.
A few comments by Pat Patterson, electrician, "Arriving at Wilkes before it was built was something else. It would be difficult for anyone to believe what they were seeing. You must remember we stopped at Cape Hallett for two weeks to build the base and gained a large amount of knowledge. As you may be aware, the buildings were all insulated panels about five inches thick, ten feet in length and four feet wide. Tongue and grooved to ensure a wind and water proof connection between the panels. As an electrician, we wired the buildings as fast as we could with the help of the support team. The base was practically completed in about ten days. The next few days were spent making sure everything was in working order and deciding that we were able to support ourselves. I was responsible for the generators and electrical facilities throughout. If I remember correctly, we had less than one per cent power failure for the year. Refueling we knew would be a problem so the plumber and myself designed a fuel system where fifty gallon drums were mounted on the roof of the power house and connected together. Pipework was then run down into the power house with a flexible hose where we could fill each generator tank. Worked extremely well. We filled the drums by using a Cat bucket loader with three drums and hose pipe with a valve on the end. Raise the bucket above the roof of the building and gravity did its work." Pat is shown at right working on generators.
The trip down.
On November 8, the icebreaker Northwind left Seattle carrying the ten scientists, the sixteen naval expedition support personnel and a normal crew of 175 officers and enlisted personnel. Their destination was New Zealand, a three week journey. The Northwind is seen at right.
The USS Arneb departed Norfolk, VA, on November 2 for Panama City and trip through the Canal. After three days in Panama City she embarked on November 11 for Wellington, NZ, arriving 18 days later, November 30. The ship remained in Wellington until December 10 when she departed for Antarctica with the icebreaker, Northwind. She would spend three months supporting the IGY program. On December 16th, the Arneb entered the 420-mile wide Ross Sea ice pack. The next day an iceberg ripped a 30-inch gash in her starboard side hull below the waterline. The damage control crew rushed to stem the flooding in her forward cargo hold. The captain had a heavy landing craft swung from the port side to tip the ship at at 10 degrees to put the damage area above the waterline. The crew fixed the damage and they were underway in five hours. She then was diverted to McMurdo Sound, arriving on December 24th under the shadow of the towering volcano of Mount Erebus. An estimated 150,000 penguins greeted the Arneb and her icebreaker, the Northwind.
The Wilkes IGY scientists during the 1957 winter. Winter 1957. Photo by Olav H. Loken.
Back row from left to right: Garth Stonehocker, Dr. Gilbert Dewart, Dr. Carl Eklund (Station Scientific Leader), Rudi Honkala,
Dr. Richard Berkley (partially obscured) and Dr. Olav Loken
In front from left to right: John Molholm, Dr. Richard Cameron, Robert L. Long Jr. and Dr. Ralph Glasgal
Complete transcription of Richard J. Berkley's diary which he kept while in Antarctica 1957-1958
Acknowledgment: The diary was transcribed by my dear friend, Lois Mallory, with some help from me. I have added explanations and photos where I thought they might be helpful to the reader. Ralph Glasgal's diary and movies were immensely helpful. Geoff Payne, webmaster, ANARE Club, provided corrections to the diary and added a link and kind introduction to this site on the ANARE website. Geoff wintered in Antarctica in 1967 as electronic engineer with the upper atmosphere physics research program. His help is greatly appreciated.
Several technical terms that appear in the diary:
Absolute magnetometers measure the absolute magnitude or vector magnetic field, using an internal calibration or known physical constants of the magnetic sensor.
Z-component of Earth's magnetic field. Often referred to as "Z".
Magnetic Declination is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) and true north (the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole). This angle, delta, varies depending on position on the Earth's surface and changes over time. Note in the diary Dick is measuring 82 degrees!
S-2, Site-2 glaciology camp, 85 km from Wilkes
Nunatak (from Inuit nunataq) is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within (or at the edge of) an ice field or glacier. They are also called glacial islands.
Haupt Nunatak (Coordinates: 66°35′S 110°41′E) is a small nunatak 5 nautical miles (9 km) south of the Alexander Nunataks, at the east side of the lower reaches of Vanderford Glacier in Antarctica. Near Wilkes Station.
Cape Poinsett a weather station.
Names in the diary: Richard in many cases refers only to first names or nicknames in the diary. Below is a partial list of those references and their complete name.
"Beetle", Petty Officer Carl "Beetle" Bailey, USN Weatherman
"Bill", Bill Lilienthal Petty Officer, Weatherman
"Dan", Petty Officer Dave Daniel, Head Cook and Chef
"Carl", Dr. Carl Robert Eklund, Station Scientific Leader, (1909–1962)
"Crary" Albert Paddock Crary, Chief Scientist at Little America, (1911–1987)
"Curly", unknown
"Dick" Dr. Richard Cameron, Glaciologist
"Doc", Lt. Sheldon L. Grinnell, Medical Officer
"Don", Don Bradford, Petty Officer, Radioman
"Don" Lt. Don Burnett,
Officer In Charge
"Fred", Chief Petty Officer Fred E. Charleton, Electronics
"George", George Magee, Carpenter and Builder
"Gil" Dr. Gilbert Dewart, Seismologist
"Jim", Chief Petty Officer Jim Powell, Meteorologist ( USN Weather),
"John", John Molholm, Glaciologist
"Mac", Robert McIntyre, Mechanic
"Noonan", Paul Noonan, Photographer
"Olav", Dr. Olav Loken, Glaciologist
"Pat",
Acey H. Patterson Petty Officer, Electrician, Died in 2007.
"Ralph", Dr. Ralph Glasgal, Auroral Physicist
"Robert",
Robert McIntyre, Mechanic
"Rudy", Rudi Honkala, Meteorologist, incorrectly spelled in diary. Rudi was Dick's roommate. (1924–2008)
"Syd", Sydney Green, Petty Officer, Driver and Heavy Equipment Operator
People in Melbourne that Dick met:
Dave Anderson
John Collins
Buford Leonard
Myrna (Merna) Leonard
Glenn Macey
Janet Smith
Graeme Wheeler
Dan Williams
Strongly Recommended:
Ralph Glasgal's Diary and Movies
After reading Dick's diary, I recommend that you watch the truly remarkable movies by Dr. Ralph Glasgal, the auroral physicist at the station. In a phone conversation with him, he alerted me to the existence of his movies hosted by The Antarctican Society. In addition, he mentioned a diary he kept during his time there. Here are the links to the Ralph's diary and his movies.
In Part 1, narrated and written by Ralph, we get an introduction to the IGY and to Antarctica. He includes footage of the trip down on the Northwind with explanation of the technical challenges. There are beautiful sections on the landscapes and seascapes seen from the ship. Wonderful footage of the various wildlife seen during the voyage. Station site selection on the penguin rookery and the removal of enough to build the station were filmed. Antics of the penguins are a joy to watch.
In Part 2, we are introduced to the personnel at the station. All of the individuals who appear in Dick's diary are filmed. We learned the day-to-day details of life at the station and discussion of the various science projects. I especially enjoyed quite a few clips of Dick Berkley that appear in this part of the film.
Here is a color movie shot at the Wilkes Station by Don Bradford, Navy Radioman. Don kindly shared the movie with me. He does the narration. The movie covers the departure from Seattle in January 1957 until the return in March 1958. Movie contains initiation on ship of those crossing International Dateline for first time. Nice footage of scenery, icebergs, penguins, dogs, machinery, instruments, support operations, seal, penguin and bird marking and banding.
Dick's diary does not begin until April 1, 1957. Below I will add some highlights from the earlier period extracted from the exceptional diary of Ralph Glasgal.
January 11, 1957- Ralph Glasgal supplies a hilarious entry following some unhappiness by naval and civilians with decision made regarding the convoy and with respect to their bonuses. "At dinner today the ridiculousness of our situation was being discussed. It was suggested that the Admiral might be impressed if we were to enter McMurdo Sound, heeled over 18 degrees, on just our broken starboard screw, with the general alarm bell going, the heeling tanks emptying onto the decks, the Arneb in tow listing to the other side, with all hands in life jackets singing "Nearer My God To Thee" on the boat deck.
March 1957-Permanent triangulation monument for the geomagnetic program has been drilled into solid rock and the magnetograph will be installed as soon as its shelter is completed. Rudy Honkala appointed deputy to Carl Eklund, Chief Scientist.
Below is a scan of the first two pages in Dick's diary.
The Transcription of the Diary with Annotations Begins
April 1, 1957- This seems a logical time to start using this diary which I won a chance to buy a couple of weeks ago (March 17, bingo). All Fools Day! Carl showed up at chow with a sohde (sp) bunch of trinkets his kids had wrapped for him. Installed heaters today and got most of them wired in. (These are probably heaters for the instrumentation to be used in Antarctica.)
April 2, 1957-Today another blizzard gusts to about 60, but it's still not very cold–well above zero. Minus 82 at the pole today. Finished heaters and thermostats today. Carl's brother reported a full page of pictures in the NYTimes including a color shot of the flag-raising. Sullivan did well by us. Still have hope we get a chance to see some of these things. still have hopes of a polar trek. Looks like a cinch.
April 7, 1957-Went up on the cap after breakfast with Don Burnett and Black Sam to blast a trench for studies of the shear moraine. Beautiful view—iridescent clouds. Took a number of pictures of the area. Back for evening chores. (Lt. Don Burnett is Officer in Charge. Don is shown on the left in the adjacent photo. At right is Carl Eklund. Black Sam is the nickname of Dick Cameron because of his very dark beard.)
April 8, 1957-got up at about 4:45 to see my first comet—Pons-Winnecke, about 5 degrees above the horizon, almost due east of us. Overslept as a result, Carl and Sam were headed for S-2, but couldn't find trail so returned. Looked 2-1/2 hours for one stake. As a result, much flag making tonite. Trail markers every 1/4 mile. Broke out my std magnetograph today. Got timing system rigged up and batteries filled. Only 8 out of twelve bottles were good. (The comet appears to be misidentified.According to Charles Bell and amateur astronmer specializing in comets, the Pons-Winnecke comet, now designated 7P/Pons-Winnecke, was not observed by anyone in 1957. It passed perihelion in 1951 and 1964.. Here is a reference to the Arend-Roland comet, "Southern Hemisphere astronomers scrambled to observe the comet at this point, as a very small window existed with which to see the comet before it was again lost in the sun's glare prior to its second conjunction with the sun. A French Antarctic Expedition at Adelie Land saw the comet on April 6 and said the tail extended 3-5 degrees. "this seems consistent with the groups"' observation Again according to Charles Bell. "On April 8, 1957, there were two bright comets, C/1957 P1 (Mrkos) and C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland). In those years they were designated with year and alpha numeric letter by discovery or year and roman numeral as to perihelion passage.C/1957 P1 (Mrkos) = 1957d = 1957 VC/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) = 1956h = 1957 III, Both would have been possible to be sighted from southern latitudes because of their sky declination and solar elongation.
C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) was a morning comet with low solar elongation 18 degrees and -10.0 degree declination.
C/1957 P1 (Mrkos) was an evening comet with about 74 degrees elongation with a very southerly -55.8 degree declination.
John Bortle's "THE BRIGHT-COMET CHRONICLES" indicates that:
COMET C/1957 P1 (MRKOS; O.S. 1957 V). Followed with the unaided eye from July 29 until the end of Sept.; T = 1957 August 1, (too late to be seen by Dick in April.)
COMET C/1956 R1 (AREND-ROLAND; O.S. 1957 III). Naked-eye visibility extended from mid-Mar. until mid-May; T = 1957 April 8.
Observable only from the southern hemisphere in March and early April, rising steadily to first magnitude"
Bell concludes, "So I think the comet Richard J. Berkley observed was C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) because it was very near the horizon in the morning and was observable from the southern hemisphere during April 1957." Many thanks to Charles Bell for his detailed analysis and confirmation of my conjecture based on my provisional research. )
S-2 Winter 1957 (photo by Olav Loken)
(S-2: One of the key sciences during the IGY was glaciology, and to this end the Wilkes winter crew included a team of three glaciologists, Olav Loken, John Molholm, and led by Richard Cameron. One of their key objectives was setting up a glaciology research sub-base on the polar ice cap. While Wilkes was being constructed, a short excursion onto the plateau was undertaken, and the trail was marked and nicknamed the Sullivan Trail. On February 22 the glaciologist followed the Sullivan Trail about 10km from Wilkes up onto the edge of the plateau and set up a meteorological shelter, called Site-1. On March 11 Operation Crampon (Cameron, Loken, Molholm, Eklund, Honkala, and Noonan) set out along the Sullivan trail, past Site-1, with the goal of setting up the glaciology sub-base. The location was to be "well above the equilibrium line where we could expect to find the annual firn layers preserved in the stratigraphy" and for safety and logistical reasons within a day's travel for a heavily loaded Weasel. (firn: granular snow, especially on the upper part of a glacier, where it has not yet been compressed into ice.)
After 11 hours of travel from Wilkes, during which time the slope had been gradually leveling off, until the terrain was close to flat, Dick Cameron announcing "This is the place". The new sub-base called Site-2 (S2 for short) was located 85km from Wilkes and 1300m above sea level. Straight away the team set up a Jamesway hut, a weather station, a large grid of surface stakes to measure snow accumulation and horizontal ice deformation, and then started a pit which would eventually extend hundreds of years back in the ice record. However, for now it was just a start and the team headed back to Wilkes.
Geophysicist Richard Berkley and glaciologist Dick Cameron with "Angry 9" hand-crank generator trying to make radio contact with Wilkes Station from Site 2.
Olav Loken and "The Berk", Site 2.
The glaciology team was back at S2 on April 25, and Dick Cameron and John Molholm continued the excavation of a deep pit to investigate the accumulation of snow on the ice cap. Over the next few months, with members of the Wilkes crew regularly relieving the S2 crew, a pit 2m square was dug down 115 feet, back through 175 years of accumulated snow, to snow laid down in the year 1783. The pit was excavated by hand with pick ax, with snow and ice hauled out with a wooden box named the Berk. Olav Loken recalls "After we no longer were able to throw out by hand the 'debris' we picked out from the bottom of the pit, we turned to the 'Berk' until that was filled and then pulled it to the surface with a weasel and emptied it before starting over again. I don't remember how the plywood box got its name, but it stems from Berkley - the easygoing and popular geomagnetism member of our crew. (Richard Berkley bet that the shaft would not reach the hoped for depth, hence the name.—Mel Oakes) The digging at the bottom was accomplished by using a regular pick ax to break out the firn and then a shovel to fill the 'Berk'. The space at the bottom was restricted to the 2x2m cross section of the pit, so there was not much 'elbow room'. But we managed. At least we were out of the cold winds! I recall we typically worked in a t-shirts. Every now and then, we got a break, when we stopped so that Dick C. could complete his stratigraphic recordings." "Near the bottom of the shaft, we dug a short horizontal 'stall' for the installation of dials, that we - or our successors - could measure deformation over time. This complemented a large polygon of ablation stakes on the surface, with S2 at one corner that measured horizontal strain rates." A 85 foot deep bore hole was later drilled at the bottom of the pit, reaching a total depth of 200 feet.On January 22nd, 1958 S2 was closed down for crew change-over at Wilkes after being continuously manned since April, producing along with the glaciological results, and an unbroken meteorological record for this period. Site-2 would be soon re-occupied by the 1958 crew, and studies would continue there for many years.Information about Site-2 from Gil Dewart's "Journey to the Ice Age" and correspondence with Olav Loken.)
April 9, 1957-Took five sets of declinations today and messed with the magnetograph meantimes. Will have a problem with the absolutes bldg heaters. Should be thermostated. Played Jim Powell in cribbage tourney after the movie and lost two straight. Winner will pick up 5 cases of beer.
(In the bottom photo at right, we see Richard Berkley with his magnetometer.)
(Reference to Dick's work in "Operation Deep Freeze III, 1957-58."
"At the station on Vincennes Bay the scientists were well ahead of schedule. Dick Berkley had completed adjusting his recording magnetometer; his “house of mirrors" was now complete after weeks of carpentry, wiring, tile-laying, sun and star shooting; the maze ultimately provided a continuous record of changes in direction and strength of the earth's magnetic field.
At Wilkes magnetic north was almost due west which made for some confusion—particularly in bridge.")
"A status report to the NAS on May 11, 1957, stated:
"Geomagnetism - The geomagnetic building leaks have been eliminated and the tunnel weather proofed. The buildings had to be rewired after moving all the switch boxes into the tunnel. All the heaters have been installed.The DC power supply and the geomagnetic recorders have been installed in the office, and all the cables have been strung to the variation building.The magnetograph installation is awaiting the completion of a fire alarm and the result of efforts to eliminate wind-driven snow from entering the building. A report of May 2 noted that the standard magnetograph was operating on a test basis and the rapid run magnetograph was being installed. Recent high winds have lifted the roof from the walls, destroying the light tight quality of the building."
The report also included a description of Site 2. "(Satellite Station, S12) - A relative movement study has been set up at the Ice Cap S-2 Station, 50 miles south of Wilkes Station, covering an area of approximately nine square miles. Tunnels have been constructed in preparation for a deep pit to be dug at the site in May. Snow crystal replica studies have been carried out at this site as well as at the main station.Snow sampling equipment has also been assembled and was in operation April 1. It was reported on April 14 that a trip was completed to S-2 with 20 drums of fuel being delivered. The trail en route was marked with empty drums. It is hoped that a ten-day field operation can be conducted to the site, beginning May 6. Surface meteorological observations will be conducted at S-2 during the completion of studies of the glaciological deep pit."
April 10, 1957-Another pretty day altho only 8 above. Ran a series of declinations. Avg of two days was 82 ° 50.45' This discrepancy of about 3° from the chart makes me wonder about my buildings. Carl upheld the honor of IGY by being only cribbiger to survive the first round. Started a temp test on magnetograph to also check for a good level at which to run thermostats.
April 17, 1957-Today we put down the std mag. with Plaster of Paris. Found that temp light trouble was with pendulum clock. Talked til about 0130 about comm situation in light of Dickey's orders, etc. It is an inescapable mess.
April 18, 1957-A real blizzard today—gusts up to 95 1/2 mph. Tried to make it out to the buildings this a.m., but nearly got lost so gave up. Made it in the afternoon. Nearly died out tonite. (Assume he means the blizzard.) Freezing rain after the movie. Certainly need better clothing and also snow goggles.
April 21, 1957-Carl talked to
CraryBert Crary, chief scientist at Little America today on our homemade Navy radio and found a good reception to the pole party idea. (Was yesterday) Today we whipped out message. Also had an Easter service. (Albert P. Crary, shown at right, was Chief Scientist for US Antarctic Research.)
April 22, 1957-Today the message went to Crary and Washington outlining our polar plans. Now will see what happens. Installation going forward slowly. Another storm tonite after a quiet 5" snowfall. Should get some huge drifts out of this.
(Here are their proposed traverse polar plans (NAS Report).
WILKES STATION GLACIOLOGICAL TRAVERSE October, November, 1957 A traverse, approximately 500 miles in length, has been proposed by Eklund. The party will proceed due South from Station 2 (66°27.7' S, 112° 17' E) 141.75 statute miles to 68° 30' S. From this inland point, the route continues in a northwesterly direction to Mt. Long, elevation 6,500 feet. The distance from the inland station to Mt. Long is 119 miles From Mt. Long the party will return to an established fuel cache, 67° 12' S,112° 17' E, thence to Wilkes Station via Station 2 or Vanderford Glacier. Elevations encountered are expected to range from the low elevations near Wilkes Station to more than 9000 feet at 68° 30'S, the inland point 192 trail miles from the coast. Traverse work will include snow pit studies with emphasis on density, stratigraphy, and temperature, Raysonde tests between pits are expected to connect pit stratigraphy. Ten meter bore holes will be made, along with meteorological and snow surface observations. At Mt. Long, bedrock and glacial geology will be studied. The return via the Vanderford Glacier is dependent on travel problems associated with such terrain. Equipment will include two weasels, two one-ton sleds, and one dog teamwith boat sle!s. The party will presumably include four or five men (Berkley was hoping to be of these.), all IGY personnel at Wilkes Station. Rations are to be supplied from stocks existing at Wilkes Station. Support of the inland operations will be effected by the establishment of a fuel cache 103 miles from Wilkes Station. In order to make a two-vehicle trip from that point to 68° 30'S and return to the cache at least seven 55-gallon drums of gasoline will have to be supplied to the cache prior to the October traverse departure. An additional three drums must be cached in order to return the party and their vehicles to Wilkes Station. Eklund has indicated that the caching plan is possible and that all equipment for the proposed traverse is on hand. Highly desirable would be an aerial reconnaissance of the Mt. Long -Vanderford Glacier area. Crevassed terrain hazardous to vehicles may prohibit safe travel near these points. The feasibility of the proposed route could also be best determined by air reconnaissance.)
April 23, 1957-Another frustrating day with the variometer (The vertical-intensity variometer is an instrument tha indicates visually or by photographic registration the variations in the vertical component of the intensity B, of the earth's magnetic field. The essentials of the instrument are:
(a) A permanent. magnet (or pair of magnets) equipped with a quartz (or equivalent) knife edge near its center of gravity, 9. balancing poise for adjustment of the In etic axis to the horizontal, and a sensitivity poise for adjustment 0 the scale value;
(b) A nonmagnetic housing with suitable agate or quartz supports so arranged that the magnet may oscillate in a vertica plane;
(c) An optical system suitable for visual observations or photographic registration; _
(d) Copper boxes or chambers surrounding the ends of the magnet system to provide magnetic damping and
(e) A temperture compensation device. Richard as expected had trouble with temperature variations affecting the variometer. Below is a let from the Coast and Geordetic Survery division chief following his return.)
The snow last nite helped walking somewhat by covering the ice coast. The winds have cleared all of the ice out of the bay again.
April 24, 1957-Another blizzard today. An all day affair–winds to about 50 the vestibule is almost completely snowed in. Capt Ketchum and his "no drifting." And the doors open out! Will have to build some tunneling now. Fortunately my buildings are still open, but by tomorrow the galley door will be the only one out of these 4 buildings here. Above freezing this a.m. (Navy Captain Gerald L. Ketchum, From 14 January to 27 February 1957, he assumed command of a task group of three ships and established a base on the Knox Coast under extremely adverse ice conditions. For his service in these operations, Ketchum received the Legion of Merit.)
April 27, 1957-A very big day today. We got a Ross seal—first ever taken by an American land base. It was on a floe out in our cove. Rudy and Alan shot him and then Rudy took a line out and tied him on and we tugged him in. Carl was very thrilled after contacting Chile today, his cup running over. With old Methusalem. (Rudy was Rudolf A. Honkala, meteorologist. He was Dick's roommate. His parents had immigrated from Finland in 1904 and his father worked in the copper mines on Michigans upper peninsula. Many Finns worked these mines. The family later moved to Salisbury, NH to work in the granite quarries. Rudi's mother was a cook. Rudi and his two brothers were born there, he in 1924. Rudi did not finish high school. He attended law school for a year but he had a family so could not afford to continue. He later earned a masters at U. of Montana in geography. He served in WWII but was discharged due to rheumatic fever. He returned to the University of New Hampshire, however it took a year of intense exercise to recover his health. He eventually, with help from the GI Bill, graduated from the University of New Hampshire. He and his future wife, Barbara Hastings, worked at a weather station on Mount Washington. They married in 1950. The Weather Bureau was looking for man and wife team to run a weather station in Gamble, Alaska, about 175 miles from Nome on St. Lawrence Island. They applied and were accepted. When their family expanded his wife could not work so only one salary, so after two years, they moved back to New Hampshire to run a sporting goods store. He applied to participate in the IGY in Antarctica. He was accepted and made the difficult decision to leave his wife and four children, oldest five and youngest one month. He left with his wife's blessing; she understood the uniqueness of this opportunity. His wife, was from Bethel, New Hampshire.Rudy spent three tours in the Antarctica, in addition to 1957–58 at Wilkes he was chief weather observer with the Australians at Wilkes Station (now Casey) 1959-61, and again as scientist-in-charge at Palmer Station, 1966-68.
May 3, 1957-Went out with Rudy this afternoon to work the dogs a bit. Tried Kageluck as lead, but he just threw around and started a fight. Went to get a seal, but were too late. Doc had already gotten one—a Weddell pup. Lost cribbage matches to Carl, Frenchy & Pat this evening. I must be lucky at love. (Kageluck, mixed breed dog- "large wolf-like animal")
May 4, 1957-Finished laying out the RR today & the components are ready to cement in place. Magee worked on the roof and put tarp over the cracks on top of walls. Was down to zero today and a new low for us. Played cribbage with Doc & lost, hitting the bottom. (Doc was Dr. Sheldon W. Grinnell, Navy medical officer, Grinnell Island is named for him.He is shown at right.)
May 5, 1957-Made contact with Jim Shea at Cape Hallett today. Sounded just the same. Finished my black box and installed it this afternoon. Also put up a shelf in the abs. bldg. Carl talked to Siple (Paul Siple) who’s looking forward to seeing us. Said that it’s a much safer trip than to McMurdo.
May 11, 1957-Dick Berkley had no entry for this date, however Bob Long provided a writeup of events that began that day and are referred to in Dick's entries below. Dick Cameron, Gil Dewart and Bob Long left in Weasel to Vanderford Glacier to track how fast the glacier was moving. Bob's writeup follows:
Introduction: I graduated from Dartmouth College in 1956 and spent the next year doing ionosphere and cosmic ray research in Antarctica as part of the International Geophysical Year program. I was a civilian scientist, employed by the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). I was stationed at Wilkes Station, on the coast of Antarctica south of Australia. We arrived by Navy ship at the site for the base on January 31, 1957. The base was built with supplies carried on the ships that brought us. It was formally commissioned on February 16, 1957. Nine other civilians and thirteen Navy men spent the rest of the year there, leaving on January 29, 1958. Following is the story of my most memorable experience that year. The text is transcribed from my journal with some editorial changes and annotations.
Wilkes Station, Antarctica, May 19 (late fall in the Southern hemisphere) by Bob Long
Yesterday, Dick Cameron (glaciologist and trip leader), Gil Dewart (geologist), and I returned from our trip to the Vanderford Glacier, eight days after we started on what was supposed to be a three or four day trip.
Why did we go to the glacier? We went to measure how fast the glacier was moving. This is done by placing bamboo stakes in the ice and measuring their positions aver time with a transit from a site on bed rock to see how far they move. The answer? Feet per day - I don’t remember the actual amount.We traveled in a Weasel, an enclosed tracked vehicle of WWII vintage, smaller than the SnoCats used at ski areas. It pulled a sled containing our tents, provisions, fuel, and surveying equipment.
We left about 10 a.m. on May 11 in a gentle snowstorm and camped the first night on the icecap about 18 miles out. We pitched two tents, Dick in one and Gil and I in the other. The tents were called Blanchard seal-tight tents, two-man tents made of Everest cloth that cost about $200 apiece. They are quite nice except for a gap in the ventilation flap in the roof, which lets snow blow in, and are pitched easily and quickly.
The next morning the weather was clearer and the temperature was –17ºF. Since the visibility had been bad the day before, we had navigated by keeping our Weasel at about 1500 feet elevation, by means of an altimeter. That morning, Dick, who had been to the Glacier with others early in March to first plant the movement stakes, decided it was time to start going down to lower elevation. We soon saw the Haupt Nunatak, our destination, which lies about one mile east of the edge of the glacier. (A nunatak is a bedrock outcrop that sticks up through the ice sheet.)
When we started to draw near the nunatak that afternoon, we got into a region of blowing snow. Although it was possible to see clear sky overhead, ground visibility was only about thirty feet. We camped for the night when Dick thought we had driven close to the nunatak. Dick slept in the Weasel and we pitched only one tent, due to the bad weather.
The morning of the third day was clear and sunny, temperature -16ºF. We found that we had camped about three-quarters of a mile past the nunatak, headed right for the dangerous Vanderford Glacier, when we stopped the night before! So we set the tent on the sled and drove back to the nunatak to start the survey about 10 a.m. If we had made an earlier start, Dick and Gil might have been able to sight more stakes but eleven sights were made before it got too dark.
I acted as cook and clean-up person that day while Gil and Dick worked. We used only one tent again that night, with all three of us in it for warmth. (Dick had not slept well in the Weasel the previous night.)
That night, the wind began again. In the morning, visibility was 30 feet, the temperature was -18ºF, and the wind about 20 mph. I was able to start the Weasel engine in spite of about one-half inch of snow that had blown over the engine. We kept the engine running (and the heater operating part of the time) all day to charge the battery, making sure we’d be able to return to the base O.K. Because of the storm, we spent the daylight hours in the Weasel. (I think we must have had some reading materials to pass the time.) We had a daily schedule of radio contact with the base at 5 p.m., after which we finished supper and went to bed early. (We averaged about 12 hours of sleep per night on the trip.)
The next day, the fifth day, the storm continued, in spite of fairly clear sky overhead. The wind was stronger and the temperature was -14ºF in the morning. We stayed in our sleeping bags in the cramped tent until about 11:30 a.m. We were unable to start the Weasel that morning as snow had about filled the engine compartment and the battery probably wasn’t charged up very well and it was cold. So we spent an anxious day trying to get it started by shoveling snow around the sides of the Weasel to keep out while we tried to dig out the engine. Snow on the sides helped retain the heat generated by our Primus stove inside the Weasel. Fortunately we had brought plenty of fuel for it and we kept it running most of the day. We didn’t want to try the Weasel heater so as to save the battery.
Since we had no luck starting the Weasel, Dick called for help (May Day!) when we talked to the base at 5 o’clock. We were assured that they would start in the morning for us. John Molholm, another one of the civilian scientists, would go along as guide, since he had been there on the first trip.
We cut down our food consumption even more (we had been on two meals a day), in case the rescuers didn’t make it right away. We turned into our sleeping bags, which were getting more frozen up daily due to body moisture during the night, hopeful of a warm meal the next night.
Thursday, day six, was a beautiful day so Dick decided we should go out on the glacier to replace some of the stakes he’d been unable to sight earlier in the week. We spent quite a pleasant four hours out there in spite of the -20ºF temperature (it was -24ºF that morning). There was no wind, fortunately. We got back to the nunatak about 2 p.m. and I was somewhat tired but warm.
We had been looking for the rescue team all afternoon and thought we sighted their Weasel about 1 p.m. but didn’t see it later. When we listened on our radio schedule at 5 p.m., we learned that the rescue party had turned back because they were unable to find the nunatak. This was bad news, of course, especially since our battery was too weak for us to transmit. A warm west wind had come up and the moon was behind thin clouds of ice crystals, which portended another storm soon. We were low on food, eating half of our remaining food each day. But we heard them say they would try again the next day so we went to bed hopeful again.
Friday morning the temperature was -10ºF and the visibility was good with little wind, although the sky was overcast. I slept badly the night before. Claustrophobia and gasoline fumes from a leaky jerry can that we used to hold down one corner of our tent drove me out of bed at 8:30. Dick and I got out the hand generator for the radio and got it working. With Gil and I taking turns cranking and Dick operating, we established contact again at 11 o’clock. We found out to our great dismay that the trail party had already turned back again due to poor visibility. They had already driven into one crevasse too. But Dick told them the visibility was good where we were so they decided to come on to us. We told them we would light a signal fire with oil and gasoline at noon and get in touch again at 12:30. Dick and our scientific leader, Carl Eklund, made plans to us to walk out along the coast the next day if the rescuers didn’t arrive. Carl was to meet us with food and dry clothing with the dog team.
Working the generator for the 12:30 contact wore me out quite badly but at least the rescuers were still coming. They hadn’t seen our fire, which was quite ineffective because a slight wind wouldn’t let the smoke rise.
We set about making preparations to walk out that afternoon, constructing a travois out of bamboo poles and rope to carry a tent and sleeping bags. We had only one rucksack. Lack of food made us all tired, however. I was worried; would I have the strength to make the trip? Could we do it safely?
At 3 p.m. Dick took his turn at cranking the generator while I operated the radio. Lo and behold, they said they could see the nunatak and turned on their headlights to see if we could see them. I was able to see them quite plainly! It really looked good. I was reminded of some lines from Romeo and Juliet: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet the sun.” We started packing our gear and digging out the Weasel. The temperature had risen to about 0º by then so it was quite pleasant outside.
The rescuers, John and Lt. Don Burnett, the base commander, arrived soon, just at twilight. We had some stew, cocoa and sandwiches to revive us. We tried unsuccessfully to get our Weasel started by towing it with the other one. The engine just wouldn’t turn over. So we parked the two Weasels side by side and began melting the snow in ours by using warm air from the heater in the other one. We replaced the batteries with new ones they had brought and were eventually able to start our engine. The fan wouldn’t turn even with the snow melted away.
Don called our mechanic at the base and got instructions on how to tighten the fan belt, which we did and then everything worked fine. We even finally got our heater melted free of snow and operating again so things were in good shape.
We left the nunatak about 9 p.m. and started back with the aid of a three-quarter moon. On the way, our Weasel led and the other one followed with our sled, since Dick felt the clutch on ours was poor. We had one close call when we unknowingly broke through a five-foot wide crevasse, which the guys in the following Weasel fortunately noticed in time to avoid it. There was some confusion as to which of the several tracks we should follow back but we finally pulled into camp at 5:45 a.m. The mileage on the return was 38 miles, 10 miles more than on the way out.
The cause of our misadventure was bad weather. However, sufficient equipment and preparation would have made the need for quick rescue less necessary. We had plenty of space in the sled for more food and emergency rations if we had only known how long the trip could be. Maybe an auxiliary heater for the Weasel and/or an extra set of batteries would have made rescue unnecessary. The Weasel itself, however, is not satisfactory for such a trip since, among other things, it’s not weather tight.
Yesterday, after five hours sleep in the morning, and today I’ve been gobbling food madly. I lost flesh in my face but not much weight. I got a little frostbite on my chin and on one of my fingers. We were lucky that nothing more serious happened; it was a close call.
May 15, 1957-This was quite a day. Spent morning putting a compass in Weasel. (vehicle). After lunch, Carl, Doc, & John started toward Shirley Island. They got about 100 yds before breaking thru 11” of ice. John got out abandoning it, but it floated. About 8 tries before it finally came out. Made a contact with Walter Sullivan who wondered about Pole trip when Cameron came on air with “Emergency.” We left Walter hanging to hear Dick. Weasel wouldn’t start. Had two days food & wanted rescue at Haupt. In the middle Rudy came on and covered signal. A real mess. Finally got back to Sullivan & talked an hour or so with him. Carl told him that he, Fred and I were going to Site 2 on Monday so may have to go now. Saw a paraselene at night which was tremendous. (A moon dog, moondog, or mock moon, (scientific name paraselene, plural paraselenae, meaning "beside the moon" is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.) Photo at right shows a pair of paraselene over Didcot, England.
Weasel
Further description of the ice breakthrough (NAS). "An unscheduled amphibious operation was conducted with one of the base weasels when a preliminary sortie on to the ice resulted in the vehicle breaking through. Although the ten inches of ice through which the weasel dropped was over the six inch recommended minimum the combination of the facts that the ice was new and that the wind action tended to weaken it apparently meant more than the actual thickness. Eklund, Lt. Grinell and Molholm quickly abandoned their floating weasel with Moihoim taking a waist level dunking in the process. A D-4 tractor and a coil of heavy rope were brought to the water's edge and a line was run from the tractor to the weasel. With Bousquet and Patterson at the tractor and McIntyre, Green and Wonsey out at the weasel, Magee directed the operation from an intermediate point. The weasel came further out with each attempt as planks and fuel drums were used to direct the pulling force upward to lift the weasel clear off the ice. When Wonsey disengaged the engine so that the tracks could turn freely the weasel finally came up on top of the ice and was dragged ashore. The weasel is operating again remarkably unharmed by the dunking."
John Molholm in the kitchen at Site-2 glaciology camp, 85 km from Wilkes, photo by Olav Loken
May 16, 1957-More fiascos today. Don and John went down to Vandiford party, but couldn’t find Haupt Nunatak. Cameron didn’t come on the air so assume they didn’t take their hand crank generator. As a result the boys came back empty-handed & will try again tomorrow. Earl set out after lunch with the dogs—after ruining two Weasels he decided to stick to them. He dropped an item & when he went back the dogs took off. Went to Beull Island (about 4 1/2 mi.) non-stop, then stopped & had a hell of a fight. Kageluck finally bit off too much & was killed. The dogs walked back toward Carl dragging him in the traces. Carl broke the whip chastising them. Wonder what his Midas touch will get next? ( Pat Patterson commented on the dogs, "We had a team of Huskies with us. One a female, only takes one, was supposed clipped to ensure no pups. Never guess, our doctor turned his surgery into a maternity ward. There was one pup that lived. The huskies were evil though, take your arm off if they had a chance.")
May 17, 1957-After turning back once John & Don nearly made it to the Nunatak. They had dropped one track in a crevasse and were losing visibility. However, the trail gang came on the radio & talked them back down. Got back about 6:30 on the 18th. Pole had -114 degrees.
May 18, 1957-Uneventful day more or less. Talked with Jack Townshend and got a lot of poop for the observatory. Very good patch for an hour or so. Wind kicked up tonite.
(Note: John B. "Jack" Townshend (1927–2012) was a geophysicist. Here is a quote from: Eos, Vol. 93, No. 50, 11 December 2012 "In the late 1940s, the growing responsibilities of the Geomagnetism Program began to exceed the physical capacities of the Cheltenham Observatory. In 1953, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for the construction of a new observatory and Program headquarters. A site near Fredericksburg, Va., was selected. Jack supervised the design of the observatory, and he managed its construction. The new Fredericksburg Magnetic Observatory was completed in 1956. As part of International Geophysical Year that soon followed, 1957–1958, Jack trained numerous domes and foreign observatory workers, and he supervised the calibration of their magnetometers" Dick's comment refers to a radio patch to Jack back in the States to discuss his magnetometers. Dick trained in Fredericksburg obviously under Jack. More about Jack here. John B. "Jack" Townshend.
May 19, 1957-Thirty knot winds with peak gust about 47. Did a little hamming. Wind died after supper and was quite nice. Temp today about 15-20 degrees.
May 20, 1957-Started on magnetic moments today. Hope to have gotten all of them. Tonite found a beetle—very nondescript—in the absolute bldg (Dick's lab. Only recently heated. It was believed that the beetle came to Antarctic in some of Dick's equipment. Still a question is what was it eating all this time and why didn't the cold kill it). The Antarctic does have insects. Heard that the NY Times had carried a story on the pole trip. Tomorrow is my day to “ham”. Hope I can get a patch or two.
May 21,1957-How frustrating. Got 4 patches for other guys, but nothing for me. Not a whisper from Florida.
May 26, 1957-Tonight the first real manifestation of friction. Fred got socked in the nose as he stood beefing at Danny behind the counter in the chow line. It will probably cost his rate and was very unfortunate. Hear now that the ships will be in on 1 Feb & will fly from first port.
May 27, 1957-A beautiful morning with new wind. However, much snow blowing up from the cape. By afternoon it hit and we had gusts in the 70s, but no snow. About 5:30 the snow started blowing and really was a mess. Most of the ice has blown out now.
May 28, 1957-A very strange day. Fairly light winds in the morning picking up to 50 knots by noon. Hit 82 knots during the afternoon and then died around 19:00. Went to the science building with no coat & the winds started again. Made a break for the movies during which much lumber flew while we hit 87 knots or 100 mph. Ran back in shirt sleeves. Within a hour it was almost dead calm. A most amazing phenom. Pressure jumps and away she goes. All of the ice beyond the point went out today.
July 14, 1957-Went out in afternoon to Weasel that Rudy & Mac had towed in. Still can’t figure how they were lucky to find their way in with no lights and a fog. (Mac is shown at right.)
July 15, 1957-Great blizzard today. Winds abound 60 knots with peak at 79. Carl & Doc tried to bring the pup in but didn’t make it so Bill and I went out in the afternoon. It was terrible but we managed. Roped up & took a radio along in evening when Duane went out with me to change records. Had to go thru garage window with the dogs & to make the movie as the rec deck door was completely drifted in. Aurora tower was shifted slightly but held.
July 16, 1957-Woke up a couple of times & finally got up about 09:30 with a sore shoulder—probably bursitis. Couple of ham schedules in the a.m., but the down______ on the rhombic (antenna) had come loose, so no hamming. Processed 4 days records instead. In afternoon had a chance to talk with Floyd in Honolulu. Storm quit about midnite last nite. Quite a lot of sea ice gone—a mile or so of it left now—about 30+ inches thick.
July 17, 1957-Finally got through to Winter Park with an excellent patch. Ended rather abruptly, though. Ed and I were surprised when Mother said Goodbye and hung up. Scaled several records & cleaned out the std Z vanometer which has been a pain. Have an alert on now. Deep pit at 16.7 meters today.
July 18, 1957-Had some fairly strong southerly winds today that moved the loose snow around. Burned out some wiring when I took down the program machine to work on it. It’s still fouling up. Caught up on scaling today.
July 25, 1957-In spite of good intentions, I've dropped several days. I took psychological test today. Wind started about 1400 and blew until about 2000. The gentle snow should amount to about 6 inches or more. George put in the shelves in the head last nite so now we've each got a slot for our toilet gear.
July 26, 1957-Another momentous day, perhaps. Rep’d a message that there were tentative plans for a traverse to McMurdo Sound in ’58-’59. (They had originally proposed a traverse to the South Pole, however the powers in Washington offered the alternative traverse.) Gil is slated to lead the party. Think I’ll volunteer to stay if I can get on that traverse. It would rather complete my polar education. Hate the thought of being gone another year, though, but it’s a chance I fear I can’t pass up.
Dick Cameron
July 27, 1957-Tonite Cameron (Richard "Dick") and Mollholm (John ) got on the list of volunteers. Carl upset that they didn’t personally tell him, but passed the word thru us. Hope to talk with Crary soon so we can get a message off.
