Sensory Overload – The Trip Home –  Copyright 1999 Jack W. Cummings

It is interesting that as your mind gets older some of the seemingly insignificant bits of life that are “saved” in memory. Yet possibly the excitement of certain experiences cause the brain to leave certain things unrecorded, to be lost forever. This was the case, as the shining new C-130 rushed me to the Naval Station McMurdo; I remember nothing about the flight or the trip in from Williams Field, the ice runway. At McMurdo we received copies of our travel orders, (my ultimate destination would be a two year assignment of the Staff of Commander Services Squadron One based at Naval Station San Diego) gorged fresh food, watched “new” movies and waited. In the Radio Shack old acquaintances were renewed, faces were connected to names, and final good byes were said. I recently received an email from one of the radiomen who wintered at McMurdo, Jesse Hopkins RM2. He remembers me telling someone I knew from Philadelphia to tell my Mom that I may bring home a “surprise”. I guess the surprise I was referring to was the extra facial hair, extra weight and that “just wintered over” look on my face. I don’t think I resembled the person she had said goodbye to the previous September. Continue reading “My First Antarctic Adventure – Part VII – Final”