Interview of James H. Bergstrom by Dian O. Belanger

• Main Author: Bergstrom, James H.
• Other Authors: Belanger, Dian Olson, 1941-
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program 2009
• Subjects: United States. Navy > Aviation > Ground support > Interviews; Operation Deep Freeze; Oral history; Arctic regions > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Polar regions > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Antarctica > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Bergstrom; James H. > Interviews; Antarctic; Arctic; Edisto; Ice Runway; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/36739

The Antarctic Deep Freeze oral history project was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and supported by the Antarctic Deep Freeze Association. The original paper copies and unaltered tapes have been deposited in the library of the National Science Foundation. Navy pilot and then-Lieutenant Jim Bergstrom volunteered for Operation Deep Freeze I as a GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) officer to guide incoming aircraft attempting to land on the ice in poor visibility. As officer-in-charge of the advance party, he arrived at McMurdo on the icebreaker Edisto in December 1955 and helped in the building of the station. He was Executive Officer of the wintering-over party. When plowing seemed the only way to prepare an ice runway in time for the spring planes, and the prospects iffy, the leadership team reorganized the entire camp to keep snow-removal crews going around the clock. Bergstrom, like other officers, did mess cooking. He fell, shattering both elbows in April 1956, just at the onset of the winter night, but recovered sufficiently to resume his duties and, later, his naval career. National Science Foundation Antarctic Deep Freeze Association