July 28, 1957-Had a talk with Crary this afternoon and he seemed agreeable to the entire traverse proposal. Thought magnetic work would also be an asset. Sounds as if we’d be replaced here in any event and be just that many extra people. Now to get the word to Washington and see what the reaction is.
July 29, 1957-Message went out today with our views on traverse and recommending us as personnel. Hope it does the trick although I’m not too crazy about another year here. It will be a mess in the States, too, collecting all my stored gear.
July 30, 1957-Spent the day on the ham gear, but with little results. Did talk with Jay Birbly and Jack Couffer, though. Jack’s stuck here to be theatrical while the “penguin-lift” is going on TV. Missed W4LZ so hope tomorrow will be the day. (Jack Couffer A.S.C. [born December 7, 1924 in Upland, California] is an American cinematographer, film and television director, and author. Couffer has specialized in documentary films, often involving nature and animal cinematography. Couffer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on the film version of the novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1974)) (W4LZ was ham operator.)
July 31, 1957-The halfway point—maybe six gone & six mons. to go. Talked with the Morgans (Sister's family) today & hope to keep a regular schedule with the Eau Gallie Station (Eau Gallie is a section of the city of Melbourne, Florida, located on the city's northern side. Dick's family lived near there.). Took the last of the psycho test today. Ed Blevins up today but not good enough to call Winter Park. (Ed Blevins was ham operator in Plant City, Florida.)
August 4, 1957-Went over by Shirley Inlet this afternoon & I shot my first seal. What a big game hunter that takes. It was a young male yearling. Two more there which I photographed. Rudy & I were going, but Doc & Carl would go if we went on the ice. What a thing they have about the ice.
August 11, 1957-Heard Capt. (William) “Trigger” Hawkes talking with Dickey today & Navy will not support traverse so it looks like that’s all she wrote. I’d just as soon go home anyway. Cameron broke his glasses & thought there was glass in his eye so party left during movie last nite, but couldn’t see so returned & started again this morning.
August 14, 1957-A real blizzard today with avgs around 45-50 knots. Too rough to get around but had almost all my class there. (Dick was teaching a math class.) Really rough changing records these days.
August 15, 1957-Still blowing again today—perhaps not as bad, but seems worse when record changing time rolled around. Head still secured off & on but looking pretty good now. (Likely referring to recording head on instrument.)
August 16, 1957-Took some pictures today of the storm’s aftermath. By afternoon after class the wind was going again, but not too bad. Died down later in the evening. Have some monstrous drifts now. Fred has a new bldg out towards inflation shack for RDF. (A radio direction finder (RDF) is a device for finding the direction, or bearing, to a radio source.)
August 17, 1957-Ran absolutes this afternoon. John and Dick came in and do they need haircuts. I did our “6 mos & 1 day since the ships left” party. Talked to a Quincy station in p.m. Copied a patch with W4LZ in the morning, but not too good. Frenchie (Edward Bousquet, was responsible for drinking water at station.) got a tractor hung up by the garage in the a.m. (Explanation from Dennis Murphy, friend and ham operator. "Have never heard of "Quincy" describing a station other than its location. Quincy MA, by the way, has had a formidable amateur radio club for years. Possibly the reference is to a club station?)
W4LZ was owned at the time by George Edward Blevins "ED" (1895–1981). He lived on Williams Road, Plant City, FL. Ed was an electrical engineer with Tampa Electric Company. He was 59 at the time and married to Dorothy Crosby Blevins. They had a daughter, Celita (Varn). He served in WWI.
(From Operation Deep Freeze III 1957 - 1958, Task Force 43: On March 20, 1957. Radioman Don Bradford pulled his mike close and spoke, "CQ KC4USK!" In the crowded little radio shack, every man held his breath,Through tho faint crackle of static the answer came- "KC4-USK . . . K6FCYl" One big grin spread over the whole group. The hams had done it again. Wilkes had called and March Air Force Base ham shack in Riverside, CA had answered.
Hardly a day passed that someone at Wilkes did not call home. Fred Charlton's long hours installing the equipment paid off in soaring morale, Before winter set in, nearly all of the (then) 48 States had been contacted as well as foreign countries. The station's IGY leader held the long-distance record, reaching his family in Chile via Minneapolis and involving four stations and phone patch. the voices traveling about 15.000 miles to and fro. But the best CQ of all was Dick Cameron’s DX to his wife in Germany soon after birth of their son.)
(Pat Patterson commented on communications, "As you will be aware, we had Navy radio communications and also ham radio. The highlight of the day was your turn on the radio. KC4USK calling, and we had plenty of traffic. I spoke to my parents about every other week through a third party in Charleston,S.C. Fortunately for them, my calls came in at 0200 in the morning, and the ham operator contacted them by telephone. We had a very strange ham signal one day. Our transmitter was a Collins 1000 watt and we used the Navy antennae system to transmit. The signal was beamed directly to Washington, D.C. However, in this particular case, the signal went straight over amend (sp) we had a young Spanish girl on the radio. Unfortunately, she didn't speak English. We had a Navajo Indian with us who was also the radioman, got him out of bed and he spoke to her. Difficult to believe but she was only transmitting on 20 watts. We had lots of enjoyment with the ham radio.")
August 18, 1957-Went skiing today for the first time and it was nearly fatal. Mac, Noonan, Doc, Curley, Syd & I were the victims of Rob & Don. Mac must have gotten some good movies!
August 19, 1957-We had our first donuts this afternoon. Molholm had the first taste of this delicacy in his life! Tried this evening to talk with Tallahassee, but no one at home. Evidently the Lanes have moved. (He is referring to Rod Lane, who became a Professor of Continuing Education at Florida Atlantic University. They were friends in Tallahassee.)
August 20, 1957-Hailstorms 21st birthday today so a party in the evening. Party was to leave for Cape Poinsett but 50-60 knot wind all day put that off. Cameron got a shave & haircut & is unrecognizable. We are rather hoping there will be no traverse! Started geometry in our class today.
August 21, 1957-Rudy shaved today saving only an Earp-Crary “mournful mustache.” Snow and fog again prevented the trail party from leaving. Vonsey got the spirit and shaved. Frenchie trimmed his beard.
August 22, 1957-Again a trace of snow so no trail days. Carl & Gil went out to brand a seal & while they were at it the dogs came back to camp. We’re saved on the McMurdo transverse! The AF says no C124s available for air support so home we go! We’re all ready. Finished a roll of film today on the dog fiasco.
August 23, 1957-Had a good blow early this a.m., but turned off beautifully. Trail party left about 11:00. Talked with Crary and he thought there was still a chance for traverse. Winds came up again after lunch & gave peak of 66 in afternoon. Trail party laid up about 6-1/2 miles out and then headed back arriving about 17:00. Carl immediately went to ham & and on the way back to chow fell down drift by Jamesway hurting his knee. Winds stayed high ’til after midnite.
August 24, 1957-About 6” of snow on ground this a.m. accumulated after the wind died. More falling. Carl can’t bend his knee now so guess they’d give up on the Poinsett trip. That’s the only thing that will save “the ill-fated” Northern Party.” Finished a roll of Kodachrome yesterday.
August 25, 1957-Wind blowing this morning so stayed in the galley all day while it howled. Played the first bridge here in the afternoon. Syd Green had wanted to ham. Got a copy of a message Crary sent to IGY telling them we couldn’t stay if the traverse was off. Wind still about 40-45 knots at nite, but little snow blowing. (Crary in fact later lead a traverse party to the pole.)
August 26, 1957-Wind down to about 20 at breakfast, but up again soon after to 30+ knots. No ice left off the point. It was a good thing the trail party was holed up close enough to come back. Otherwise, they might have floated out to sea or been trapped on an island. Luck rather than judgment saved them.
August 27, 1957-Ham day today. Got 4 patches for them. Didn’t do a thing for myself. Very disgusting. Another day of winds in the 40+s and temperature hit +31 degrees. What a place this is. Talked with USAble & learned that Leo Davis was not staying over.
August 28, 1957-Woke me at 10:15 with a patch to Winter Park. Very good to get into that area. Passed along the word on the traverse. Hope that things don’t change again. Finished our first math course in 2-1/2 weeks. Now for the algebra.
August 29, 1957-Trail party was to leave for Site 2 this a.m. but there was a little snow flying. Olaf has been up there by himself for two weeks so imagine he’ll be glad to see someone.
September 9, 1957- Winds up to 96 mph this day. Not too bad by evening, but still a chore to go out to the magnetic buildings.
September 10, 1957- Another stormy day. Made contact with an Orlando ham operator today so maybe able to talk with the folks more easily now. Temp up to about +31° this morning.
September 11, 1957- Ham day & a very good one. Long talk with Winter Park and had patches with John McGrew (Iowa Friend) & Jim Myers. A lot of fun. Wind still up 25-30 knots during most of day. A tractor threw a track & the snow melter engine went out of commission to foul things up pretty badly.
September 12, 1957- Went over the hill in the afternoon to see what might be a Ross seal which Pokey (dog) had cornered. Was our first Crabeater. Also saw our first Emperor penguin & tried a couple of pictures of him. Also a number of sunsets, etc.
September 13, 1957- The boys got the snow melter functioning again. The cooling fins had been broken off the flywheel so after grinding them clear off they rigged a blower up to do the job and away it went. Had several days records to run thru as a result of storms & breakdowns.
September 14, 1957- Another nice day. However the magnetic storm which hit yesterday morning was probably still disturbing things so let the absolutes go. Both magnetically & weatherize this has been a very stormy month thus far.
September 15, 1957- Our man-haulers & a trail party for S-2 set out this morning. Gil & Ralph going in the best British tradition & Carl, Paul, & Olav to S-2 to return the repaired generator and take some movies of the activities up there. Storm started in late afternoon, but S-2 party arrived safely after making last 6 miles in storm. Ran absolutes this afternoon.
September 16, 1957- Still storming today. Will keep Gil & Ralph pretty well pinned down so I’ll have to change those miserable seisms records again. Scaling and record changing are the activities these days. (At right is a modern photo of Ralph Glasgal, auroral physicist. He is on the left in the photo.)
September 17, 1957- Another blizzard day today. Wind stayed up all day, but the blowing snow pretty well quit by noon. Had a contact with Hallett, L. A. & the Pole in the evening. The Pole was about 115 degrees colder than us with L. A. 65° and Hallett 45 degrees. (L. A. is Little America. Cape Hallett is a snow-free area (Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape was the location of a joint scientific base, Hallett Station, between the United States and New Zealand during the International Geophysical Year of 1957.)
September 18, 1957- Still no sign of the missing party. Don and Bob covered Bailey this afternoon after the wind died, but with no success. Little chance of anything wrong, but they’re 2 days overdue from a two day trip. Talked to Larry Silverton tonite—one way—& set up a sched for Saturday nite.
September 19, 1957-This morning Rudy, Don, Fred, Mac, Doc, & Bob went out to look for the missing pair. Covered Bailey, much of Mitchell with discouraging results. Finally at about 1400 they saw them upon the ramp & brought them in. Also found a couple of Russian cans with a note dated 8 November 1956. Gil will try to translate it. A beautiful day with temp. 5-10 above. The Pole had -102.1° last nite.
September 21, 1957-Talked a little with Larry A. this evening but the band was very bad. Finally faded out completely.
September 24, 1957-Ran absolutes today. Storm had subsided somewhat. Carl & Don went out to survey, but the wind was a bit too strong so they came back in. Blowing about 20 knots. Magee’s wife says the newsletters talk of our being home by Christmas.
September 25, 1957-Ham day today. Good contact with Winter Park after talking with Elizabeth Wester in C. R. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Heard about the mess in Little Rock & the federal troops moving in. Talked with Ron after class & then nothing but message traffic. Blowing about 30 knots today. (Elizabeth Wester Born April 19, 1928, in Marshalltown, Iowa, to Reuben Axel and Gertrude Theoren (Hazen) Wester, she graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1946, attended Wellesley College (B.A., 1950) and University of Iowa (M.A., 1955), and studied in Vienna, Austria as a Fulbright scholar. A lifelong music educator and performer, she taught strings at public schools in Austin, Minn., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Madison, conducting the La Follette High School Orchestra.)
September 26, 1957-Olav, Bob & Ralph set out for Haupt today. Olav was a little leery of making the trip but was prevailed upon. Got down there in good time. Wind started blowing in late evening so they’d be hard pressed to do any work. More “home by Xmas” reports. Wonsey (Duane J. Wonsey) heard his mother had been committed to Mich. mental hospital. today. Very rough with two younger children & a father they don’t want to live with. (Wonsey Rock is a small rock north of Cameron Island in the Swain Islands. This region was photographed by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump (1946–47), ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) (1956), and the Soviet expedition (1956). It was included in a 1957 survey of the islands north of Wilkes Station by C.R. Eklund. He named the rock for construction mechanic Duane J. Wonsey, U.S. Navy, of the Wilkes Station party, 1957. Wonsey is show at right fueling building heaters.)
September 27, 1957-Wind without snow all day today. Makes the outdoor work rather difficult but it hasn’t been too strong. Mostly just bothersome.
September 28, 1957-A steady blow today. Took a number of shots out in the wind this morn & copied the scroll Rudy made to finish a roll of film. Wind died in the afternoon long enough for water? To be made, but picked up again before supper. Still no snow to speak of, but around 53 knot wind.
September 29, 1957-The wind died at about 0500 & it dawned a nice warm (26°) day. Started absolutes pm, but was too messy? Wind came up again about 1500 and away we went. Started blowing anew at nite. Heard the boys at Haupt had a tent blow away. Snow here was finding lots of new cracks. Some of the boys painting rooms today—pink & blue.
September 30, 1957-Set a new record of 91 knots at about 0500 this morning. Had to use the vent in power house for door. Gave the duty in the head this week. Such a business.
October 1, 1957- Started on hourly averages for diurnal curves & sitrep (Situation Reports) . A real pain & much back work to do. Fortunately the Z has held fairly well, but could be better.
October 2, 1957- Working records today to get out the sitereps averages. Values similar to last mo. Talked with the folks in the morning luckily as I’ll probably be gone for my schedule. Carl talks with “Tommy” in afternoon & asked about Arneb’s return itinerary.
October 3, 1957- Stamped records in the morning & cleaned head. After school, went down to the point for a bunch of photos of camp. Also caught Rudy with normal incidence pyroheliometer. Some photos with each camera. Beautiful sunshine today. Tommy came thru again & now the question around camp is “Will you go to So. Africa and So. America or go straight home?”
October 4-Beautiful day—about +7° F. Photoed perihelion and false sun this a.m. Catching up with records to get ready for Site 2 trip. Did my first developing & printing job today.
October 5, 1957- Ran absolutes in the afternoon to get that job done before having to take down the gear for hauling up to Site Two.
October 6, 1957- Warm beautiful day today. Packed magnetometer up & got the duffle bag packed. Hope we get several more good days, but have my doubts. Tried to get in touch with Sally today but with no luck. Sat in on a 3-1/2 hr shift of satellite monitoring in evening.
October 8, 1957- After waiting to see if the weather would change, Rudy & I got off at about 1030. Started to close in at Site One & another seven miles from us unable to see with light drift, so turned back at about 1400. After an hour or so we ran out of the drift & had perfect visibility the rest of the way. Snowing in the evening so glad we turned back. Temp about +19°F.
October 9, 1957- Hard to get up this morning. Tired from yesterday's ride. Blowing snow so no chance of travel today. Some of the boys talked with Conger at OSV (Offshore Support Vehicle). Says Uncle Gerald will be our task group commander again & riding the Arnab for the long cruise.
October 7, 1957- Snowing blowing a little this morning. Not much chance of leaving today. Much wind on the cap & high gusts here. Just as well. Got chronometer corked & the rest of the equipment ready for the trip. Much snow drifted last nite so door of science bldg is finally snow up about 1 foot.
October 10, 1957- Wind of 40 knots with gusts to 65 or so. Temp about 25°. Was able to keep ham seeds & passed word along to Koeler, Helsey, Longley & Burke in addition to talking with folks & Jim Myers. Secured about 2200 after a 12 hr day of it.
October 11, 1957- Steady 40 knot east wind today. Not too much blowing snow but still no good for travel. Had asked with ABQ, but no luck. Carl went hog wild & wanted us to shovel out science bldg. Got word of text of GRC Xmas cards. Horrible!
October 12, 1957- Wind let up around noon & Rudy talked as if he wanted to travel, but Stan not about to. Very nice til middle of afternoon when wind started again, this time with blowing snow and kept up all evening and most of nite. Glad we weren’t on the trail.
October 13, 1957- A beautiful day today so Rudy & I got away at about 1300. Made it to the sled by sundown about 27 miles in by 1900 but after picking up 2 diesel barrels it went slow & surface atrocious. Some blowing snow & almost no trail visible. Did much backtracking and finally arrived about 0300. After eating, etc. got to bed about 0600. Lost a mitten at sled & doors wouldn’t close so we were really cold.
October 14, 1957- Slept until afternoon today—a beautiful warm day around 0°F to -10°. Rudy & I started snow house while Dick & John went visiting accumulation stakes. Went down in pit at about 2300 to photograph while they pulled last core. Pit is about 115 ft deep & final core is 27 meters. Proved to be glacier ice with density of 0.90. Finished about 0200 & then up for supper. Just about froze my hands climbing out.
October 15, 1957- Up rather late this a.m. Finished our snow house but too late to run abs. Perfect weather. Set up for azimuths at nite and stayed up with them until 0230. Temp -22°F. Then supper & to bed. What an upside down schedule we’ve been living.
October 16, 1957- Ran a set of abs this afternoon but could get no declination for dip. Took instr inside & it functioned OK. With no level & a breeze, though, doesn’t work too well outside.
October 17, 1957- Low ground drift today. Went out in afternoon to run absolutes, but the wind (about 18 mph) made Z impossible & the declination seemed to be shifting badly so finally packed everything for the return trip. Had some fine chicken fricassee for supper.
October 18, 1957- Rudy woke us up at about 0640 & John’s been like a bear with a sore paw. A beautiful day—just rite for work, but must use it for travel & not take a chance. Helped John pull up drill testing & nearly brained him with 1st load. After finishing Ekta (chrome) roll & starting Koda (chrome) left about 1400. About half way by 1930 & home by 2330. Heard about orders—Brad & Noonan to ships—and about Gil’s & Mac’s “satellite” of last Sunday nite. John found mitten at sled.
October 19, 1957- Slept ’til nearly noon today. Talked with Sally at lunch time. Unpacked & then developed & printed the 120 pictures. Not so hot. Carl, Don, Fred, Shel & Ralph
up near Folger on mapping foray. Beautiful warm day. Wish we’d stayed another day at S-2.
October 20, 1957- A beautiful Sunday. Temp up at 30° with no wind. Most of the boys out hiking. Tried some more picture printing today & offered the photo of Rudy to John’s overhead. Had no reaction from him, though, by lights out. (Not sure what this is about, maybe "overhead" meant above his bunk.)
October 21, 1957- Spent the day on carpenter work. Built shelves in room and rearranged things a little. Really a thing of beauty now. Another beautiful day with temp pushing above 30°. Carl, Gil, Brad & Noonan out seal hunting. Got 22 of them. No reaction from John yet.
November 22, 1957- Shot some sunsets today & then stayed up until about 0100 & caught a sunrise.
November 23, 1957- Finished a roll of film today with shots of a couple of skuas. Another beautiful day.
November 24, 1957- In late this morning. Got a dandy message from IGY to mail all photos. Heard tonite that our extra net man is going to Weddell. Ronne evidently sold them a bill of goods about mgrs of scientific leader’s job. Start a roll of film—number nine—with a fine sunset at about 2130. (Finn Ronne, photo at right, In the 1950s, the Navy organized Operation Deepfreeze to complete the mapping of Antarctica and establish centers for scientific research. Ronne became the scientific and military leader for a U.S. Weddell Sea base.)
November 25, 1957- Today we let the emperor (penguin) out of his prison quite a bit the worse for wear. Got many photos before taking out to killing box. Took 2-1/2—3 min to finish him off. Weighed in at 65 pounds. Too bad he didn’t look better, but the lab looked worse.
Going back via Sydney, Perth, Capetown, Buenos Aires, Santos & Martinique according to captain of Arneb whom Carl talked with today.
November 26, 1957- Ham day today. Started a patch home, but fell apart. Hope it will get finished in a few days. Big sunspot observed in States yesterday so radio will probably be in poor shape for a while.
Beetle (Carl "Beetle" Bailey, weather officer) sick in bed with strep throat so only two students today.
November 27, 1957- The snow is melting down at quite a rate now, but don’t think all will be gone when ships arrive. T’will be messy, though. Volleyball again this evening with some new converts; Garth & Gil and Rudy.
November 28, 1957- Thanksgiving & a beautiful day. A fine meal, turkey& ham with all trimmings & 3 kinds of pie. Scaled records today & got in some bridge in afternoon. Some of boys skiing while Carl went skua chasing.
