Memorial

Vince's Cross on Hut Point. It was erected by Scott's first expedition in
March 1902, in remembrance of the death of Seaman George T. Vince
who slipped off of a cliff and drowned while trying to return to the ship
during a blizzard. Vince was the first person to die in McMurdo Sound
(photo info)

SK2 Andrew B Moulder, USN, ASA, 13 Feb 66

Andrew was scheduled to winter at Pole, but just before the end of the summer season he was crushed between a cargo sled and an LC-130 aircraft during cargo unloading operations. At that time of the year the temperatures can be brutal, and cold temperatures at Pole mean that severe ice fog is generated by the aircraft propellers. This results in very poor visibility and a dangerous working condition. Please visit my memorial page with photos and tributes from friends and family. ("ASA" was Antarctic Support Activity, the Navy operating organization that provided station support at the time as part of NSFA (US Naval Support Force Antarctica).

Casey A. Jones, H&N USARP, 9 Jan 80

Casey was a summer cook who had previously wintered at Palmer. He was digging out snow from the vertical air intake shaft in the fan room when he was crushed to death by snow that fell down from the shaft on top of him. (The fan room, also known as the blue room, is a small unheated plenum arch off of the main entrance that was built to circulate fresh air through the station after it became buried.) Casey's ashes were strewn over the TransAntarctic Mountains between McMurdo and Pole, at his parents' request. Here are some photos and a link to the memorial page by Martha Kane Savage, who was there.

Rodney Marks, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 12 May 00

Rodney was an Australian astrophysicist who was spending his second Pole winter, this time working on the AST/RO (Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory) project. He died from unknown natural causes after experiencing breathing problems while walking back to the dome from his lab across the skiway. (the CARA tribute pages)

At the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch is this US Navy memorial to all Americans who died in Antarctic operations through the disestablishment of the Naval Support Force Antarctica operations in March 1998 (warning, large files, this page from Bruce Blackburn).

Billy-Ace Baker has compiled a list of all of the members of the U. S. Antarctic programs who have died in Antarctica through 1999; that list is presented by Dave Riley with appropriate music here...

Another strange inland station tragedy: Carl Disch, a National Bureau of Standards scientist at Byrd didn't follow the rope line back from his lab to the station during the 1965 winter. He was never found (this page updated 27 April)

Deaths immediately following the winter are also devastating to the w/o crew, as I can attest. Gary Rosenberger, one of the 1977 Pole Souls, did not make it home either. He died in New Zealand shortly after we left the ice (Gary). And Alistair Walker, 1989 SPASE guy, died in a traffic accident in England (while asleep in the back seat) only a week after the end of the winter.