Page 88 - Demo

Celebrated explorer Richard E. Byrd gave a lecture about his polar exploits in South Bend on April 15, 1931. His fame began on May 9, 1926, when he and pilot Floyd Bennett headed into the far north in a Fokker Tri-motor monoplane. They claimed to have reached the North Pole, but modern researchers have cast considerable doubt on their assertion. In 1927, Byrd along with a flight crew crossed the Atlantic nonstop%u2014about 6 weeks after Charles Lindbergh had famously done solo. Still wanting to accomplish great things, in 1928 Byrd organized an expedition to Antarctica (the first of three). Sailing on the ship City of New York, he established a base camp called Little America on the Ross ice shelf. A year later, he and his crew flew over the South Pole. When word reached the United States, Byrd was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral by a special act of CongressTwo cameramen shot 154,000 feet (over 29 miles) of footage during their 16 months with the expedition in Antarctica. They left for home before Byrd, and edited the material into a feature-length documentary entitled, With Byrd at the South Pole. It was released when the Admiral returned to New York, on June 18, 1930.Soon, Byrd embarked on an extensive postexpedition lecture tour around the US and Europe to pay off debts he accrued on the expedition. He regaled sellout crowds in hundreds of cities with stories of daring and discovery. It was on this tour that Admiral Byrd came to South Bend on April 15, 1931. Unfortunately, a week after leaving northern Indiana, while in Springfield, Illinois, Byrd learned that Igloo, his beloved fox terrier, was ill, so he temporarily cancelled his tour. But he soon hit the road again, and made an additional stop in the Hoosier state%u2014at Fort Wayne on May 2. A year earlier, on August 25, 1930, Byrd had been in Indianapolis. At each of the three events in Indiana, cacheted covers were made available for collectors.South Bend Welcomes Com. Richard E. Byrd, April 15, 1931.