Interview of Edward N. Ehrlich by Dian O. Belanger

• Main Author: Ehrlich, Edward N.
• Other Authors: Belanger, Dian Olson, 1941-
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program 2009
• Subjects: Military > Medical personnel > Interviews; Physicians > Arctic regions > Interviews; Operation Deep Freeze; Arctic regions > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Polar regions > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Antarctica > Discovery and exploration > Interviews; Ehrlich; Edward N. > Interviews; Aldrich; Antarctic; Arctic; Camp A; Little America; Petty; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/36741

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. Dr. Edward Ehrlich, then a drafted Navy lieutenant in the medical corps, learned from HMC Ken Aldrich when he volunteered for Deep Freeze I, that little medical planning had been done. But with his officer status and Aldrich's knowledge of Navy procedures they managed to assemble adequate supplies and equipment. Ehrlich designed his own training program. He was appalled by the huge quantities of "medicinal" alcohol that had been supplied for Little America and decided to give it out only recreationally (against Navy regulations) and equally available to all. He performed an appendectomy in camp, a scary and difficult experience. Morale suffered when a driver was killed in a crevasse and when a plane crashed. Ehrlich believed that the station's real leadership came not from the top but rather from respected chief petty officers. National Science Foundation Antarctic Deep Freeze Association