November 29, 1957- Was sitting in science bldg this afternoon about 15:25 when we became sure of a humongous sound was an aircraft. Ran out to see a DC-3 type flying low over point having passed over camp. Waited for it to circle but headed on west. Obvious lost & evidently Russian. Quite an event needless to say. Talked with Barb (Dick's sister) this morning.
November 30, 1957- Group went out toward Poinsett today & made better than halfway along the coast stopping at Baloena Islands. Beautiful day, ran absolutes from about 2100-2330 tonite.
December 1, 1957- Sobering up days. Heard today that HMS Shackleton is possibly sinking near South Orkney. (In 1957, Shackleton struck an iceberg off the South Orkney Islands and was nearly lost. Temporary repairs allowed the Shackleton to reach South Georgia, more than 600 miles from the accident, while all unnecessary passengers and crew were rescued by HMS Protector.) Worked on scaling, averages and absolutes today. Have quite a pond by the science bldg & shot it tonite. Must be about 27 degrees, but unfrozen.
Jan. 23, 1958- Copter in the afternoon from Atka (USS Atka, one of the US Navy’s “wind class” icebreakers.. Made several trips bringing Amory H. "Bud" Waite, James K. "Jim" Sparkman Jr. , George Raybin and Richard Lee "Dick" Chappell plus groceries, movies, etc.
(Note: Amory "Bud" Waite was a radio operator during the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, Waite gained national recognition as one of the three men who rescued Admiral Richard E. Byrd from the Bolling Advanced Base during the Antarctic winter of 1934. James K. "Jim" Sparkman was a geophysicist from U. of Wisconsin who did gravity measurements. Sparkman was based at McMurdo Station and carried out his program almost literally by hitchhiking on aircraft going both far and near. It is estimated that during the season he flew more than 34,000 miles within the Antarctic area.) As a nineteen year old Eagle Scout from Eggertsville, N. Y., Richard Lee Chappell was chosen from the many Boy Scouts who applied. He was selected by a committee representing the US National Committee for the International Geophysical Year and the Boy Scouts of America to serve with the scientists of the IGY program during the long winter night and summer of 1957-58 in the icebound wastes of the Antarctic continent. His duties were many and varied, ranging from housekeeping underground to assistance in important scientific research. He captured and banded skua gulls in a study of their migratory habits and his assignments included glaciological observations, studies of the aurora and work with the IGY Weather Central. Above all, there was the unique experience of daily life in a beautiful and hostile land where the sun sets in April and is not seen again until August. Richard Lee "Dick" Chappell wrote a book Antarctica Scout about his stay in Antarctica. He became a professor of biology at Hunter College.
Comment from Professor Richard L.Chappell, September 28, 2018 :
"My visit to Wilkes Station on my way back to the States after spending a year at Little America V as the Boy Scout representing the Boy Scouts of America during the International Geophysical Year meant a great deal to me. While training for the trip in Washington, DC, I had been asked by Dr. Carl Eklund, Station Scientific Leader at Wilkes Station that year, to band skua gulls in the area of Little America V on the Ross Ice Shelf using his unique blue plastic bands (in addition to numbered metal bands commonly used on birds) so that their movements around the continent and elsewhere could be seen by observation without needing to recapture them. Consequently, being welcomed by Dr. Eklund and others at Wilkes who had wintered over, like Dick Berkley, was an experience I treasured. Although I did not have much time to get to know everyone there, they made me feel welcomed and even treated me to a dog sled ride to visit penguins nearby. I was interested to see the similarities of how Dick Berkley was inspired by this experience to go on in nuclear physics and become a Professor of Physics and my own career. After spending several years in the nuclear power program under VAdm. Rickover, I went on to receive a PhD in Biophysics and conduct research in retinal neurophysiology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA as well as helping to establish a graduate program in Physiology and Neuroscience at the City University of New York where I taught and conducted research at Hunter College during the academic year."
Photo at right: Dog team at Wilkes Station (aurora tower in background) enjoying an Antarctic summer day during the International Geophysical Year. This is the way we found them patiently awaiting our return after they had given us a ride to visit the penguins nearby. -- Dick Chappell
January 25, 1958,-Hornet dropped anchor in bay at 1205 today.
January 28, 1958- Transfer of Jerry Donovan this evening.
January 29, 1958- Reported aboard Hornet about 1500 today.
January 30, 1958- Underway at 1418 today.
February 8, 1958- Entered Sydney harbor this morning & tied up at 1249 at fitting out wharf, Garden Island.
February 10, 1958- Ship moved to fuel dock Garden Island today. Downtown with films this a.m. Met the boys for dinner in Cypress Lounge of Hotel Rex.
February 11, 1958- Went out to meet Joe & Dorothy Smith about 1300 today.
February 12, 1958- Visited Australian museum, watched bowls.
February 13, 1958- Went to consulate and then pylon lookout on harbor bridge. Dropped in at Broadway after visiting consulate again and left too late to meet Stu for dinner.
February 14, 1958- Visited Taronga Park zoo with Rudy & Carl. Chief Cody drove us around. Met Sir Edward Hallstrom. (Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom [25 September 1886 – 27 February 1970] was one of Australia's best-known philanthropists and businessmen of the mid 20th century. Benefactor of the Taranga Park Zoo. Made his money in refrigerators. He marketed the IcyBall portable refrigerator in Australia.)
February 15, 1958- To Broadway at 1000 and then out to Palm Beach with Joe, Dorothy & Janet Smith & Greta & Eddie Sheehey. Back in the evening and then stopped by at Alice's to pick up Noel & spent all evening there taking Kodachromes before heading for Palm Beach. (Here we have first mention of Janet Smith, who clearly became a romantic interest of Dick's. She reappears in Melbourne, the next port of call of their ship.)
February 19, 1958- Met Janet this morning and took tour to Katoomba Blue Mountains. After return went to Chinese restaurant & then “Pajama Games”. Dorothy threw a shoe on return to hotel.
February 16, 1958-Out to the hotel this afternoon. Muellers there. After the kids returned from swimming took group shots of members. Dinner & the evening there.
February 20, 1958-Shopping today & then Smith’s & Muellers for dinner. The ships got trapped in yard by rain & Dorothy & Jan were about 50 mins. late—no cabs. Finally went to Cypress Lounge in Hotel.
February 21, 1958-Queen Mum arrived today—at Town Hall about 1330. Went out to University & was able to miss her. Left pennant for Joe.
February 22, 1958-Last minute shopping. Stopped by hotel, but no one at in afternoon. Checked in evening & then spent evening with Joe, Dorothy, Noel, & Auntie Kate. Missed session with Alice by being away from phone.
February 23, 1958-Got underway at 0900 this morning. Only one man AWOL.
February 24, 1958-1958-Ruptured tube this am at 0208. Speed dowm tp 68 knots.
February 25, 1958-Asked permission this afternoon to put in to Melbourne as now due south. Continued steaming West until evening when comm (sp )applied for approvedl. Headed in expecting approval from Comphiblant. (Commander Amphibious Forces Atlantic.)
February 26, 1958-In harbor at about 1000 this morning. Finally tied up at 36 South Wharf after terrible landing about 1300. Called Jan, went out to Whalers with Rudy, then met Jan & Dorothy Johnson downtown and went out to Luna Park.
February 27-Graeme Wheeler invited us to go out this weekend. Went to ANARE office with Rudy. Had lunch with Don Stiles, the unit director. Down to saloon for about two hours with Macey, McMann, Smith, etc. Met Jan in the evening. Saw top of Queen's car while waiting. Saw “Bundle of Joy”. (Graeme was an Australia Dick had met on the Northwind icebreaker.
February 28, 1958-Hope to be out by around the 8th. Boys in Perth ordered to report aboard by then. Looked around downtown, spent some time with ANARE folk and met Jan after work for dinner at Russell Collins. After dinner walked up to ABC to sit on Jocelyn Terry's "Calling Antarctica."After getting home talked with Jan and Kenny until nearly 0300.
March 1, 1958- Slept in this morning. Out to Jan’s in late afternoon for tea. Couldn’t decide on a dance or a movie so went finally to town and saw an hour show. Kenny & Desx (sp) picked up chicken rolls & dim sum so had a fine supper about midnite.
March 2, 1958- Gwen came down to ship at 0900, but no Rudy around. Picked up Jan, switched to Dave William's car & drove out to his sister Jean's & Tony's house. Then to Colin MacKenzie sanctuary (now Healeville Sanctuary), Maroondah Reservoir for picnic lunch. Then to St. Fillan, the Acheron way to Warburton, up to Upper Yarra Dam, then Warburton & home. (This excursion was to a beautiful area about 50 miles north east of Melbourne.)
March 3, 1958- After spending day downtown went to Jan’s for tea. Went to see “80 days”. Walking to tram stood in front of Town Hall to see Queen Mother at formal ball & then as she left.
March 4, 1958-Saw “Robbery Under Arms” in the evening.
March 5, 1958-Showed slides at ANARE. Met John Collins & Jan at station & went out to Collins’ for tea & the evening. (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions, ANARE office was based at Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Geoff Payne, the current webmaster of the ANARE Club, generously provided the following comments." (1) As you have presumably seen on our home page ANARE stands for "Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions" It was the name of the Government Department responsible for Australia's work in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic from its inception in 1947. It originally operated from an address in the city, but later was at Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Road, Melbourne and it was there it was there that Richard J. Berkley showed his slides although there are various other institutions that he may have visited. ANARE has since been renamed the Australian Antarctic Division (abbreviated AAD) and operates from Hobart, Tasmania with a website athttp://www.antarctica.gov.au/with a summary of its work and purpose athttp://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us. The address in St Kilda Road now has no connection with the Antarctic. (2) The ANARE Club is broadly the non-profit social club which maintains contact between past and present expeditioners and organizers, among other things, the annual mid-winter dinners in each state. The Club decided to retain the name ANARE. It's history is at http://www.anareclub.org/web/history.php. We have links to other sites athttp://www.anareclub.org/web/links.php and we would be interested in the contents of Richard J Berkley's diary and could place a link to it.")
March 6, 1958-An evening of rest. At ANARE during the day. Had the “mannequin” for book fair display & made much fun with it. (The" mannequin" is likely the stuffed penguin that Dick brought home as a souvenir of his trip. He and his wife, Sue, referred to them as "the children" She tells of the day he came home and she ask him to sit down, "There is a problem with the childern. Moths have invaded it. She said Dick was quite upset, as he had hope to bring them to a reunion of the Wilkes group. )
March 7, 1958-Saw Harry Barker’s slides of Macquarie Island at ANARE. Went to tea at Jan’s & then came in for the Ast (maybe astronomy) show in the evening. Afterwards to Maxie’s Jazz Club.
March 8, 1958-Dinner & dancing at the Federal Hotel in the evening.
March 9, 1958-Went out to Jan’s in a.m. & Myrna Leonard (maybe Merna June Leonard, she was living in Warburton) & Dave Anderson picked us up and took us to Ballarat. Picnicked in the park & visited Shell House, begonia hot-house, Old Curiosity Shop. Then dinner at the Old Plough Inn.
March 10, 1958-Moomba procession this morning. After lunch down to the ship & then to Moomba on Yarra, out to Goodman's home, War Memorial, Olympic sites, downtown for Chinese dinner & then out to Alexandra Gardens for evening program. (Alexandra Gardens is a park along the Yarra River.)(Moomba [also known as the Moomba Festival] is held annually in Melbourne, Australia. Run by the City of Melbourne, it is Australia's largest free community festival, and a Melbournian tradition dating back half a century. The event is celebrated over four days, incorporating the Labour Day long weekend, from Friday to the second Monday in March. Moomba is culturally important to Melbourne, having been celebrated since 1955, and regularly attracts up to a million people, with a record attendance of 1.7 million set in 1996.)
March 11, 1958-Dropped in at ANARE after lunching, went down for a few with Glenn Macey. After 3 hours got back to the ship for dinner & bed.
March 12, 1958-Took in the museum & Industrial Fair in the afternoon. Had planned to go to baseball game but got rained out. Met Jan at Brunswick & went over to the Industrial Fair in the evening.
March 13, 1958-Aboard ship for a quiet evening after pre-dinner sherry on deck.
March 14, 1958-After dinner went over to show slides at Leonards. Had Flora & Buford Leonard, Julie & John, Myrna & Dave, Barry & Joan, Kenny & Jan, Dave’s mother & Joan’s mother. A very fine evening with tremendous entertainment.
March 15, 1958-Rented car this a.m.—white Ford Prefect. Took in the St. Pat’s parade and in evening went to Jan’s for dinner with John & Julie. Shot slides at the art show at lunch time.
March 16, 1958-Met Gwen at Jan’s this morning & after picking up Dan Williams we headed for Gippsland. Visited brown coal pit at Yallourn Northand then Bulga Park for lunch. Through the hills to Sale and back to the Dandenong by late evening. Very late nite. (Dandenong is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 30 km southeast from the Melbourne CBD. Situated on the Dandenong Creek, it is at the foothill of the Dandenong Ranges and is the main administrative centre for the City of Greater Dandenong local government area.)
March 17, 1958- Jan on leave today. Drove out to Warrandyte after lunch and then back for tea. Went to see “Carmen Jones” at drive-in. Have got the cold I’d avoided for two months.
March 18, 1958- Picked Jan up in morning and drove down through Mornington. Had lunch at Arthur’s rest Garden of the Moon, down to Portsea, over to Back Beach from Rye, then to Flinders, back to Frankston, had fish & chips in Chelsea, & then home.
March 19, 1958- Off this morning for Geelong. The Thala Dan due in at 01700-01800 so must be back. (The Thala Dan was a Danish Icebreaker [from the J. Lauritzen line] on charter to ANARE for their voyages to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.) Drove to Geelong & photoed gulls there, then to Banoon Heads, watched surfing at Ocean Groves, to Queenscliff, then back to Geelong & home. No Thala until late so after drove to pier, but still an hour early so left Jan with Wheelers and went back to ship to shower and change. Thala in at about 2200 and after the festivities back home. (In the last two days they have circled Port Phillip Bay)
March 20, 1958- Downtown to ship after lunch. Picked up Olav at ANARE and stopped by for Jan. Then out to Wheelers for open house. Had tea there and saw slides. Olav called to say ship would not sail in morning but on Saturday. Went out to see John and Julie afterwards. Up until about 0300 when Jan about went to sleep.
March 21, 1958- Turned in car this a.m. Then had lunch with Frank Henson, Malvon (sp) Miller, & ________ of Mawson plus head of classics at U & guest lecturer from Ohio State. Wonderful food & wine. Went out to Jan’s and after tea Dave & Myrna came over for a record session and then gave me a lift home. Not sailing now until Monday. (Douglas Mawson was an Australian Antarctica explorer, not sure of this reference.)
March 22, 1958- Did the last minute shopping this morning for dolls & books. Went out to Jan’s after lunch and after tea took on “Giant” at the Vic. A very late nite.
March 23, 1958- Slept in this morning. Went in the afternoon to Jan's and after conversing with Auntie Nell, Kenny, Myrna & Dave came by. Played "Sentimental Bloke" and then headed to Fern (Ferntree) Gully & Mount Dandenong. Back for tea & then played records until nearly 0300.
March 24, 1958- Underway this morning for Durban at about 0915. Graeme (Wheeler) down to see us off at the wharf, but couldn’t come aboard.
Diary Ends
Partial Chronology of Operation Deep Freeze II
Date
Event
5 Nov 1956
Scientist begin to assemble in Seattle, WA. They board the icebreaker, USCGC Northwind
16 Nov 1956
Arrived Pearl Harbor, departed two days later.
2 Dec 1956
Arrived Wellinton, NZ.
11 Dec 1956
Rendevoused with the icebreaker, Glacier, cargo ships, Private Merrill, the Arneb, the Greenville Victory, Private Towle and the navy icebreaker, Atka. The Nespelen, a tanker, is part of the convoy.
23 Dec 1956
Passed the Beaufort Islands.
24 Dec 1956
Arrived Cape Royds
1 Jan 1957
IGY Starts
25 Jan 1957
Kista Dan visits Vincennes Bay
29 Jan 1957
USS Glacier arrives at Windmill Islands
30 Jan 1957
USS Glacier escorts USS Arneb and Greenville Victory to Windmill Islands
1 Feb 1957
Sledge dogs brought ashore from Greenville Victory by John Molholm [4]
3 Feb 1957
Construction of main "Clements huts" started
8 Feb 1957
Short exploration trip onto the plateau goes 25 miles east and returns the next day. New trail named "Sullivan Trail" [4 pg 68]
11 Feb 1957
Initial construction of living quarters, mess hall, and general science building completed.
14 Feb 1957
Crew moves into living quarters.
15 Feb 1957
Major construction completed.
16 Feb 1957
Official commissioning of Wilkes Station
16 Feb 1957
USS Glacier, Arnebi, and Greenville Victory depart
22 Feb 1957
Meteorological shelter set up at Site 1 (S1) 10km from Wilkes by Cameron, Loken, and Molholm
27 Feb 1957
Trip to Haupt Nunatak for X days by Cameron, Loken, and Molholm. Cane line on Vanderford Glacier established.
11 Mar 1957
Operation Crampon sets out from Wilkes to establish location for S2. Cameron, Loken, Molholm, Eklund, Honkala, and Noonan. Jamesway at S2 set up 85km from Wilkes.
11 Apr 1957
Trip to Haupt Nunatak by Cameron, Dewart, and Long to measure cane line on Vanderford Glacier.
Wilkes Station Photos
Icebreaker USCNC Northwind. This ship transported the scientist to Antarctica from Seattle.
Wilkes in 1957 following completion.
Another photo:
The magnetic position of the station was 82° 15' 30" S, 1100 31' 12" E. The location of the Wilkes Station is characterized by glaciated metamorphosed rock and low relief. Orientation of this station is east and west, with the waters of Vincennes Bay on three sides. The station itself has been constructed on glacial till and exposed bed rock. The ice ramp leading to the ice cap is three miles east of the station. It was reported that there was a 28-months'food supply on hand.
Wilkes Station on the Clark Peninsula.1957. The small orange building at the right near the shore was the magnetic laboratory of Dick Berkley.
Wilkes Station in Google Earth, 1999. Richard's magnetic hut is covered in snow or no longer there. It would be above the two huts on the right.
List of Personnel at Wilkes 1957 Winter
This list was compiled by Pat Patterson.
List of Navy Personnel
Don Burnett Ltjg. CEC, USNR
Officer in Charge
Sheldon Grinnell Lt. USNR
Doctor, USN Medical corp
Fred E. Charlton Chief Petty Officer
Electronics
James T. "Jim" Powell Chief Petty Officer
Meterologist ( USN Weather )
Paul A.Wyche Petty Officer
USN Weather
B. R. "Bill" Lilienthal Petty Officer
USN Weather
Carl T. "Beetle" Bailey Petty Officer
USN Weather
Donald L. Bradford Petty Officer
Radioman
Ken Hailstorm Petty Officer
Radioman
Paul Noonan Petty Officer
Photographer
George E. Magee Petty Officer
Carpenter/Builder
Robert McIntyre Petty Officer
Mechanic
Sydney E. Green Petty Officer
Driver (Heavy Equipment Operator)
Duane J. Wonsey Non Rated
Assistant Mechanic
Edward Bousquet Petty Officer
Utilities
Dave Daniel Petty Officer
Cook and Head Chef
A. H. "Acey" Patterson Petty Officer
Electrician
List of Science Personnel
Dr. Carl Eklund
Station Scientific Leader
Dr. Richard Berkley
Geophysicist
Dr. Richard Cameron
Glaciologist
Dr. Gilbert Dewart
Seismologist
Dr. Ralph Glasgal
Auroral Physicist
Rudi Honkala
Meteorologist
Dr. Olav Loken
Glaciologist
Robert L. Long Jr.
Ionospheric Physicist
Garth Stonehocker
Ionospheric Physicist
John R. T. Molholm
Glaciolologist
Obituaries of some of the science personnel are at the end of this page. Here.
Dogs
As listed by Gil Dewart in "Journey to the Ice Age", which includes extensive stories about the dogs and trips taken with the dogs. See also a special "dogs" page currently only featuring Mukluk and needing more input from you dog handlers!
Kao
Short haired Labrador Eskimo
Pookie (bitch)
Siberian huskie
Petya
Siberian huskie
Kim
Siberian huskie
Kita
Siberian huskie
Kageluk
Mixed breed - "large wolf-like animal"
Horizon
Alaska malemute
Smokey
Alaska malemute
Mid year Pookie was mated with Horizon. She had pups in June. All were still born, or shortly died, except a black and white pup which was named Muklu.
(1957 bios courtesy of Ralph Glasgal)
(Some photos from Internet)
Ralph Glasgal, Auroral Physicist
Mr. Glasgal studied E. P. At Cornell University and received his bachelor’s degree in 1954. Since his graduation,, he has worked for RCA as a development engineer.
He is a member of the AES and the YMCA. A native of N.Y.C., Mr. Glasgal was born Oct. 16, 1932. He now lives at 111 West 97th St., and he is unmarried.
