We had been on the Ice for several weeks and had settled into the VXE6 Squadron routine. As cargo handlers we worked 12 hours on, and 12 hours off, 7 days a week, with no breaks. It was hard work but I really enjoyed it as we were actually loading the planes that were building the "New" South Pole Station.
The sun was above the horizon 24 hours a day and the easiest way to tell the time was if the sun was over ones left shoulder when we arrived at the ice runway then it was 2200,if it was over your right shoulder it was 1000 hours
My team of cargo handlers was made up of SSgt Sam Bigg-Wither who was the team boss, LBdr Dick Wilson, LCpl Dennis Nathan, Dvr Joe Burgoyne and myself. We wore American dungaree uniforms and American rank badges, mine was an eagle (crow) with two chevrons underneath.
Back in Mac Town a couple of the other kiwi's worked with a monster of an American, a guy called "Dink" Dinkenspeel. I don't know exactly how tall big Dink was but it was close to seven feet .... he was bloody huge. The callsign for the office in Mac Town was "Hill Cargo" and our callsign out on the runway was "Ice Cargo". The radio's were very handy because the one thing that you could never count on was the weather, and if it closed in, it generally did so very fast and the SOP's for all men serving on the Ice was that if the weather closed in you simply hunkered down where you were and waited for the "All Clear" to come from "Terminal Ops" in McMurdo. Sometime you would be trapped ou there on the Ice for a day or two. It didn't really matter as the whole of Antarctica was a freezer and we had stacked entire boxes of good Texas T-bone steaks under our hut, plus several cases of California shrimps for use in emergencies. As well, we had dozens of cases of canned New Zealand "Fresh Up" apple juice, complete with the kiwi runner John Walker's face on the lid of each case. I think the longest a group of kiwi cargo handlers were caught out on the ice runway during a whiteout was about 9 days.
Antarctica at that time was described as "The World's Last Frontier" and generally any little error tended to compound itself due to the harshness of the terrain. A couple of examples that spring to mind were, a SeeBee (US Construction Battalion) carpenter, who was working outside at McMurdo hammering some nails into some boards he was working on. naturally enough as he was working he grabbed a handfull of nails and stuck them in his mouth .... a very common habit amongst carpenters. However he was working in about -18 degrees celcius and the nails immediately froze to his lips. He had to go back inside the complex and thaw his mouth out with a cup of coffee.
Another SeeBee was clamping a pipe which ran along the ground at Mac Town, and up toward the old nuclear power plant. He had straddled the pipe and couldn't get the purchase that he required, and then without thinking he removed his gloves to get the better grip .... big mistake. He was instantly frozen to the pipe by the palms of his hands and the only way we could separate him from the pipe was to urinate on his hands.
It was SOP's amongst all personnel, military and scientist that whenever you went outside you had to be dressed (or carrying) your complete survival equipment, which included:- tee shirt and underwear, thermal socks, waffle weaves (thermal underwear), dungeree uniform, woolen jersey, woolen gloves and leather shell, bunny boots (huge white thermal boots), overtrousers, and thermal liner, combat jacket with thermal liner, and wolverine hood, bear claws (large thermal overgloves that ran from finger to elbow), woolen scarf, thermal cap with fold down ear muffs, regulation issue sun glasses ... a warm day at McMurdo was about -15 through -20 celcius. The cold itself was not a problem, but rather the windchill factor that was the real danger
During the worst storms and whiteout conditions the scientists generally continued to take and measure their samples and this was at times a very hazardous thing and lives were lost. This also happened while I was Antarctica. An American scientist at an outlying station had gone to check his instruments and had not returned. McMurdo Station was informed and although we all knew that the guy was dead we ha to wait until the weather cleared before his death could be confirmed. His name escapes me but from memory he was a microbiologist working with USARP. I understand that he fell off a mountain in the Asgard Range.
I can't remember exactly how they got his body back to McMurdo, but I think it was by one of the Squadrons Iroquois Helicopters. The Squadron had either two or three UH-1D's which were painted bright red and used the callsigns "Gentle 14" "Gentle 15" and "Gentle 18". These helicopters did stirling work on the ice, including many rescues. on a clea day we used to get a real kick out of watching them climb to about the aircraft ceiling and then hover as the rescue crew parachuted out of them ... and all the while Mt Erebus smoking quietly and draped in snow, making the perfect picture postcard backdrop.
