George J. Dufek

George John Dufek (10 February 1903,

In 1932 he entered flight training school at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida; after graduating as a naval aviator in 1933 he served as navigator and executive officer on three different ships. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1935 and assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga in 1938.

During

Dufek retired from the Navy on 30 June 1955 and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in recognition of his wartime accomplishments the same day. He continued to serve on active duty so he could participate in Operation Deep Freeze.

Antarctic experience

With Admiral Byrd

In the spring of 1939 Dufek, at this time a lieutenant, requested and received an assignment to Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's third expedition to Antarctica, which was officially named the United States Antarctic Service Expedition, where he served as navigator of the venerable USS Bear, the flagship of the expedition. In recognition of his many hours of exploratory flying over the South Polar continent, Dufek later received the United States Antarctic Expedition Medal.

Operation Highjump

After a brief post-war stint in Japan, Dufek was assigned as chief

During Operation Highjump he made the first flight over the Thurston Peninsula and later led the rescue of six survivors of a crash of another flight (named George 1) over the same area.

He returned to Washington D.C. briefly, but by 1947 was back in the Antarctic, this time commanding a task force sent to supply existing weather stations and to establish new ones near the Pole.

Operation Deepfreeze

USS Arneb. He later transferred his flag to the icebreaker USS Glacier

and was on board the Glacier when she completed a circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent later in the expedition.

Among other accomplishments, the task force established bases on

Skytrain named Que Sera Sera, became the first Americans to set foot at the South Pole and to plant the American flag, and the first men to land on the pole from the air. (Que Sera Sera is preserved at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida

.)

On November 28, 1957, Dufek was present with a US

congressional delegation during a change of command ceremony held at McMurdo Sound.^[5]

After Admiral Byrd's death, Dufek was appointed to succeed him as supervisor of U.S. programs in the South Polar Regions.

Retirement and death

Admiral Dufek fully retired from the Navy in 1959. He died in 1977, on his 74th birthday.

Namesakes

Antarctic features

Dufek Mountain

were named in his honor.

Awards

	Naval Aviator Badge
	Submarine Warfare insignia
1st Row	Navy Distinguished Service Medal with Gold Star			Combat "V"			United States Antarctic Expedition Medal issued in Gold (1939–1941)[6]
2nd Row	American Defense Service Medal			American Campaign Medal			European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 4 battle stars
3rd Row	World War II Victory Medal			Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp			National Defense Service Medal
4th Row	Korean Service Medal with four battle stars			Antarctic Service Medal			Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
5th Row	Croix de Guerre (1939-1945) with Palm			Korean Presidential Unit Citation			United Nations Korea Medal -

Additional Awards and Honors

• Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement, 1961^[7]

Dates of rank

• Midshipman – 16 August 1921
• Ensign – 4 June 1925
• Lieutenant (junior grade) – 4 June 1928
• Lieutenant – 30 June 1935
• Lieutenant Commander – 1 August 1939
• Commander – 1 August 1942
• Captain – 20 July 1943
• Rear Admiral, Retired – 30 June 1955

Bibliography

Books by George John Dufek:

• 1957: Operation Deepfreeze.
  ISBN 1-112-16344-1
  .
• 1959: Through the Frozen Frontier: The Exploration of Antarctica. Harcourt, Brace.
  ISBN 1-112-98569-7
  .
• 1969: Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd: A Biography. Harcourt, Brace and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science,
  The College of William & Mary. ASIN B0007H4TRQ

References

1. IMDb
2. Naval Historical Center. "Dufek, George J. Papers, 1946–1971". Sources on US Naval History in the United States: Syracuse University Ernest S. Bird Library. Archived from the original
   on 2008-03-10.
3. ISBN 0-7894-7986-9
   .)
4. Paul Allen Siple
   (1959).
5. ^ "US Antarctic Base Has Busy Day". Google News Archive. Spartanburg Herald-Journal. November 29, 1957. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
6. ^ Public Law 79-185, 59 Stat. 536
7. American Academy of Achievement
   .

External links

• Media related to George J. Dufek at Wikimedia Commons
• George J. Dufek Papers at Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center
• Guardian angel to the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine