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xxiii P R E F A C E A N D A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S This book began as a wish to tell the story of the men—military and civilian—who planned, built, and helped operate the network of facilities in Antarctica that were established to support scientists during the International Geophysical Year (IGY), scheduled to begin in mid-1957. The initial concept began in Christchurch, New Zealand, in late 1995 at the fortieth anniversary celebration of the Navy’s Operation Deep Freeze program. Dick Bowers, who as a young engineering officer in Deep Freeze I and II had charge of constructing both McMurdo and South Pole stations, expressed concern to Erick Chiang of the National Science Foundation (NSF) that so many of the early F O R E W O R D xxiii xxiv P R E F A C E A N D A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S veterans were no longer living. He hoped their collective experiences and accomplishments could be documented by those remaining before it was too late. Chiang, who heads the Office of Polar Programs’ Polar Research Support Section , thought an oral history program might be the answer. Several months later, Bowers’s Deep Freeze teammate Jim Bergstrom, executive officer at the McMurdo Air Operations Facility, met with Chiang and Guy Guthridge, Polar Information Program Manager, at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, to discuss the matter further. He spoke on behalf of the Antarctic Deep Freeze Association (ADFA), an organization composed primarily of veterans of the early Deep Freeze years, who heartily supported the idea of an oral history project. They remained enthusiastic when the NSF representatives later proposed a history whose scope was enlarged to provide not only a more complete background of activities preceding the IGY but also the scientific pursuits of the IGY itself and the political aspects of the pre- and post-IGY period that led to the Antarctic Treaty and a continuous stream of important scientific endeavor for nearly fifty years. With the guidance of the NSF officials, historian Dian Belanger was asked to participate. She agreed to prepare a request for a grant from the NSF and, upon grant approval, to conduct and record oral history interviews, perform related research, and write a book based on her findings.Acommittee ofADFA members, including Bill Stroup as financial officer, agreed to administer the grant and assist her in any way possible, using the full resources of theADFA. A grant was awarded in August 1998. This book is the culmination of her effort. The dozens of oral histories, besides being sources for the book, are separately preserved in polar archives. TheADFAis extremely proud of the work Dian Belanger has accomplished and is delighted with the way she captured both events and the mood with color and realism. The ADFA is also greatly indebted to the National Science Foundation for its support during the life of the grant. JAMES H. BERGSTROM, CAPT, USN (RET.), PROJECT CEO RICHARD A. BOWERS, CDR, CEC USN (RET.), PROJECT ASST. CEO WILLIAM E. STROUP, CWO4, CEC USN (RET.), PROJECT CFO F O R E W O R D ...

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