(Additional info 2018: Ralph Glasgal has a five year degree in Engineering Physics from Cornell University and an MSEE from NYU. He has specialized in sound reproduction and Data Communications as well as psychoacoustics. He has delivered papers at four AES Conventions, two AES surround sound conferences and one International Tonmeister Symposium. He holds the patent for the first stereo dimension control which is a forerunner for today’s VBAP controls. He is also the developer of the Ambiophonic recording and reproduction paradigm which exploits the advantages of loudspeaker binaural to produce 3D sound fields in the home environment. His Ambiophonic Institute has supported audio research at The University of Parma and Princeton University as well as sponsoring a variety of Ambiophonic compatible products for Apple, Soundlab, Androids, Linux, PCs, TacT Audio, Ambio4you, Wave Audio, Chesky Records, etc. He has reached the base camp of the 10 highest peaks in the world.)
John R. L. Molholm, Glaciologist
John Robertson Latady Molholm has just completed his junior year at Harvard (Tufts Univ. in Cambridge, Mass. During summer vacations Mr. Molholm has worked as a camp counsellor. Laborer and then in 1954, he was a member of a scientific party under Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment Contract in Greenland. In 1955, he returned to Greenland with a project from the Denver Research Institute of the University of Denver.
Mr. Molholm is a member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, Appalacian Mountain Club, American Polar Society and the Scott Polar Institute.
A native of Boston, Mass., Mr. Molholm was born on April 21, 1934. He is unmarried and now lives at 37 Gray Gardens East, Cambridge, Mass. 1957
(John returned to Antarctica in 1960-61, 1961-62 where he assisted glaciologist Hiromu Shimizu in two traverses, The Ellsworth Highland traverse and the Antartctic Peninsula traverse. The Ellsworth Highland traverse was 1215 nautical mile from Byrd station to Camp Minnesota and was covered in 89 days. Six made the trip, two seismologists, two glaciologists, a geomagnetist and a mechanic. the Antarctic Peninsula traverse was 1052 statute miles from Camp Minnesota to Camp Ski-HI with an extended leg from Camp Ski-HI toward the Antarctic Peninsula and back to Camp Ski-Hi. The trip took 68 days from November 30, 1961 to February 6, 1962.. Two seismologist, two glaciologists, a geomagnetist, a topographic engineer, and a mechanis made the traverse in three new Sno-Cats. John had three children, Susan Molholm, David Molholm, James Molholm with his wife Lois. They were divorced in 1991.)
Gilbert Dewart, Seismologist
Mr. Dewart attended MIT where he received his BS in geophysics in June 1953 and his master’s degree in June 1954.
He has served in the Army since November 1954 and was released recently. In the Army, Mr. Dewart worked on guided missile fire control systems. He has been a member of several seismological prospecting expeditions in Nova Scotia and within the United States. He is a member of the American Geophysics Union.
He was born Jan. 14, 1932 in New York City. He now lives at 32 Alter Street, Cloverdale, Calif. and he is unmarried.
(Written 1957)
Dewart earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1968. Hie thesis was entitled, "Seismic Investigation of the Ice Properties and Bedrock Topography at the Confluence of Two Glaciers, Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon Territory, Canada. Interestingly he did not use work from Wilkes Station in his research project. Following his stay at Wilkes, he was a Research Engineer, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, and Geophysicist, U. S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado before attending Ohio State University.
Garth Stonehocker, Ionospheric Physicist
Garth Stonehocker studied physics at Oregon State College and received his BS in 1954. Before receiving his education, he served in the US Air Force as 2nd Lieutenant. While a student at Oregon State, he was a research technician for the Department of Physics.
In 1950, he accepted a position with the AEC at Idaho Falls as radio-electronics physicist for Argonne National Laboratory in 1951. Since 1955, he has been working as a senior engineer for the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore.
Mr. Stonehocker is a member of the American Physical Society and the Air Force Reserve.
He was born in Rigby, Idaho on March 19, 1925. He and his wife and daughter live at 5 Vick Street, Portsmouth, Virginia. (Written 1957). Garth died in 1999.
Jim Powell, Meteorologist
Lt. Don Burnett, Navy Officer in Charge
Ed Hailstorm, Radio Operator
Sheldon Grinnell, Doctor
David Daniel, Chef
Dick Cameron, Glaciologist and Rudi Honkala, Meteorologist
Mr. Cameron received his BS in geology from the University of New Hampshire in 1954. He did graduate work at the University of Stockholm and the Ohio State University.
While in school, Mr. Cameron worked as a waiter and bartender. He spent the summer of 1953 at the University of Oslo and working for the Norwegian Polar Institute. Upon his graduation, Mr. Cameron accepted a summer position with Northwestern University as an assistant glaciologist at Thule, Greenland. He also worked for a short time with an engineering service before returning to school. In 1955, he studied at the Univ. of Stockholm and worked at its Kebnekajse Research Station in the Arctic.
1957. He died July 22, 1919.
Mr. Honkala attended the University of New Hampshire and was graduated in 1946 with a BA degree in art. Later, he studied law at Montana State School of Law. After graduating from college, Mr. Honkala became a cloud observer at the Mt. Washington Observatory. In 1949, he accepted a position with the U.S. Weather Bureau as meteorological aid. In this job, he and his wife worked as a team making observations at remote Alaskan stations. He is now employed by the Mt. Washington Observatory in Gorham, NH as a chief observer. Mr. Honkala is a member of The Grange. A native of Salisbury, N.H., Mr. Honkala was born on Jan. 23, 1924. He is married and has 3 children. 1957
Dick Berkley, Earth Magnetism
Mr. Berkley attended Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, where he received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1950. He obtained his MS degree at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology where he specialized in geophysics and subsequently worked on his doctorate.
Mr. Berkley was a field engineer for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology after graduation. In 1955, he accepted a position with Florida State University as a graduate research assistant in theoretical nuclear physics.
During the 18 month period beginning November 1956, he will participate in the geomagnetic program of the IGA Antarctic expedition.
Mr. Berkley is a member of Sigma Pi Sigma and the National Rifle Association. He attended the Naval Academy for a year and later held an inactive status with the Navy.
A native of Marshalltown, Iowa, Mr. Berkley was born on January 20, 1928 and now resides at 337 Dixie Way, Eau Gallie, Florida. He is unmarried. (Written 1957)
A. H. "Pat" Patterson, Electrician
Carl Robert Eklund, Wilkes Base Scientific Leader
Mr. Eklund attended the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, and received his BA degree in biology from Carleton College in 1932. He later attended Oregon State College and received his MS in fish and game management there in 1937. In 1939, he was attached to the Byrd Expedition to the Antarctic where he collected mammal and bird specimens and studied seals and birds, as well as doing some exploration of unexplored areas on the Antarctic continent. He also worked with the Department of Interior in Minneapolis as advisor to Indian tribal councils. He carried on an education program on wildlife in the Indian schools there. In 1943, Mr. Eklund joined the US Air Corps and carried out geophysical work in Greenland and Labrador. He returned to the Dept. of Interior in 1946 and until he accepted the position with the IGY, he was the Assistant Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Atlanta, GA. He is now on a leave of absence from that department. In 1949, Mr. Eklund was awarded a grant by the Arctic Institute of North America to carry out studies on the Ungava Peninsula in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Mr. Eklund is a member of the Wildlife Society, the Arctic Institute of North America, the American Polar Society, and the American Ornithological Union. Mr. Eklund was born Jan. 27, 1909 at Tomahawk, Wisc. He is married and his home is in Atlanta, GA. Two children, both girls. (Written 1957)
Robert Lancaster "Bob" Long, Geophysicist
Mr. Long was graduated from Dartmouth College in June 1956 with a BA in physics. During his college career, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Dartmouth Outing Club and Gamma Delta Chi Fraternity.
During his summer vacations of 1952 and 1953, Mr. Long was a lab assistant for Eastman Kodak Co. Other summers while a student, he worked for a construction company and as a lab assistant for a brewing company.
Mr. Long was born in Rochester, New York, on Nov. 12, 1934, and he now lives at 180 Willowbend in Rochester. He is unmarried. 1957
(After returning to the States, Bob earned a PhD in physics from Yale University. He worked at JILA, Sandia Laboratories and Science Applications Associates. He now lives in Arizona.)
Ralph Glasgal and Olav Loken, glaciologist
Tight quarters at S-2
Aerographers, Bill Lilienthal, Jim Powell and Paul Wyche
Fred Charlton, Radio Operator
Sydney E. Green, Heavy Equipment Operator
Paul F. Noonan, Navy Photographer
Noonan Cove. A cove in the W side of Clark Peninsula, to the S of Stonehocker Point and Wilkes Station. First mapped from air photos taken by USN Operation HighJump (1946-47) and included in a 1957 ground survey by C.R. Eklund. Named by the latter for Paul F. Noonan, USN, photographer with the Wilkes Station party, 1957.
Paul Noonan grew up in South Boston and went to the local school and to Boston Trade High School, graduating in 1949. He took aircraft mainenance courses. The family lived a few blocks from the docks and the South Boston Navy Yard, Visit to the ships docked there got him interested in the Navy. He joined the Navy when the Korean War began. He did well during boot camp and was recommended for Airmen School in Memphis, TN. Since photography was a rating that let you fly, he opted for that, training in Pensacola FL. After completing his training he was assigned to the Caribbean. He requested a transfer as was assigned the USS Worcester. After he finished his tour of duty on the Worcester, his next assignment was to the Naval Weapons Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia. It wwas there he heard of the request for Antarctica volunteers. Noonan commented, "We learned down there like you use a camera outside, you don't take it inside and let all the condensation get on it because as soon as you take it out again, it's going to freeze rock solid. Well, what I did was in one of the tunnels outside in my lab—the tunnel connecting to the other buildings, which was a wooden tunnel, but it was all covered with snow, of course, after the first blizzard—I built some shelves, and I would keep one set of gear out there so it would constantly stay cold. It never was brought inside." This material was excerpted from an interview with Dian O. Belanger in 1998. The link is:
Carl Thomas "Beetle" Bailey was born on October 27, 1934 in Lee, MA, to Carl E. and Gertrude E. Tyler Bailey. His siblings included Vincent, James, and Mary. His father was a forman at a mill. Bailey graduated from Lee High School in 1952. He attended Loyola College in Montreal, Quebec for a year. Bailey entered the Navy in 1954. After attending a school in meteorology, he was assigned to the fleet weather central bureau at Yokosuka, Japan. He later was assigned to Operation Deepfreeze.. Following that 14 months tour he attended advanced meteorology school in Lakehurst, N. J. after three years in Washington, D.C. He was next assigned to Sangley Point, Philippine Islands He married the former Patricia Brown of Lee, MA. on September 3, 1960. He was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 1963.
Edward A "Frenchy" Bousquet,
Naval Officer, Utilities,
B. R. "Bill" Lilienthal and Carl T. "Beetle" Bailey
George E. Magee, Navy Carpenter.
Robert "Bob"McIntyre
Navy Mechanic
B. R. "Bill" Lilienthal and Carl T. "Beetle" Bailey
George E. Magee, Navy Carpenter.
Members of Ellsworth Highland Traverse,
Standing: Hiromu Shimizu, Dr. Charles R. Bentley, Gerorge Widich, John R. T. Molhom and Perry E. Parks. Kneeling: Herbert Meyers and William Feyerharm
Ralph Glasgal and friend.
Ralph Glasgal and friend.
Ralph Glasgal in ice and snow formation
Ralph Glasgal and Dick Cameron with Weasel
Ralph Glasgal drilling core samples.
Ralph Glasgal, maybe in the Aurora Lab.
Ralph Glasgal and Rookery.
Ralph Glasgal and ice core.
Ralph Glasgal and Adélie standoff. Two Adelie penguins, banded at Wilkes Station and flown to McMurdo in December of 1959, found their way back to Wilkes almost a year later, a distance of 2400 miles.
Ralph Glasgal and Aurora Observation Tower.
Carl Eklund, Gil Dewart, and Ralph Glasgal in front of Aurora Tower.
Ralph Glasgal and Ice Core Storage.
Ralph Glasgal and provisions.
Ralph Glasgal and Radio
Ralph Glasgal digging maybe ice core pit at Site 2.
Ralph Glasgal and Seal
Ralph Glasgal and Emperor Penguin
Ralph Glasgal with Chart Recorder, Site 2.
Ralph Glasgal with chart recorder exposed at Site 2.
Ralph Glasgal exposed at Site 2. (Maybe first Antarctic sunbather.) Ralph was 13 years ahead of Burt Reynolds.
Tentative Id: Front Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Carl Eklund, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Rudy Honkala, Dick Berkley ?, Olav Loken, ?, ?, Photographer?
Carl Eklund and Bill Lilienthal branding seals.
Donald Bradford, Radioman, Temporary Communication State
Paul Noonan, Photographer, Pat Patterson, Electrician, and Donald Bradford, Radioman
Ed Hailstorm, Radioman
Sydney Green, Bill Lilienthal, Olav Loken, Don Bradford, unidentified Emperor penguin.
Donald Bradford, Radioman, Temporary Communication State
George Magee, BUCA Building Tunnel Entrance to a building during the winter.
Glacier Mountain, note two men on mountain and Weasel at the bottom.
Paul Noonan, Bill Lilienthal and Carl Eklund banding seals.
Fred Charlton and Don Bradford in Ham Radio Shack
Information on the equipment in the photo has been generously provided by Roger Harrison, (volunteer) Editor in Chief of Amateur Radio magazine, the journal of the Wireless Institute of Australia. He writes: The equipment revealed in the photo of Fred Charlton and Don Bradford is a Collins KWS-1 transmitter at the left and a 75A-4 receiver at the right. During the time I spent at Casey - carrying out geophysical traverses of the Phillip Law Ice Dome east of Casey - I was fortunate enough to be able to use that very same Collins equipment. It had been transferred to Casey Station from Wilkes. The callsign we used during 1970 was AX0GR, and over January-February 1971, it was VK0GR. The AX prefix was to commemorate the bicentenary of Captain Cook's exploration of east coast Australia.
Paul Wyche, Carl "Beetle" Bailey Balloon Room
Donald Burnett, Naval Officer in Charge
Communications Room
Radio Transmitters
Dining Room, looks like Richard Berkley at back.
Don Bradford, Ed Bousquet, Dave Daniel, and
Paul Noonan playing cribbage
Weasel Garage
Site 2-50 miles inland. John Molholm, Rudy Honkala, Olav Loken
Carl Eklund and Dick Cameron
Head (Latrine)
John Molholm
Don Bradford Rec Hall
Ed Bousquet and Dave Daniel in Lounge.
Ham Radio Station
Water Station Fire, January
Across Vincennes Bay Toward Rookery
Sydney Green, Gil Dewart and Don Bradford with Emperor penguin.
Don Bradford in parka.
Don Bradford, Rudy Honkala and Carl Eklund, Radio Shack
Bill Lilienthal, John Powell and Paul Wyche, Weather room
Bill Lilienthal and Don Bradford branding seals.
Carl Eklund Shooting Net to Capture Skua Gulls
Mirny, Russian Station, about 400 miles from Wilkes
Snow Melter for Water
Bill Lilienthal, John Powell and Paul Wyche, Weather room
Building Aurora Dome
Sled Dog
Looking into Antarctic Interior
Site 2
.
Dick Cameron and Olav Loken with Weasel.
.
Bradford Rock is an insular rock, mainly ice-covered, which marks the northwest end of the Swain Islands. It was first roughly mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and included in a 1957 survey of Swain Islands by Wilkes Station personnel under Carl R. Eklund. It was named by Eklund for Radioman Donald L. Bradford, U.S. Navy, a Navy support force member of the 1957 wintering party at Wilkes Station during the IGY.
(Photos from US Antartica Program Photo Library, US Navy, NSF)
(https://photolibrary.usap.gov/#36-8)
Wilkes Station, Vanderford Glacier
Wilkes Station Commissioning, Carl Eklund, Chief Scientist at microphone, 1957
Wilkes Station
Wilkes Station
Dining Room, maybe Dick Berkley
Olav Loken, Ice Core Pit at Site 2
Unloading Cargo for Wilkes Station
Fred Charlton and Carl Eklund, Penguin Egg Research
Jim Powell, Wilkes Station Weatherman
Dick Cameron?, Ice Core Pit, Site 2
Carl Eklund, and Fred Charlton, Penguin Tracking Studies
Don Burnett, Naval Officer in Charge and Carl Eklund, Chief Scientist
Carl Eklund, Chief Scientist
Don Burnett? and Dog Team
John Molholm, Carl Eklund, Dick Cameron and Olav Loken at Site 2.
Ralph Glasgal cleaning aurora dome.
Olav Loken at Site 2.
Dick Berkley, geomagnetic shack
Reference to Dick Berkley from "Operation Deep Freeze II, 1957-1958. Copyright 1958.
From Interview with Gil Dewart
Gilbert Dewart Interview, March 26, 1999
GD: We did a lot of things that weren't in the plan, it turned out.
DOB: Yes. It seemed like Carl Eklund always had, well, why don't we do this, why don't we do that? And why was this unplanned ice cap station put in and not begun until March, which is getting pretty well into wintertime. Tell me about that. What was the thought behind it?
GD: Well, first of all we had Site One, and as I said, I worked part-time with the glaciologists. I had my seismograph station and I had to maintain that and I had to read the records.
But, as I say, once the intense work of getting the station installed, making sure everything was operating all right, once I was on a routine basis there, I was confined by the fact that I had to change the records and read them every day.
But it turned out Dick Berkley, the geomagnetic observer down there, and I had a little agreement, and if one of us needed some time he could fill in for the other because we did pretty much the same type of thing. In other words, our instruments were not all that different. He was reading magnetic variations and I was reading seismic signals, and we had very similar types of recording devices. So Dick and I could kind of trade off, and if he wanted to go off and do something and let me take over his station for a few days, I could do that and he could do mine. And I still feel bad because I was kind of ahead there. I still owed him time when the year was up, and I still feel I owe him that time.
Another quote from the interview
DOB: And then there were also open-water studies out in the Windmill Islands— GD: Yes.
DOB: —and all that. Was that part of the plan also?
GD: Once the ice went out—well, there were several things here. Ralph Glasgal and I had our own little excursion—again, I got Dick Berkley. I forget how I bribed him, somehow I bribed him into taking over my seismograph station for several days this time, and Ralph Glasgal and I went on our manhauling traverse. This is harking back to the heroic days of Scott and pulling the sled. So we loaded up the sled and headed south across the ice. We wanted to go to the southern part of the Windmill Islands, and Ralph was kind of along because he liked to do anything he could—anything to get out of his aurora tower.
Rudolf Honkala Interview, August 4, 1999
[Begin Side A, Tape 2]
RH: They offered me a spot at Nantucket, which would have been nice, but the cost of living in Nantucket was pretty high. Our family had increased by then. We had four children then, so I had to look at the pluses and minuses of these assignments, too.
I was in the personnel office one day and the fellow was on the telephone with somebody, and he looked up and said, "You wouldn't be interested in Missoula, Montana, would you?" And I said, "Sure," because we had been out there for a year plus when I was going to school. So we went to Missoula, Montana and worked at the weather station. All the usual duties—observations and forecasts on the local radio broadcasts. Kind of a comfortable existence, and about a year- and-a-half later, I guess it was, the central office of the Weather Bureau called me up and asked me if I would go back down to Wilkes Station with the Australians.
DOB: And you did.
RH: Well, I called home and said, "Barb, they asked me to go down," and she said,
"Go ahead."
DOB: A remarkable woman.
RH: Yes. So I went down with the Australians. Ironically, I just got two phone calls from Australia last Saturday. My roommate and good friend lost his battle with Parkinson's and died. That was two roommates I lost. My roommate with the U.S. during the IGY, Dick Berkley, lost his fight with cancer about fifteen years ago, I guess now. I lost two Wilkes roommates.
Geophysicist Richard Berkley and glaciologist Dick Cameron try to make radio contact with Wilkes Station from Site 2, a glaciology camp located 85 kilometers from Wilkes. Berkley and Cameron were scientists at Wilkes Station during the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58.
Acknowledgement: Don Bradford, naval radioman, kindly provided a number of the pictures. I greatly appreciate his sharing and permitting their use here. H re is a short biography provided me by Don.
Donald L. Bradford
Born: September 10, 1931
Pinson, Tennessee
Don Bradford 1958
Don Bradford 2018
From birth until the age of fifteen I lived on a farm with my parents who, like my grandparents, were farmers. I can remember living in a log cabin for at least one year of my life. I had five brothers and we all worked extremely hard and for long hours to make ends meet. In 1940, our cash income was only $125.00.
In 1947, my family moved to Mesa, Arizona, where my parents bought a motel. Three years later I joined the U.S. Navy: at a time when a "Police Action" was taking place in Korea that eventually developed into the Korean War. During this campaign I served on a destroyer that once exchanged gunfire with Korean shore batteries in Wonson Harbor. I also served in wartime capacity on both a guided missile cruiser and fleet oil tanker in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
The chronology of my duty stations were: 1) Boot Camp in San Diego, CA; 2) USS McGowan DD678, Boston, MA; 3) Antarctica; 4) Morocco, 5) USS Topeka CL»O8, Norfolk, VA; and 6) USS Cacapon AO—52, Stockton, CA. My enlistment extended from December 1950 to January 1970 at which point I retired with 20 years of service at the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. Due to the timing of my enlistment, I am one of just a few members of the military that can claim service during three military campaigns: World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam.