Once the chopper crew had uplifted the body of the scientist, it was bought back to be formally identified. Later that same day there was a memorial service for him in the Chapel of the Snows in Mac Town, and then as the Americans always do, his body was to be returned to the United States as soon as possible. We were nearing the end of our shift and we had been warned that a Herbie (whiteout) was forming out in McMurdo Sound. We were all fairly well jaded and were hoping that our relief team would drive up shortly in the Kiwi Express o that we could get back to the snow runway, hot food, hot showers and cold beer.
Presently our radio crackled into life and Terminal Ops informed us that a C130 was inbound, and that it would not be stopping but was to uplift a single item of cargo and take off before the whiteout arrived. The message was rather cryptic and we were also informed that the item for transfer was being bought out to us on the 'Blue Goose' (The callsign of a very powerful pickup truck which I think was a Dodge Powere Wagon)
By now we had moved out into the cargo yard and were climbing high points (ice hills) keeping our eyes peeled on the movement of the whiteout which was now clearly visible and slowly moving across the sounds, the Blue oose, and also the inbound C130
As soon as the Blue Goose arrived at the Cargo Yard the river yelled at us that he had he "cadaver" and to get onboard the back of the pickup as there was no time to lose. Four of us jumped onto the back of the pickup and sat down on the long silver trunk that was on the back. Being Kiwi's none of us had ever heard the word "Cadaver" before and it meant nothing to us. Dennis Nathan idly looked down at his feet and saw a brown US Government label, and when he turned it over he saw the words "HUMAN REMAINS" printed on it. With a scream he yelled to Dick Wilson "Kehuas !" (Ghosts) and without even looking back both Maori's lept off the back of the pickup and into the nearest snowdrift.
That left just Noel Burgoyne and myself to load the aircraftWe arrived atWe got backAweek laterAbout a weekThe C130 landed, taxied up to the Cargo Yard then turned around and dropped its ramp before shutting down. The pilot and all of his aircrew got out and came over toward us. He looked to be quite a big guy and at any rate he had a booming voice. His first words to us were "Are you guys the two goddammed bookends who loaded a cadaver onto my bird the wrong way?"
I looked at Noel and he looked at me and neither of us had ever seen a body box before, and knew absolutely nothing about how they actually worked. With his entire aircrew gathered about us the angry pilot then began to give us a blow by blow account of exactly what we had done wrong. First we had loaded the box onto the ramp, which once raised, placed the cadaver at a 45 degree angle. Next, we had placed the body box facing exactly the wrong way and this was to have dire consequences when they broke down, and were required to spend a couple of days in ChiChi (Christchurch) Aparently body boxes have pressure valves in them and as we had placed the box 'back-to-front' on the ramp, once they arrived in Christchurch and were laid over, the cadaver thawed out and various body fluids ran through the aircraft creating a complete contamination when the aircraft arrived back stateside.
When we finally explained to the pilot that we had never seen a body box before, he began to mellow out and explained to us that every single cargo handle in the US Armed Forces had been trained on the stowage of body boxes (Remember that this was 1973 and the US was still heavily committed to the Vietnam War)
I learnt new words while I was in Antarctica, the first was 'Cadaver' and the other was 'Book-ends' which is basically a derogetory Americanism for two guys who are friends and 'Odd Balls' This nickname stuck to myself and Noel for the rest of the time we were on the ice and did anything together. Americans have a brilliant sharply hone sence of humour and of course we were often the butt of jokes that were said in good humour.
I never saw another body box for about ten years and that time it was when I was on peacekeeping operations during the wind down of the guerilla war in Rhodesia, but that is another story.
I am proud of my service with the US Navy and would do it all again if given the opportunity. The American Airdevron Squadron that I served with, VXE-6 Squadron, "The Puckered Pete's" were a real special breed of men. Very Professional at their job, they were the last true pioneers in the frozen wastes of the Southern Oceans, in the Land of the Midnight Sun
