‘Ice Pirates’ Welcomed Home as Navy Ends 44-Year Program in South Pole

The final flight of the Navy’s antarctic squadron landed Wednesday afternoon at the Naval Air Station, ending 44 years of support for American researchers at the South Pole.

Family members and Navy officials welcomed the squadron of four LC-130 Hercules cargo planes and their crew of 44 “ice pirates,” who have lived on the coldest, windiest and driest continent since October.

After the first plane, dubbed “Spirit of Willy’s Field,” landed on Mugu’s airstrip, Shannon Dowdle ran out to meet her husband. In her arms she carried 14-month-old Cole, dressed in a “Welcome Home Daddy” sweatshirt and wearing oversized green earplugs.

“Look--there’s daddy’s airplane!” Dowdle told her son as she pointed to the plane equipped with retractable skis.

And after an assembly line of sleeping bags, duffel bags and luggage was unloaded, Lt. Bob Dowdle walked down the stairs and greeted his family with kisses, hugs and tears. “I’m so excited because I haven’t seen my boy in four months.”

In a cost-cutting move, the Navy is turning over its logistical support for the National Science Foundation’s U.S. antarctic program to the Air Force and the Air National Guard, which have both served explorations in the North Pole for decades.

Officials decided that the Navy should focus its forces on war-fighting missions rather than research, and the nearly 780 personnel in Antarctica should be reassigned.

“The Navy is downsizing,” said J.D. Dickinson, executive officer of the squadron. “And we were not contributing to the carrier battle group, which is the heart and the spirit of Navy war fighting.”

Children played tag and gobbled hot dogs inside a hangar, while the parents celebrated the homecoming with champagne. The hangar was decorated with posters of penguins and planes, and homemade signs that read, “We Missed You.”

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Shannon Dowdle said she was thrilled and relieved to have her husband home. During his first Antarctica trip, she gave birth to Cole. And during the second trip, Cole walked his first steps.

Researchers in Antarctica have made scientific strides during the past four decades. They determined the likely cause of the ozone hole above the antarctic, discovered a meteorite that suggested life on Mars and filmed the crash of a massive comet into Jupiter.

And Navy planes supported that research by moving cargo, personnel and fuel throughout the continent. They have also been on call for search-and-rescue services.

“It’s kind of sad that after 44 years of serving the National Science Foundation and doing the antarctic mission that we’re not going back,” said Lt. Ken Hobmann, who spent two seasons on the continent. “But the Navy was very good at the mission.”

Hobmann said he couldn’t describe the scenery--glaciers, mountains, whales, seals and penguins--in words, or even in pictures.

Lt. Cmdr. Brett Metcalf, wearing a patch that read “44 years on ice,” said it seemed to him he was losing part of his family.

Military presence in Antarctica started in 1946, when the Navy broke the ice in an aggressive expedition dubbed “Operation High Jump.”

The Navy deployed 13 ships and 245 aircraft to Antarctica to establish a base and mapped 1.5 million square miles of the continent’s interior and 5,500 miles of coastline. In 1955 the squadron was created, and the following year Navy personnel ventured where few humans have, to the geologic South Pole.

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Braving freezing winter conditions year after year, the squadron transported more than 195,000 passengers and delivered more than 240 million pounds of dry cargo and nearly 10 million gallons of fuel to Antarctica. Fifty Americans died in support of the Antarctica mission.

Chief Petty Officer Dave Le Clare said the beauty enticed him back every year for 10 seasons, despite the subfreezing temperatures and hazardous conditions. Even after he was involved in a plane crash one year, Le Clare said, the experience of flying in Antarctica and landing on glaciers was unparalleled.

“It’s absolutely pristine,” he said. “It’s a vast, open continent and it was pretty awesome to see things that humans have never seen.”

While going to Antarctica was an incredible adventure, Bob Dowdle said the cold was almost unbearable--with the mercury falling as low as 45 degrees below zero at the South Pole.

On March 27, the Navy will hold a formal decommissioning ceremony at Point Mugu for the VXE-6 squadron.