Don and Ina Bradford 1954
In 1954, I married my late wife Ina, who was a Navy Women Selected for Voluntary Emergency (WAVE), and was married for over 49 years prior to her passing away in 2004. We had four children: Timothy (63 years old) who retired from the U.S. Air Force; Daniel (58 years old) who served in the Navy and is now retiring as a supervisor for Pacific Gas and Electric; Donna (57 years old) is a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN); and Michael (54 years old), who also retired U.S. Air Force, and is clearing unexploded ordinance from military sites under government contract.
Upon retiring from the Navy in 1970, I began a second career In the Security Division of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department; retiring in 1988 as a Staff Officer (Lieutenant) to the Sheriff.
Don and Patty Bradford 2018
In 2006, I married a widow, Patty, whose husband had passed away in 2002. She owned a bookkeeping and tax business that I also became involved in on a limited basis. Patty retired from her business in 2017. Don and Patty are shown at right.
During our twelve years of marriage we have traveled extensively: Tombstone, Arizona; three national parks in Utah; Banff, Canada; Glacier National Park in Montana, Custer National Park in South Dakota, Rocky National Park in Colorado; Yosemite National Park in California; Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming; and many other destinations west of the Mississippi River.
We reside in Fresno, California; where I have lived since 1969. We live comfortably in a 1,850 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home; near family and friends.
Don has a rock in the vicinity of Vincen nes Bay named for him. It is at Latitude 66° 1.3' S, Longitude 110° 34 'E. It is caled Bradford Rock.
50th Reunion yearbook listing for Robert Long, Jr.
During my senior year in high school, I had a chemistry class and came to Dartmouth with the expectation of majoring in chemistry. It wasn’t until our sophomore year that I took my first physics course, Physics 1. Professor Murch was the instructor. I kept objecting to some of what he said in class, offering my own version. Eventually, I think near the end of the semester, he said to me, “Why don’t you major in Physics?” Not knowing why not, I did. That was typical of my career, having no long-term expectations and grasping opportunities as they came.
Prof. Murch’s question put me on an interesting, challenging, rewarding, and suitable career path as a physicist. After Dartmouth, I spent a year in Antarctica, gathering ionosphere and cosmic ray data. Then I went to Yale grad school for MS and PhD degrees in physics and to the University of Colorado for post-doctoral work. With some trepidation, I joined the aerospace industry, first in Albuquerque, then in the Los Angeles area, and, in 1996, back in Albuquerque. For the last 20 years of my career, I worked as a Senior Scientist for Science Applications International Corporation. I managed projects and performed technical analyses for various military satellite and missile programs, using custom computer codes and computer spreadsheets. I retired in 2000 and continued until July 2004 as an occasional Consulting Employee.
Volunteer activities include helping to monitor the Dept. of Energy’s environmental remediation activities at Sandia National Laboratory sites in Albuquerque. I participate in various leadership and committee positions at my local Unitarian Universalist congregation. I enjoy domestic and foreign travel with my wife several times a year and make regular use of a health club to stay in shape for cross-country skiing, hiking and occasional trout fishing.
Additional Information: Robert L. Long was born in 1934. His 1965 physics Ph.D at Yale was supervised by Professor V. W. Hughes and entitled, "Polarization of Photoelectrons from Magnetized Nickel and Production of a Polarized Electron Beam
My Trip to the Vanderford Glacier, Antartica
by Bob Lont
Introduction: I graduated from Dartmouth College in 1956 and spent the next year doing ionosphere and cosmic ray research in Antarctica as part of the International Geophysical Year program. I was a civilian scientist, employed by the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). I was stationed at Wilkes Station, on the coast of Antarctica south of Australia. We arrived by Navy ship at the site for the base on January 31, 1957. The base was built with supplies carried on the ships that brought us. It was formally commissioned on February 16, 1957. Nine other civilians and thirteen Navy men spent the rest of the year there, leaving on January 29, 1958. Following is the story of my most memorable experience that year. The text is transcribed from my journal with some editorial changes and annotations.
Wilkes Station, Antarctica, May 19 (late fall in the Southern hemisphere)
Yesterday, Dick Cameron (glaciologist and trip leader), Gil Dewart (geologist), and I returned from our trip to the Vanderford Glacier, eight days after we started on what was supposed to be a three or four day trip. Why did we go to the glacier? We went to measure how fast the glacier was moving. This is done by placing bamboo stakes in the ice and measuring their positions aver time with a transit from a site on bed rock to see how far they move. The answer? Feet per day - I don’t remember the actual amount. We traveled in a Weasel, an enclosed tracked vehicle of WWII vintage, smaller than the SnoCats used at ski areas. It pulled a sled containing our tents, provisions, fuel, and surveying equipment.
Our Weasel and campsite after our first night.
Haupt Nunatak area, looking north.
We left about 10 a.m. on May 11 in a gentle snowstorm and camped the first night on the icecap about 18 miles out. We pitched two tents, Dick in one and Gil and I in the other. The tents were called Blanchard seal-tight tents, two-man tents made of Everest cloth that cost about $200 apiece. They are quite nice except for a gap in the ventilation flap in the roof, which lets snow blow in, and are pitched easily and quickly.
The next morning the weather was clearer and the temperature was –17ºF. Since the visibility had been bad the day before, we had navigated by keeping our Weasel at about 1500 feet elevation, by means of an altimeter. That morning, Dick, who had been to the Glacier with others early in March to first plant the movement stakes, decided it was time to start going down to lower elevation. We soon saw the Haupt Nunatak, our destination, which lies about one mile east of the edge of the glacier. (A nunatak is a bedrock outcrop that sticks up through the ice sheet.)
Morning of the third day. Hupt Nunatak in background.
The roughened area in the distance is the Vanderford Glacier
When we started to draw near the nunatak that afternoon, we got into a region of blowing snow. Although it was possible to see clear sky overhead, ground visibility was only about thirty feet. We camped for the night when Dick thought we had driven close to the nunatak. Dick slept in the Weasel and we pitched only one tent, due to the bad weather.
The morning of the third day was clear and sunny, temperature -16ºF. We found that we had camped about three-quarters of a mile past the nunatak, headed right for the dangerous Vanderford Glacier, when we stopped the night before! So we set the tent on the sled and drove back to the nunatak to start the survey about 10 a.m. If we had made an earlier start, Dick and Gil might have been able to sight more stakes but eleven sights were made before it got too dark. I acted as cook and clean-up person that day while Gil and Dick worked. We used only one tent again that night, with all three of us in it for warmth. (Dick had not slept well in the Weasel the previous night.)
That night, the wind began again. In the morning, visibility was 30 feet, the temperature was -18ºF, and the wind about 20 mph. I was able to start the Weasel engine in spite of about one-half inch of snow that had blown over the engine. We kept the engine running (and the heater operating part of the time) all day to charge the battery, making sure we’d be able to return to the base O.K. Because of the storm, we spent the daylight hours in the Weasel. (I think we must have had some reading materials to pass the time.) We had a daily schedule of radio contact with the base at 5 p.m., after which we finished supper and went to bed early. (We averaged about 12 hours of sleep per night on the trip.)
The next day, the fifth day, the storm continued, in spite of fairly clear sky overhead. The wind was stronger and the temperature was -14ºF in the morning. We stayed in our sleeping bags in the cramped tent until about 11:30 a.m. We were unable to start the Weasel that morning as snow had about filled the engine compartment and the battery probably wasn’t charged up very well and it was cold. So we spent an anxious day trying to get it started by shoveling snow around the sides of the Weasel to keep out while we tried to dig out the engine. Snow on the sides helped retain the heat generated by our Primus stove inside the Weasel. Fortunately we had brought plenty of fuel for it and we kept it running most of the day. We didn’t want to try the Weasel heater so as to save the battery.
Since we had no luck starting the Weasel, Dick called for help (May Day!) when we talked to the base at 5 o’clock. We were assured that they would start in the morning for us. John Molholm, another one of the civilian scientists, would go along as guide, since he had been there on the first trip.
We cut down our food consumption even more (we had been on two meals a day), in case the rescuers didn’t make it right away. We turned into our sleeping bags, which were getting more frozen up daily due to body moisture during the night, hopeful of a warm meal the next night.
Planting survey stakes on the glacier.
Surveying stakes on the glacier.
Thursday, day six, was a beautiful day so Dick decided we should go out on the glacier to replace some of the stakes he’d been unable to sight earlier in the week. We spent quite a pleasant four hours out there in spite of the -20ºF temperature (it was -24ºF that morning). There was no wind, fortunately. We got back to the nunatak about 2 p.m. and I was somewhat tired but warm.
We had been looking for the rescue team all afternoon and thought we sighted their Weasel about 1 p.m. but didn’t see it later. When we listened on our radio schedule at 5 p.m., we learned that the rescue party had turned back because they were unable to find the nunatak. This was bad news, of course, especially since our battery was too weak for us to transmit. A warm west wind had come up and the moon was behind thin clouds of ice crystals, which portended another storm soon. We were low on food, eating half of our remaining food each day. But we heard them say they would try again the next day so we went to bed hopeful again.
Friday morning the temperature was -10ºF and the visibility was good with little wind, although the sky was overcast. I slept badly the night before. Claustrophobia and gasoline fumes from a leaky jerry can that we used to hold down one corner of our tent drove me out of bed at 8:30. Dick and I got out the hand generator for the radio and got it working. With Gil and I taking turns cranking and Dick operating, we established contact again at 11 o’clock. We found out to our great dismay that the trail party had already turned back again due to poor visibility. They had already driven into one crevasse too. But Dick told them the visibility was good where we were so they decided to come on to us. We told them we would light a signal fire with oil and gasoline at noon and get in touch again at 12:30. Dick and our scientific leader, Carl Eklund, made plans to us to walk out along the coast the next day if the rescuers didn’t arrive. Carl was to meet us with food and dry clothing with the dog team.
Working the generator for the 12:30 contact wore me out quite badly but at least the rescuers were still coming. They hadn’t seen our fire, which was quite ineffective because a slight wind wouldn’t let the smoke rise.
We set about making preparations to walk out that afternoon, constructing a travois out of bamboo poles and rope to carry a tent and sleeping bags. We had only one rucksack. Lack of food made us all tired, however. I was worried; would I have the strength to make the trip? Could we do it safely?
At 3 p.m. Dick took his turn at cranking the generator while I operated the radio. Lo and behold, they said they could see the nunatak and turned on their headlights to see if we could see them. I was able to see them quite plainly! It really looked good. I was reminded of some lines from Romeo and Juliet: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet the sun.” We started packing our gear and digging out the Weasel. The temperature had risen to about 0º by then so it was quite pleasant outside.
The rescuers, John and Lt. Don Burnett, the base commander, arrived soon, just at twilight. We had some stew, cocoa and sandwiches to revive us. We tried unsuccessfully to get our Weasel started by towing it with the other one. The engine just wouldn’t turn over. So we parked the two Weasels side by side and began melting the snow in ours by using warm air from the heater in the other one. We replaced the batteries with new ones they had brought and were eventually able to start our engine. The fan wouldn’t turn even with the snow melted away.
Don called our mechanic at the base and got instructions on how to tighten the fan belt, which we did and then everything worked fine. We even finally got our heater melted free of snow and operating again so things were in good shape.
We left the nunatak about 9 p.m. and started back with the aid of a three-quarter moon. On the way, our Weasel led and the other one followed with our sled, since Dick felt the clutch on ours was poor. We had one close call when we unknowingly broke through a five-foot wide crevasse, which the guys in the following Weasel fortunately noticed in time to avoid it. There was some confusion as to which of the several tracks we should follow back but we finally pulled into camp at 5:45 a.m. The mileage on the return was 38 miles, 10 miles more than on the way out.
The cause of our misadventure was bad weather. However, sufficient equipment and preparation would have made the need for quick rescue less necessary. We had plenty of space in the sled for more food and emergency rations if we had only known how long the trip could be. Maybe an auxiliary heater for the Weasel and/or an extra set of batteries would have made rescue unnecessary. The Weasel itself, however, is not satisfactory for such a trip since, among other things, it’s not weather tight.
Yesterday, after five hours sleep in the morning, and today I’ve been gobbling food madly. I lost flesh in my face but not much weight. I got a little frostbite on my chin and on one of my fingers. We were lucky that nothing more serious happened; it was a close call.
In 1960, the US Board of Geographic Names gave a nunatak in the vicinity of Haupt Nunatak the official name Long’s Nunatak, in recognition of my “contributions while a participant in the US scientific program in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year.”
Dick Cameron and Professor .Richard Parker Goldthwait look over a map of Antarctica, 1960. Goldthwait was a professor at Ohio State U.
Dick Cameron. B.Sc. in Geology from the University of New Hampshire includes credits for polar studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. Graduate studies in glaciology and Quaternary studies at the University of Stockholm and the Ph.D in Geology from The Ohio
State University. Wintered at Wilkes Station, Antarctica in 1957. Glaciological field work in Antarctica, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, and Canada. Chief, Geotechnics Branch, Terrestrial Sciences Laboratory, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories; Assistant to the Director, Institute of Polar Studies, Ohio State University as well as Assistant Dean of University College and Assistant Dean for International Programs; Program Manager for International Organizations, International Programs and then Program Manager for Glaciology, Division of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation.
More recently an advisor to the NASA Office of Exploration with their research efforts to study planetary missions with long duration flights, and the impact of extreme environments on habitat design for Moon and Mars; Acting Chairman of the Biological Science Department, Webster University and taught courses on geology, earth science, and polar exploration; Academic Director of Webster University’s campus in Leiden, The Netherlands; Staff member on tour ships cruising the Northwest Passage, Spitsbergen, and the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia, and The Falkland Islands.
Another Biography of Dick Cameron, 2012
Dr. Richard Cameron is currently an adjunct professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.
While completing his undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire (B.Sc. in Geology, 1954), Dr. Cameron spent the summer of 1953 at the Summer School at the University of Oslo where he had the opportunity of taking a course on Norway in the Polar Regions with Dr. H. U. Sverdrup, a student of the noted polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. After the course, he worked with the Norwegian Polar Institute on glaciers in the Jotunheim. Following graduation, he worked with Dr. Valter Schytt (chief glaciologist of the Norwegian- British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition) first in Greenland in the summer of 1954 and then during 1955 at the University of Stockholm.
Dr. Cameron joined the Arctic Institute of North America in 1956 to participate in IGY-related activities in Antarctica. He served as Chief Glaciologist at Wilkes Station, on the coast of East Antarctica. This was a joint Navy-civilian operation consisting of 17 Navy personnel and 10 scientists. Specifically, his glaciological team consisted of two colleagues with whom he had worked before – Olav Loken in Norway in the summer of 1953, and John Molholm in Greenland in the summer of 1954. This team spent much of its time at a remote station established 80 kilometers (50 miles) inland, where they conducted both meteorological and glaciological studies. One of the glaciological studies entailed digging a 35-meter (~115-foot) vertical pit to study snow densification and stratigraphy.
After completing his doctoral course studies at The Ohio State University in 1961, he accepted the position of Chief of the Geotechnics Branch, Terrestrial Sciences Lab, Air Force Cambridge Laboratories. He returned to Ohio State University in 1963 to finish his dissertation and receive his degree. He then served in a number of positions at the University - Assistant to the Director of the Institute of Polar Studies, Associate Director of The Ohio State University Research Foundation, Assistant Dean of University College, and Assistant Dean of International Programs. In 1973, Dr. Cameron joined the National Science Foundation first as Associate Program Manager and then Program Manager of International Organizations, Division of International Programs. He then moved to the Division of Polar Programs where he was the Program Manager for Glaciology from 1975 to 1985. In this last position he acted as the NSF Representative at South Pole Station at the beginning of each summer. He would go in on the first flight, usually on November 1, with the replacement crew and spend a month or more to monitor how the new crew was doing. Now and then it was necessary to replace a crew member who was not adequate to handle the job assigned or not emotionally stable enough to spend the whole winter.
Dr. Cameron, has been conducting a number of study tour programs for Webster University during the last few years – Glacier Studies in Austria in 1999, Physical Geography of the Netherlands in 2000 and 2001, and Fire and Ice (glaciology and volcanology) in the Pacific Northwest in 2001.
Additional Information: Richard L. "Dick" Cameron was born in 1930. His 1963 geology Ph.D at Ohio State University was supervised by Professor Richard Parker Goldthwait and entitled,"Glaciological Studies at Wilkes Station, Budd Coast, Antarctica."
Richard "Dick" Cameron Obituary from Antartican Society Newsletter, October, 2019.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Dick's son, Andy Cameron, and newsletter editor, Guy Guthridge, for permission to include the obituary here. Thomas Henderson is the webmaster for the society. The Antartican Society
Richard L. Cameron, 1930-2019
Dr. Richard “Dick” L. Cameron, age 89, of Collinsville, Illinois, born 11 July 1930, in Laconia, New Hampshire, passed away on 21 July 2019, during a flight home after visiting his friend Walter Boyd in Seattle.
Dick is survived by his wife Sarah “Sally” A. Barnett, daughter Sarah Cameron, son Andrew Cameron, and Sandie, his faithful canine companion. Per his wishes, his ashes were returned to family. He wanted no memorial, no services, no church stuff, no flowers; his request was “for everyone to read a poem to someone you love.”
Dick Cameron earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology at the University of New Hampshire. He completed his graduate studies in glaciology and Quaternary studies at the University of Stockholm and obtained his PhD in geology from Ohio State University.
These were formative years for glaciology and other systematic sciences in the Antarctic, and Dick was there from the start. They studied accumulation, ablation, and movement of glaciers. They dug a pit, 2 meters square and 35 meters deep with a 27- meter bore hole at the bottom, made a horizontal deformation tunnel at the 30-meter level. Accumulation stakes were set out, and this system was triangulated to determine relative movement. Ice temperatures at different levels, along with air temperatures, were recorded once a week. Chatter marks, erratics, and elevated beaches were found. Samples of bedrock and lichens were collected. All this by three men in less than a year. Dick was lead author of an Ohio State monograph detailing the results; the paper is one of 11 Antarctic studies of which he was sole or lead author over the years.
Other professional positions included appointments as chief of the Geotechnics Branch, Terrestrial Sciences Laboratory, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories; assistant to the director, Institute of Polar Studies, Ohio State University, as well as assistant dean of University College and assistant dean for international programs; program manager for international organizations, and then program manager for glaciology (1975-1985) for the Division of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation.
“My cousin gave me a copy of The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton, which piqued my interest in seeing the world,” Dick told Le Cercle Polaire in December 2014. “In 1953, between my junior and senior years at college, I attended the University of Oslo Summer School and then worked with the Norwegian Polar Institute on glaciers in Norway. I knew then what I would be doing for my life’s work: Greenland 1954; Sweden 1955; Antarctica 1956-1958; and so on studying glaciers.”
When Dick was at the National Science Foundation, he was on a committee studying the possibility of towing icebergs as a source of water for Saudi Arabia. Prince Mohamed al Faisal al Saud was funding the project. Dick received a call that a meeting was to be held the following week in Paris. He said he was particularly busy and probably could not make it. They said, “Take the Concorde.” Dick said, “I’m coming.” It took three and a half hours to get there from Washington, D.C.
During the austral season 1964-1965, he participated in the Queen Maud Land Traverse from the geographical South Pole to the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility in the middle of East Antarctica. “Charlie Bentley led the first half of the traverse and yours truly the second. Going from 2,820 m (9,250 ft) elevation at the South Pole to 3,657 m (12,200 ft) at Inaccessibility, we traveled 1,200 km (750 miles) at the breakneck speed of 8 km/h (5 miles per hour).”
Undertaking a series of studies en route, the traverse took two months. “It was exciting to be crossing a part of the Earth where no man had been before.”
“A great moment for me was standing at the geographical South Pole with my son Andy in November of 1979.” Andy was just finishing his year at the Pole, and Dick had just arrived to be the NSF Representative at the Pole for the summer.
“Antarctica is a special place - as I consider it the epitome of the way the rest of the world could one day be. The IGY was the prime example of cooperation on the Ice when their respective countries were at odds with one another.”
Dick's favorite statement was this: “Antarctica is a special place. It is a place where men and women of all nations and ethnic backgrounds can live and work in harmony.”
Dick Cameron was an active member of our Society, a friend of all and at the center of many Antarctic Gatherings over the years.
Another Richard Cameron's Obituary:
Dr. Richard “Dick” L. Cameron, age 89, of Collinsville, IL, born July 11, 1930 in Laconia, NH, passed away on Monday, July 22, 2019 in St. Louis, MO. Dick was a National Guard Captain, and he received his Ph.D. in Geology from Ohio State University. He participated in the International Geophysical Year as Chief Glaciologist at Wilkes Station, Antarctica. He spent from December 1956 to February 1958 in Antarctica. A big moment for him was standing at the Geographic South Pole with his son, Andy, in November 1979. He is preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Merilda (nee Lettre) Cameron;and two brothers, Robert E. Cameron and Donald F. Cameron. He is survived by his wife, Sarah “Sally” A. Barnett, whom he married on January 1, 1983; a son, Andrew O. Cameron of Collinsville, IL; a daughter, Sarah D. (Alan French) Cameron of Reston, VA; numerous nieces and nephews; and Sandie Dog Cameron, his beloved companion. Private services will be held. In lieu of flowers, please read a poem to someone you love.
Sideshow given by Dick Cameron in 2012. ( Only 1957-58 portion included.)
The assignment for the Navy Seabees was to first establish a joint US-NZ base at Cape Hallett and then go along the coast of East Antarctica and set up Wilkes Station. However, delays caused by the need to stop work at Hallett and deliver tractors to McMurdo as a tractor and operator (Willy) went through the sea ice and then again at Hallett a pinching of the ARNEB by sea ice being forced against the ship by high winds and the subsequent requirement of Admiral Dufek to inspect the ship (he was in McMurdo)
Three ships finally headed to Wilkes, the icebreaker GLACIER, and two cargo ships, the ARNEB and the GREENVILLE VICTORY.
En route there was heavy sea ice
... large tabular icebergs
.
The arrival date was 29 January 1957 and by 16 February the station had been built and the ships left. The site, show here, was Clark Peninsula in the Windmill Islands a group of Precambrian outcrops attached to the ice sheet by ice ramps..The site could experience fine weather.
... or bad weather with sgtrong katabatic winds.
The station had dual leadership with Lt. Burnett and Dr. Carl Eklund (shown in slide). Eklund had been in the Antarctic in 1940 with Finn Ronne when they sledged over 1264 miles in 84 days and mapped 500 miles of coastline of the Antarctic Peninsula. The station consisted of 17 Navy personnel and 10 IGY scientists. Throughout the year there was good morale but of course the isolation was easier on the scientists as their work became more interesting as the year wore on and the Navy men became bored with the tedium of their respective chores..
At Wilkes we had three forms of transportation; dog team,.
Weasel
a raft with an outboard motor.
Inland of the station the ice sheet gained in elevation rapidly and had a firm surface with no crevasses en route to where [Slide 13-14] we built a small station called S-2 for glaciological work. Maybe Dick Cameron in photo.
Site 2. Here we dug a snow pit 115 feet deep to study the snow stratigraphy and the
depth/density profile.
Aurora scientist, Ralph Glasgal, inside hut at S-2.
To the south of Wilkes a large glacier flowed into Vincennes Bay. (Maybe Vandeford Glacier?)
It was a 25- mile journey with Weasels and we spent many days there measuring the movement of the glacier which was 2.7 meters per day.
Glacier surveying.
Glacier work.
Glacier surveying
To the north of the Windmill Islands the ice sheet exhibited a beautiful ice front terminating in the sea. However, in the winter the fast ice made a lovely highway where one could travel along quite swiftly. It was tempting to explore this area. The first time we ventured forth on this sea ice the weather turn bad with high katabatic winds coming off the ice front so we retreated to the safety of the station. The next morning all the sea ice was gone. We waited several weeks and the sea ice reformed..
This time we traveled 75 miles to Cape Poinsett. Left to Right: Carl Eklund, maybe Cameron, maybe Ralph Glasgal
... so we put 2x10 boards down and drove across.
Along the way we would stop for a quick lunch. Maybe Dick Cameron
At one spot we ran across a spectacular sight and that is where the ice front calved tossing sea ice blocks all about.
In this shot one can see the bottom of the iceberg and its very smooth surface and a few boulders..
A large piece of sea ice sits upon an iceberg and in the distance one can see the blocks of sea ice spread out on the fast ice. So at Wilkes we had short trips inland to S-2, to the Vanderford Glacier, and to Cape Poinsett.
The Weasels were a very good form of transportation for the glaciologist but now and then they broke
down. Once we were stranded at the Vanderford as the vehicle refused to run and our communications
were poor. After 3 days the base sent out a group to find us. We were three men for 3 days in a two-man
tent. I froze my feet and they were numb for several months. Another time we had two weasels out at S-2
and neither would start. As there was a D-4 tractor 20 miles away on the Station to S-2 trail the mechanic
and I walked the 20 miles and thank goodness the tractor started.
The only real incident at the station was when the ET [electronics technician] Chief Charlton was going
through the chow line and the cook Daniels place some chicken on his tray. Charlton threw it back saying
he was tired of chicken and that is when Daniels decked him. You must realize that Daniels was cooking
for 27 men, three times a day, month after month. He was doing the best he could. He lost his temper
and a stripe. (It has been reported that the strip was returned after returning to the States.—Mel Oakes)
The End
Sue and Dick Berkley, nearing their move to 150 Carlyle Dr., Indian Bluff Island, Palm Harbor, FL which Dick designed. 1975.
Peter & Eva Riley & Best Man Dick Berkley, Dec 1959
Peter Riley & best man Dick Berkley, Dec 1959
Mel and Pat Oakes and Sue and Dick Berkley, Tallahassee, FL
Front: Dick and Sue Berkley,
Back: Mel and Pat Oakes, Glenn Underwood
Dick, Jennifer & Sue Berkley, Indian Bluff Island, Palm Harbor, FL
Richard Berkley with his nieces & nephew.
Joan, Janice and Jon, 1958, Winter Park.
Dick & Sue Berkley, Lago Vista, Texas, 1967
Jenny and Jon Berkley
Jon Berkley, Jennifer Berkley, Sue Berkley, Dick Berkley, 1981
Pat Oakes, and Dick Berkley, Austin, Texas
Mel and Pat Oakes, and Dick & Sue Berkley
Sue and Dick Berkley, Pat Oakes, Sandy Heckman, Linda Baumgarten
Sue Berkley and friend at Jennifer Berkley's wedding.
Jennifer Berkley
Sue Berkley
Dick Berkley, third row 6th from right, jersey number 37.
Drama Club, Dick in right photo.
Honor Society, Dick Berkley, at right end of back row.
Home Room, Dick Berkley, right end of front row.
Societas Praemi Virtutis, Dick Berkley, right end of second row.
Dick Berkley, Editor of Yearbook
Dick Berkley, Editor of Yearbook, 1946
Senior Who's Who
1946 Senior Photos
Dick Berkley's great friend, John McGrew's senior photo. John provided me great stories about Dick.
Dick Berkley's sister, top left end.. Barbara Jean Berkley
Football Team, 1945-46, Dick Berkley, Number 36 on back row center.
Obituary for Dick Berkley’s mother.
October 24, 1987
LILLIAN J. BERKLEY, 93, 1111 S. Lakemont Ave., Winter Park, Florida, died Thursday. Born in Sigourney, Iowa, she moved to Central Florida from Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1956. She was a homemaker and a member of First Congregational Church, Winter Park. She was a member and former state officer of PEO Chapter BQ. Survivors: son, Richard J., Palm Harbor; daughter, Barbara Shapiro, Winter Park; sisters, Gladys Myers, Winter Park, Marion Dietz, Illinois; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren. Cox-Parker Carey Hand Guardian Chapel, Winter Park.
Dick Berkley’s father, Melvin Berkley (1883-), Grinnell College, Des Moines, Iowa, 1915 Cyclone Yearbook.
Dick Berkley’s father, Melvin Berkley, Grinnell College, Des Moines, Iowa, 1915 Cyclone Yearbook. He is on front row, second from left. He was born in North Dakota.
Melvin Berkley, front row, right end.
Dick Berkley’s mother, Lillian Mae Jackson, Grinnell College, Des Moines, Iowa, 1915 Cyclone Yearbook. She is middle row, second from right. She was born in Iowa. They likely met Melvin Berkley at Grinnell. The entry below attests to her great beauty.
Carl Eklund, scientist and antarctic explorer, was born in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, the son of John Eklund, a carpenter, and Maria Olson. Both his parents were immigrants from Sweden. Eklund was an outstanding football and basketball player at Tomahawk High School. Later he starred in football at Carleton College in Minnesota, from which he graduated in 1932. Carleton’s Dr. Laurence Gould, scientific leader on Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1928–1930 antarctic expedition, became a major influence in his life. Eklund later received his M.S. degree from Oregon State University (1938) and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland (1959). His dissertation was entitled, "Distribution and Life History Studies of the South-Polar Skua."
Eklund began federal government employment in 1933 with the National Park Service and later became a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1939 he married Harriet San Giovanni; they had two daughters.
In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt established the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) to explore Antarctica and establish a basis for future territorial claims. He appointed Admiral Byrd to command the USAS expedition. Bases would be established at Little America (West Base) on the Ross Ice Shelf and Marguerite Bay (East Base) on the Antarctic (Palmer) Peninsula. Eklund became ornithologist at East Base.
On 6 November 1940 Eklund and a colleague, American antarctic explorer Finn Ronne, took an overland sledge journey with five other expedition members to the southern base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The area had never been accurately mapped because of its frequent fog and other adverse weather. One famous explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, had erroneously reported that a strait separated the peninsula from the rest of Antarctica. On 22 November the other five returned to base while Eklund and Ronne continued south. In December they discovered that Alexander I Land was actually an island and was separated from the mainland by King George Sound. They also discovered new islands that later were named the Eklund Islands.
In January 1941 Eklund and Ronne began their return journey. Their radio transmitter failed, and so they could not communicate with East Base. Bad weather and sharp ice crystals shredded the paws of their dog team and forced them to make camp. During their delays, Ronne, a Norwegian immigrant, and Eklund, of Swedish heritage, entertained each other with Norwegian-Swedish jokes. They became lifelong friends. Limited food supply and the approaching end of the antarctic summer obliged them to break camp and resume their journey, but adverse ice conditions continued to make their return inland dangerous. Fortunately Eklund knew a route down the Neny Glacier that expedited their return to base. Eklund and Ronne’s 84-day journey covered 1,264 statute miles, one of the longest in antarctic history. Ronne wrote Scientific Results of the USAS Expedition 1939–1941 (1945), in which he wrote of Eklund that “No one could ever hope to find a better trail partner. His scientific findings in the newly discovered area undoubtedly will prove of great value to the scientific world” (p. 22).
The 1941 conflict in Europe caused the termination of the USAS expedition. During World War II, Eklund served as a major in the U.S. Army’s Arctic, Desert and Tropic Information Center, under Dr. Gould of Carleton College. His assignments took him to Greenland and Canada. After the war he returned to the Fish and Wildlife Service with assignments in Oregon, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.
During preparations for the 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year (IGY), Dr. Gould directed the U.S. antarctic programs. Since he wanted proven leaders for the new antarctic bases, Eklund became the scientific leader for Wilkes Base, and Ronne led the Ellsworth Base. Dr. Paul Siple, who led the South Pole Base, wrote of Eklund in Antarctica (1963), “Perhaps no single person has had more knowledge than he of the emerging new scientific facts about Antarctica” (p. 6).
Bird research was not directly within the scope of the IGY program, but Eklund managed to conduct two important studies in addition to his leadership duties at Wilkes Base. One studied the nesting habits of the antarctic skua, a bird that explorers hate. This aggressive bird not only will attack people who approach its nest, but it also will defecate upon them. He developed innovative defenses to protect himself while he studied skua nesting habits, life cycle, and migration patterns. He also dispelled the myth that food odor attracts the skua. The second study dealt with how the penguin and skua can hatch eggs under such cold temperatures. Eklund devised an ingenious method of installing tiny batteries and radio transmitters inside penguin and skua eggs, then replacing the eggs in the nest. The radio signals reported the temperature range of the eggs. Results indicated that an egg’s temperature averaged about 11 degrees below the nesting bird’s body temperature.
After the IGY, Eklund became chief of the Polar and Arctic Branch of the U.S. Army Research Office. As a member of the National Academy of Sciences, he represented the United States internationally for scientific and polar affairs. He also was a founder and first president of the Antarctican Society, an association of those interested in Antarctica. In late 1962 he returned to the United States after speaking before an international scientific meeting in Paris. A few hours after giving a lecture at the Museum of Natural Science in Philadelphia, he suffered a heart attack and died.
Dr. Eklund was a leader in American polar work from 1940 to 1962. Ronne and Eklund’s determination that Alexander I Land was an island invalidated the claim that an 1819–1821 Russian expedition had discovered mainland Antarctica. Few explorers have matched their long sledge journey over such difficult terrain. During the IGY, he played a major role in both planning and field leadership. His scientific work in ornithology and biological sciences has served as a model for later researchers. Eklund’s longtime friend and mentor, Dr. Gould, wrote in Antarctica (1963) “Few persons in our time have been so well qualified by experience, temperament, and genuine interest to present an overall image of Antarctica as the late Dr. Carl Eklund. He was not only resourceful in experimentation but was bold in his imagination.”
HONKALA, Rudy Aarne
January 23, 1924–May 16, 2008
BETHEL, Maine - Rudolf Aarne Honkala, 84, formerly of Missoula, died Friday, May 16, 2008, at his home in Bethel surrounded by family. Born in Salisbury, N.H., on Jan. 23, 1924, he was the youngest of Walter and Anna Tolvanen Honkala's three sons. He attended schools in Salisbury and Franklin, N.H., before joining the Army Air Corps in 1941 as a radioman. Rudi was one of the first to receive benefits of the G.I. Bill, graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1946 with a Bachelor of Arts in art and later earning his Master of Arts in geography from the University of Montana. After college, Rudi worked for the Mount Washington Cog Railway, The Kearsarge Telephone Co. and was on staff at the Mount Washington Observatory for four years during the '40s. He returned as chief observer in 1955-56. He met his bride-to-be, Barbara Hastings, on Mount Washington and they were married in February 1950. Rudi and Barb then served for two years as husband-and-wife weather observers at remote Alaskan stations for the U.S. Weather Bureau. Their first son was born in Nome, Alaska, in 1951. They returned to New Hampshire in 1953, where they owned and operated a sporting goods store. But the call to adventure was too strong and Rudi joined up to participate in the International Geophysical Year exploration of Antarctica in 1956-58. He moved his family to Missoula upon his return, where he worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau. He went three more times on expeditions to the Antarctic, once as chief weather observer with the Australians at Wilkes Station (now Casey) 1959-61, and again as scientist-in-charge at Palmer Station, 1966-68. In 1970, he moved the family to Washington, D.C., where he worked as legislative assistant for Montana Congressman Dick Shoup. He then served as senior physical scientist with the Office of Coal, Department of Energy before his retirement in 1983. Rudi has an Antarctic island named after him; is holder of the Congressional Antarctic Medal and the Australian Antarctic Medal. He was a member of the Explorer's Club, the Antarctican Society and has journals and photographs in the Polar Section of the National Archives. He was a member and former President of the Finish American Heritage Society of Maine. After retirement, he and his wife lived in a remodeled fisherman's cottage on Henry Creek of the Chesapeake Bay in Kilmarnock, Va. There Rudi pursued his interest in solar energy by experimenting with solar powered boat motors. In 1989, Barb and Rudi moved back to Bethel. Rudi was a true adventurer: energetic, fearless, and always optimistic. He had a curiosity about the world around him from early childhood. And this curiosity carried him all around the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Chile to the Philippines to Finland, and every state in the United States. An avid outdoorsman, he instilled in his children a love of nature through camping trips, canoeing, rafting, fly fishing, and in winter, spending every weekend on the ski slopes. Rudi was an infamous road warrior who loved to drive. He drove the entire United States, often sticking to the back roads where he could get the true feel for people and places. He used these trips to spring surprise drop-in visits on people he knew around the country. And he also tried to visit every used book store along the way. Rudi amassed an extensive collection of polar-related books, including rare and first editions. His collection was donated to the Mount Washington Observatory Library. Rudi loved to cook and prided himself on finding the best bargains on fresh produce and cuts of meat. He could turn an inexpensive chuck steak into something akin to filet mignon and his made-from-scratch brownies are legendary. Rudi had a wry sense of humor and was known for his quick retorts and corny jokes. A lover of language, he wrote extensively of his travels and life, full of adventure and rich relationships with people around the world. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara Hastings Honkala; his four children, William Honkala and his wife Annette of Carnation, Wash., Vikki Honkala of Dallas, Kristi Honkala of Falls Church, Va., and Doug Honkala, his wife Judy and their two children, Austin and Tula, of Riverdale, Md.; and his older brother Adolf Honkala and his wife Eileen of Richmond, Va. Rudi was preceded in death by his oldest brother, Fred Honkala, in 1997. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 24, at the West Parish Congregational Church on Church Street in Bethel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Finnish American Heritage Society of Maine, 12 Hillside Drive South Paris, ME 04281, or Adroscoggin Hospice Care, 127 Pottle Road, Oxford, ME 04270.
LOKEN, Olav Helge
February 23, 1931 – September 18, 2015
Olav Helge Loken passed away peacefully in Ottawa, surrounded by family. He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Inger Marie. Devoted father of Chris (Melanie Côté Loken), Martin (Marianne) and Eric (Eva Lefkowitz), and grandfather of Trina, Andreas, Jordan, Sarah, Shane and Alma. He is also survived in Norway by brother Per Christen and extended family, and predeceased by twin sister Inger Jahnsen and sister Gudrun Liaaen Løken. Olav was born in Aalesund, Norway and studied at the University of Oslo. He spent over a year in Antarctica working as a glaciologist at the US Wilkes Station during the International Geophysical Year (1957 - 1958). A nearby range of moraines bears his name. He then came to Canada to study at McGill University where he received a PhD from the Department of Geography in 1962. Two years later he was elected a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America. After teaching at Queen's University, Olav joined the Geographical Branch of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in Ottawa in 1964. Over his 26-year government career he did much to advance Canadian Arctic science, through extensive fieldwork and a variety of management and policy roles in EMR and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. After retiring from government he worked with the Canadian Polar Commission, promoting Canadian involvement in Antarctic-related research. He has been an active member of the Norwegian community in Ottawa, and served as President of the Canadian Nordic Society and the Arctic Circle. A passionate cross-country skier, Olav loved the outdoors. He enjoyed spending free time at the family tree farm near Shawville, tending the forest, doing the interior woodwork for a new house, and building fences and furniture. A celebration of Olav's life, with reception following, will be held at the Pinecrest Visitation Centre (2500 Baseline Rd, Ottawa) on Saturday, October 3, from 2-4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Olav Loken can be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada or to the Students on Ice Foundation.
STONEHOCKER, Garth Hill
March 19, 1925–July 29, 1999
Garth Hill Stonehocker, age 74, passed away Thursday, July 29, 1999, at his home after a courageous battle with cancer.
Garth was born March 19, 1925, in Rigby, Idaho to Clarence Thomas and Frances Hill Stonehocker. His father was in the Army during World War I and II, so the family lived several places throughout the U.S. Garth graduated from high school in Salem, Oregon and received a degree in Physics from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. He moved with the family to Virginia, where he met and married Jeannette Evelyn Ridgway on Dec. 6, 1950 in the Salt Lake Temple.They moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he was part of the original team of scientists at the National Reactor Testing Station at Arco, Idaho. His scientific work for the U.S. government next took him to Baltimore and later to Boulder, Colorado; here he worked at the National Bureau of Standards. He was part of another team of scientists stationed at the South Pole during the International Geophysical Year in 1957. Stonehocker Point in the South Pole is named after him. His profession also took him to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he worked for Army Foreign Science Technology Center.
Garth and Jeannette are parents of four children, Anne (Brent) Pierce, Kaysville, Utah; Mark (Dellene) Stonehocker, Barbara Jo (David) Shelton and Edward Stonehocker, all of Salt Lake City, Utah. They have 11 grandchildren. He is also survived by a brother, Van Tassell (Moena) Stonehocker, Boise, Idaho; and a sister, Sandra Stonehocker Mangum of Orem, Utah.
He will be remembered for his love of radio, of flying as a private pilot, and his ability to fix everything. He was a quiet unassuming man full of faith.
He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many positions, lately assisting in the Family History Library in Logan, Utah.
Funeral services, under the direction of Walker Sanderson Funeral Home of Orem, will be held Monday, August 2, 1999, at 11 a.m. in the Smithfield 14th Ward LDS Chapel, 6521 North 2400 West, Smithfield, Utah. Friends may call Monday at the Church from 9:45 to 10:45 prior to services. Burial will be in the Orem City Cemetery.
WYCHE, Paul A.
1931-October 23, 2016
Paul A. Wyche, age 85, of Port Richey, FL passed away on October 23, 2016. Born in Miami, FL, he lived in Virginia, Georgia and New Jersey before returning to Florida in 1993. He is preceded by his wife, Stella of 46 years of marriage and his son, Dale of Bayonet Point.
He is survived by his son, Paul Jr., an Emergency Room Nurse and Naval Officer of Red Bank, NJ, his son, Keith, a cardiologist from Myrtle Beach, SC. Also his seven grand children and two great grand children, several nieces and nephews and his life partner, Kathryn Hutchek.
He was a retired Navy Senior Chief, specializing in Meteorology. He also retired from the Toms River NJ School System and a Teacher, Guidance Counselor and Administrator. His final retirement was as a GS11 Federal Civil Service Employee, serving as an Academic and Career Counselor for the Soldiers at Fort Dix, NJ.
He graduated from the College of New Jersey with a BA and MA, and from Monmouth University with a Master in Science.
He was a member of the Timber Oaks Golf Club, The Aleutian Islands, The Veterans Association, The Navy Weather Service Association, The National Association of Retired Federal Employees, The Naval Fleet Reserve Association and past member of Kappa Delta Pi.
During the International Geophysical Year, 1956-57, he served in a scientific expedition to the Antarctic. Wyche Island, an Antarctic feature, was named in his honor for his service.
Prevatt FH
Service Information:
Grace Memorial Cemetery
16931 Us Highway 19 North
Hudson, FL 34667
GREEN, Sydney Elbert
April 12, 1935-April 11, 2003
Son of Sydney E. and Mildred A. Green. Siblings include Donna J., Norman E., and Carla Green He enlisted in the US Navy on June 19, 1952 and was released on January 31, 1959. He married Joan Cherry in Alameda, CA on October 22, 1958.
Died in Spokane, Washington. Here is his wife, Joan's obituary. GREEN, Joan (Age 76) Passed away on May 20, 2010 in Medical Lake, WA. She was born on April 18, 1934 in Howe, OK to Ab and Willie Cherry. Joan lived and worked in the community of Medical Lake for close to 50 years and was involved with Friends for Children. She will be greatly missed by friends and family. She is survived by two daughters, Sharon Mandarino and her husband Mark, Teresa Coble and her husband Chris; two grandchildren Nick Mandarino and Carissa Coble; two great-grandchildren Kody Mandarino and Colton Mandarino. She was preceded in death by her husband of 44 years Sydney Green.
Sydney Green, 8th grade History Club, 2nd from left end on second row from top. Riverside High School, Chattaroy, WA, 1950.
Patterson, A. H. "Acey"
(?–2007)
From the Australian Government Antarctic Division Gazetteer.
Latitude: 66 12' 50.4" S (-66.214)
Longitude: 110 34' 40.1" E (110.5778)
Altitude: 18 m
An insular rock 0.5 mi W of Cameron Island, in the Swain Islands. This region was photographed from the air by USN OpHjp (1946-47), ANARE (1956) and the Soviet expedition (1956). The rock was included in a 1957 ground survey by C.R. Eklund, who named it for Acy H. Patterson, USN, electrician at Wilkes Station, 1957.
Died in 2007.
Charlton, Fredrick Edward
(January 4, 1922–April 12, 2002)
Fred Charlton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Charlton, was born January 4, 1922, in Michigan City, La Porte County, Indiana. He joined the US Navy on May 2, 1939 and was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Whidbey Island, Washington. He became an electronics technician and served in WWII and the Korean War Photo at right accompanied an article in the August 15, 1956 edition of The Star Press, a Muncie, Indiana newspaper, announcing his selection..
Fred was married to Pauline Rosa Burgler (1916-2008) on the April 22, 1941 in Seattle, Washington. In August of 1956, the 17 year Navy verteran was chosen as a member of the Navy's Sea-Bee detachment "Bravo". He and 149 other hand-picked Navy men reported to Davisville, R.I., Atlantic fleet Construction Battalion headquarters. The detachment was to man seven South Polar bases from December 1956 to January 1958. They received special training that included rugged physical exercise instruction in the operation of heavy construction equipment and vehicles modified for snow and ice wor, survival and safety techniques. Fred was one of the two radiomen at Wilkes Station. He and Don Bradford maintained communication for 24 hours each day. They alternated 12 hour shifts.
Fred provided the technical support for Chief Scientist Carl Eklund's project to measure the temperature inside penguin eggs. Their article, "Measuring the Temperatures of Incubating Penguin Eggs," appeared in American Scientist 47, 1959: 80–86.
He died on April 12, 2002 at the age of 80 in Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington. He is buried in Greenacres Memorial Park, Ferndale, Whartcom County, Washington. His wife, Pauline, died April 13, 2008.
Lilienthal, Billie R.
(June 6, 1936–April 12, 2002)
Billie R. Lilienthal peacefully passed away on Tuesday, January 10 at Dixie Regional Hospital in St. George, UT.
Billie was born June 6, 1936, in Burwell, NE to Glen and Agnes Lilienthal. He graduated from Burwell High School and Arizona State College. Billie was proud to have served 28 years in the U. S. Navy.
Locally he worked part time at the Nevada Welcome Center for 20 years. He was an active member of Mesquite United Methodist Church where he served 9 years as Church Council President, assisted the financial secretary and enjoyed serving as Lay Leader and usher.
Billie is survived by his wife, Nila of Mesquite and two sons, Douglas Carl and James William both of Manchester, TN. He also is survived by two stepsons, Randy Fehr and Brad Fehr of Northern Utah and stepdaughters Roshelle Geroche of Loveland, CO. and Loretta Felix of Morgan, UT.
He was a proud grandfather of 4, great-grandfather of 6 and had 11 step grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at Mesquite United Methodist Church on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking memorial gifts be given to the Billie R. Lilienthal Memorial Fund at Mesquite United Methodist Church or donated to We Care for Animals of Mesquite.
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Hailstorm, Kenneth Joseph
(August 20, 1936–April 25, 2005)
McCARTY — Traditional wake services for Kenneth J. Hailstorm, 68, were held on Wednesday, April 26 in McCarty, N.M. Military burial will be held today, April 27 at the Pueblo of Acoma Community Center.
Hailstorm died April 25 in Albuquerque.
Kenneth Joseph Hailstorm was born on August 20, 1936 to Joe and Altha Begay Hailstorm in Albuquerque, New Mexico.He had an older sister, Helen.
Hailstorm graduated from Grants High School where he excelled in music. He accepted a music scholarship to UNM and received a BS and MS from the University of Utah. At Utah he received training at the University's Western Regional Alcohol Training Center, a special project of the Graduate School of Social Work. Hailstorm became director of the Native American Recovery Center there. As a recovered alcoholic, Hailstorm developed a program designed for Native Americans dealing with alcohol addiction.
Hailstorm posed for a picture in Utah as part of his work with Native Americans with alcohol addiction.
He worked as a social worker for different tribal agencies.
Hailstorm was radio operator in the US Navy. He was a member of the expedition to Antarctica in 1957-58, serving at Wilkes Station.
He retired after 12 years in 1969 as staff sergeant. He also served in the N.M. and Utah National Guard. Hailstorm enjoyed camping, fishing, and powwow's.
Survivors include his daughters, Kathleen Hailstorm of Thoreau, Kiona Hailstorm of Albuquerque; sons, Kendrick Hailstorm of Flagstaff, Kevin Hailstorm of Mesa; sister, Helen Bradley of Pueblo and 22 grandchildren.
Hailstorm was preceded in death by Altha and Joe Hailstorm and brother, Marvin Hailstorm.
Hailstorm is buried in Acomita Cemetery, Acomita, Cibola County, New Mexico.
Hailstorm Island is a rocky island, 0.5 kilometres (0.25 nmi) long, between Cameron Island and the east end of Burnett Island in the central part of the Swain Islands, Antarctica. It was first roughly mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and included in a 1957 survey of the Swain Islands by Wilkes Station personnel under Carl R. Eklund. It was named by Eklund for Radioman Kenneth J. Hailstorm, U.S. Navy, a Naval support force member of the 1957 wintering party at Wilkes Station during the International Geophysical Year.
George Ernest Magee, USN-RET, 82, of 204 Doris Ann Ct. Wellford, SC. died Saturday, January 14th, 2012 at his home.
Mr. Magee was born in Malden, New York on July 6, 1929, the son of the late Leon and Helen Warner Magee and was the husband of Shirley Eschman Magee. .
He retired form the United States Navy as a Chief Petty Officer working with the Navy Seabees serving during WW II and the Korean War, and was a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, George Magee and wife Loretta of Gainesville, FL, Tony Michael Magee and wife Kristin of Irmo, SC, a daughter, Robin White and husband Michael of Brighton, TN, grandchildren, George R. Magee, Matthew Magee, Erica Magee, Michael White, Nicole White, Tiffany White, Ryan Magee, a great grandson, Little Mikey, and two sisters in law, Carol Frangello and Judy Schoonmaker. The family is at the home and will receive friends Tuesday 5-6:00pm at Seawright Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at Seawright Funeral Home at 6:00pm on Tuesday, January 17th, with Rev. Monty King officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to Spartanburg Regional Hospice 120 Heywood Ave., Suite 300 Spartanburg, SC 29302. Condolences may be left at www.seawright-funeralhome.com.
At right is the emblem of the International Geophysical Year of 1957. Wilkes Station was the site where Richard spent that winter in Antarctica. It coordiantes are latitude 66° 15' S, longitude 110° 31'E. 
In a May 7, 1956 letter, Dick lists his experience and addresses the health issue that had led to his having to leave the US Naval Academy. On May 15, Dr. A. P. Crary, Chief Scientist, sent a letter saying that Dick was being seriously considered for the program. Dick was 28 years of age. His application photo is at right. The following is from his application..
Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States. Here is a summary taken from Gil Dewart's excellent book "Journey to the Ice Age", published in 2003 by Ruobei Tang Publishing Company. The actual site on Clark Island was found by a scouting party from the Icebreaker Glacier, late on January 29, 1957. The party was led by Captain Charles Thomas and included Carl Eklund, Rudy Honkala, Dick Cameron and Willis Tressler. Glacier was escorting two heavily laden cargo vessels, Arneb & Greenville Victory, and in the early hours of January 30, the three ships anchored safely in open water off the southeast shore of Clark Island. 
A few comments by Pat Patterson, electrician, "Arriving at Wilkes before it was built was something else. It would be difficult for anyone to believe what they were seeing. You must remember we stopped at Cape Hallett for two weeks to build the base and gained a large amount of knowledge. As you may be aware, the buildings were all insulated panels about five inches thick, ten feet in length and four feet wide. Tongue and grooved to ensure a wind and water proof connection between the panels. As an electrician, we wired the buildings as fast as we could with the help of the support team. The base was practically completed in about ten days. The next few days were spent making sure everything was in working order and deciding that we were able to support ourselves. I was responsible for the generators and electrical facilities throughout. If I remember correctly, we had less than one per cent power failure for the year. Refueling we knew would be a problem so the plumber and myself designed a fuel system where fifty gallon drums were mounted on the roof of the power house and connected together. Pipework was then run down into the power house with a flexible hose where we could fill each generator tank. Worked extremely well. We filled the drums by using a Cat bucket loader with three drums and hose pipe with a valve on the end. Raise the bucket above the roof of the building and gravity did its work." Pat is shown at right working on generators.
On November 8, the icebreaker Northwind left Seattle carrying the ten scientists, the sixteen naval expedition support personnel and a normal crew of 175 officers and enlisted personnel. Their destination was New Zealand, a three week journey. The Northwind is seen at right.
Complete transcription of Richard J. Berkley's diary which he kept while in Antarctica 1957-1958
Magnetic Declination is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) and true north (the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole). This angle, delta, varies depending on position on the Earth's surface and changes over time. Note in the diary Dick is measuring 82 degrees!
Haupt Nunatak (Coordinates: 66°35′S 110°41′E) is a small nunatak 5 nautical miles (9 km) south of the Alexander Nunataks, at the east side of the lower reaches of Vanderford Glacier in Antarctica. Near Wilkes Station.
April 7, 1957-Went up on the cap after breakfast with Don Burnett and Black Sam to blast a trench for studies of the shear moraine. Beautiful view—iridescent clouds. Took a number of pictures of the area. Back for evening chores. (Lt. Don Burnett is Officer in Charge. Don is shown on the left in the adjacent photo. At right is Carl Eklund. Black Sam is the nickname of Dick Cameron because of his very dark beard.)
April 9, 1957-Took five sets of declinations today and messed with the magnetograph meantimes. Will have a problem with the absolutes bldg heaters. Should be thermostated. Played Jim Powell in cribbage tourney after the movie and lost two straight. Winner will pick up 5 cases of beer.
April 21, 1957-Carl talked to
May 4, 1957-Finished laying out the RR today & the components are ready to cement in place. Magee worked on the roof and put tarp over the cracks on top of walls. Was down to zero today and a new low for us. Played cribbage with Doc & lost, hitting the bottom. (Doc was Dr. Sheldon W. Grinnell, Navy medical officer, Grinnell Island is named for him. He is shown at right.) 
May 15, 1957-This was quite a day. Spent morning putting a compass in Weasel. (vehicle). After lunch, Carl, Doc, & John started toward Shirley Island. They got about 100 yds before breaking thru 11” of ice. John got out abandoning it, but it floated. About 8 tries before it finally came out. Made a contact with Walter Sullivan who wondered about Pole trip when Cameron came on air with “Emergency.” We left Walter hanging to hear Dick. Weasel wouldn’t start. Had two days food & wanted rescue at Haupt. In the middle Rudy came on and covered signal. A real mess. Finally got back to Sullivan & talked an hour or so with him. Carl told him that he, Fred and I were going to Site 2 on Monday so may have to go now. Saw a paraselene at night which was tremendous. (A moon dog, moondog, or mock moon, (scientific name paraselene, plural paraselenae, meaning "beside the moon" is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.) Photo at right shows a pair of paraselene over Didcot, England.
(Note: John B. "Jack" Townshend (1927–2012) was a geophysicist. Here is a quote from: Eos, Vol. 93, No. 50, 11 December 2012 "In the late 1940s, the growing responsibilities of the Geomagnetism Program began to exceed the physical capacities of the Cheltenham Observatory. In 1953, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for the construction of a new observatory and Program headquarters. A site near Fredericksburg, Va., was selected. Jack supervised the design of the observatory, and he managed its construction. The new Fredericksburg Magnetic Observatory was completed in 1956. As part of International Geophysical Year that soon followed, 1957–1958, Jack trained numerous domes and foreign observatory workers, and he supervised the calibration of their magnetometers" Dick's comment refers to a radio patch to Jack back in the States to discuss his magnetometers. Dick trained in Fredericksburg obviously under Jack. More about Jack here. 
July 14, 1957-Went out in afternoon to Weasel that Rudy & Mac had towed in. Still can’t figure how they were lucky to find their way in with no lights and a fog. (Mac is shown at right.)
September 15, 1957- Our man-haulers & a trail party for S-2 set out this morning. Gil & Ralph going in the best British tradition & Carl, Paul, & Olav to S-2 to return the repaired generator and take some movies of the activities up there. Storm started in late afternoon, but S-2 party arrived safely after making last 6 miles in storm. Ran absolutes this afternoon.
November 24, 1957- In late this morning. Got a dandy message from IGY to mail all photos. Heard tonite that our extra net man is going to Weddell. Ronne evidently sold them a bill of goods about mgrs of scientific leader’s job. Start a roll of film—number nine—with a fine sunset at about 2130. (Finn Ronne, photo at right, In the 1950s, the Navy organized Operation Deepfreeze to complete the mapping of Antarctica and establish centers for scientific research. Ronne became the scientific and military leader for a U.S. Weddell Sea base.)
March 18, 1958- Picked Jan up in morning and drove down through Mornington. Had lunch at Arthur’s rest Garden of the Moon, down to Portsea, over to Back Beach from Rye, then to Flinders, back to Frankston, had fish & chips in Chelsea, & then home.
March 19, 1958- Off this morning for Geelong. The Thala Dan due in at 01700-01800 so must be back. (The Thala Dan was a Danish Icebreaker [from the J. Lauritzen line] on charter to ANARE for their voyages to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.) Drove to Geelong & photoed gulls there, then to Banoon Heads, watched surfing at Ocean Groves, to Queenscliff, then back to Geelong & home. No Thala until late so after drove to pier, but still an hour early so left Jan with Wheelers and went back to ship to shower and change. Thala in at about 2200 and after the festivities back home. (In the last two days they have circled Port Phillip Bay)
Dr. Richard Cameron is currently an adjunct professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. 
These were formative years for glaciology and other systematic sciences in the Antarctic, and Dick was there from the start. They studied accumulation, ablation, and movement of glaciers. They dug a pit, 2 meters square and 35 meters deep with a 27- meter bore hole at the bottom, made a horizontal deformation tunnel at the 30-meter level. Accumulation stakes were set out, and this system was triangulated to determine relative movement. Ice temperatures at different levels, along with air temperatures, were recorded once a week. Chatter marks, erratics, and elevated beaches were found. Samples of bedrock and lichens were collected. All this by three men in less than a year. Dick was lead author of an Ohio State monograph detailing the results; the paper is one of 11 Antarctic studies of which he was sole or lead author over the years. 
During the austral season 1964-1965, he participated in the Queen Maud Land Traverse from the geographical South Pole to the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility in the middle of East Antarctica. “Charlie Bentley led the first half of the traverse and yours truly the second. Going from 2,820 m (9,250 ft) elevation at the South Pole to 3,657 m (12,200 ft) at Inaccessibility, we traveled 1,200 km (750 miles) at the breakneck speed of 8 km/h (5 miles per hour).” 
Dr. Richard “Dick” L. Cameron, age 89, of Collinsville, IL, born July 11, 1930 in Laconia, NH, passed away on Monday, July 22, 2019 in St. Louis, MO. Dick was a National Guard Captain, and he received his Ph.D. in Geology from Ohio State University. He participated in the International Geophysical Year as Chief Glaciologist at Wilkes Station, Antarctica. He spent from December 1956 to February 1958 in Antarctica. A big moment for him was standing at the Geographic South Pole with his son, Andy, in November 1979. He is preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Merilda (nee Lettre) Cameron;and two brothers, Robert E. Cameron and Donald F. Cameron. He is survived by his wife, Sarah “Sally” A. Barnett, whom he married on January 1, 1983; a son, Andrew O. Cameron of Collinsville, IL; a daughter, Sarah D. (Alan French) Cameron of Reston, VA; numerous nieces and nephews; and Sandie Dog Cameron, his beloved companion. Private services will be held. In lieu of flowers, please read a poem to someone you love.
Eklund, Carl Robert
LOKEN, Olav Helge
Olav Helge Loken passed away peacefully in Ottawa, surrounded by family. He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Inger Marie. Devoted father of Chris (Melanie Côté Loken), Martin (Marianne) and Eric (Eva Lefkowitz), and grandfather of Trina, Andreas, Jordan, Sarah, Shane and Alma. He is also survived in Norway by brother Per Christen and extended family, and predeceased by twin sister Inger Jahnsen and sister Gudrun Liaaen Løken. Olav was born in Aalesund, Norway and studied at the University of Oslo. He spent over a year in Antarctica working as a glaciologist at the US Wilkes Station during the International Geophysical Year (1957 - 1958). A nearby range of moraines bears his name. He then came to Canada to study at McGill University where he received a PhD from the Department of Geography in 1962. Two years later he was elected a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America. After teaching at Queen's University, Olav joined the Geographical Branch of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in Ottawa in 1964. Over his 26-year government career he did much to advance Canadian Arctic science, through extensive fieldwork and a variety of management and policy roles in EMR and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. After retiring from government he worked with the Canadian Polar Commission, promoting Canadian involvement in Antarctic-related research. He has been an active member of the Norwegian community in Ottawa, and served as President of the Canadian Nordic Society and the Arctic Circle. A passionate cross-country skier, Olav loved the outdoors. He enjoyed spending free time at the family tree farm near Shawville, tending the forest, doing the interior woodwork for a new house, and building fences and furniture. A celebration of Olav's life, with reception following, will be held at the Pinecrest Visitation Centre (2500 Baseline Rd, Ottawa) on Saturday, October 3, from 2-4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Olav Loken can be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada or to the Students on Ice Foundation.
Garth was born March 19, 1925, in Rigby, Idaho to Clarence Thomas and Frances Hill Stonehocker. His father was in the Army during World War I and II, so the family lived several places throughout the U.S. Garth graduated from high school in Salem, Oregon and received a degree in Physics from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. He moved with the family to Virginia, where he met and married Jeannette Evelyn Ridgway on Dec. 6, 1950 in the Salt Lake Temple.They moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he was part of the original team of scientists at the National Reactor Testing Station at Arco, Idaho. His scientific work for the U.S. government next took him to Baltimore and later to Boulder, Colorado; here he worked at the National Bureau of Standards. He was part of another team of scientists stationed at the South Pole during the International Geophysical Year in 1957. Stonehocker Point in the South Pole is named after him. His profession also took him to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he worked for Army Foreign Science Technology Center.
Fred Charlton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Charlton, was born January 4, 1922, in Michigan City, La Porte County, Indiana. He joined the US Navy on May 2, 1939 and was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Whidbey Island, Washington. He became an electronics technician and served in WWII and the Korean War Photo at right accompanied an article in the August 15, 1956 edition of The Star Press, a Muncie, Indiana newspaper, announcing his selection.. 
George Ernest Magee