THE FOLLOWING WILL BE PRESENT WHEN THE PRESIDENT PRESENTS THE SOCIETY'S HUBBARD MEDALS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AT 8:30 A. M. ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1959:

Sir Vivian and Lady Fuchs

Secretary ol the Navy and Mrs. Thomas Gates

Admifal and Mrs. Arleigh A. Burke

* Rear Admiral George Dufek r « His Excellency Sir Harold Caccia, The British Ambassador

Dr. and Mrs. , National Geographic Society

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas McKnew, National Geographic Society

Dr. Lyman J. Briggs, Board of Trustees, NGS

Admiral L. O. Colbert, "

Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, "

Robert V. Fleering,

Mr. Benjamin McKelway, "

Dr. Conrad L. Wirth, "

Mr. Lloyd B. Wilson, "

Mr. Melvin M. Payne, National Geographic Society

Mr. Franc Shor, "

Mr. Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, "

Rear Admiral C. C. Kirkpatrick, USN, Chief of Information, Navy

Mr. D'Arcy Edmondson, Counsellor, Information, British Embassy

Rear Admiral David M. Tyree, USN, Prospective Commander, U. S. Naval Support Forces Antarctica (relieving Adm. Dufek)

Captain J. Marcus Hermanson, Chief of Staff, U. S. Antarctic Projects Officer

Dr. James E. Mooney, Special Assistant, U. S. Antarctic Projects Officer

* Will not be present - still engaged in Antarctic mission ,/i- c/^ National Geographic EISENHOWER BESTOWS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NeWS Blllletill prepared and inued by the MEDALS ON FUCHS. U.S. NAVY EXPEDITIONS . _ ,. „ . National Geographic Society Washington 6, D. C. Immediate Release

Washington — The National Geographic Society's highest honor for exploration has "been bestowed on Sir Vivian Fuchs, the Briton who made history's first overland crossing of Antarctica, and on the American naval heroes of that frozen continent. President Eisenhower presented Hubbard Medals to the leader of the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58 and to the 's Antarctic Expeditions of 1955-59 in ceremonies February 4- at the White House. Sir Vivian flew from London with Lady Fuchs especially to receive the gold medal and to address the Society's capital area members in Constitution Hall.

First Awarded to Peary The is one of geography's foremost awards. It has been presented only 17 times heretofore, having been inaugurated in

1906 to honor Admiral Robert E. Peary for his Arctic explorations. The newly struck medals complement each other: one honors

Sir Vivian for achieving what Sir called "the last great Polar journey that can be made"; the other recognizes the more

than 10,000 Navy personnel who built and manned outposts of civilization from which the unknown continent has now been surveyed. At the White House ceremony, Dr. Melville Bell Grosvenor, president and editor of National Geographic, cited not only the valor involved in the British and American undertakings, but their unique contributions to geography and exploration. 10,279-McD, R (MORE) 2-4-59 HUBBARD MEDAL (PAGE TWO)

Guests at the presentation included Lady Fuchs; Sir Harold

Caccia, the British Ambassador to the United States; and other officials of the British Embassy, Navy Department, and National Geographic. The Navy's medal was accepted by Navy Secretary Thomag S. Gates,^/Z

Jr. Gold replicas were struck for Admirals Arleigh A. Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, and George J. Dufek, who took command of the Navy's antarctic activities after the death of Admiral Richard E. Byrd in

March, 1957. Trek of 2.158 Miles The Fuchs medal bears the inscription: "Awarded to Sir Vivian

Fuchs for brilliant leadership of the British Trans-Antarc tic Expedition

1955-58 and for his extraordinary contributions to geographic knowledge of Antarctica." Sir Vivian and his party risked their lives to conquer the last untraversed continent in a sea-to-sea trek of 2,158 miles across the

South Pole. Two years of preparation were needed. The actual journey from Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound in Ross Sea took 99 calendar days. Food and fuel depots for the crossing were set up by a reconnoitering party led by the famed New Zealand explorer, Sir Edmund Hillary. His group also charted areas unknown to cartographers. The 12-man Fuchs team encountered appalling ice conditions and snow-hidden caverns that threatened to swallow the heavy Sno-Cats and

Weasels. On one occasion a mysterious infection swept the caravan.

Amid the most severe hardships, the explorers, at regular intervals, made seismic shots and took meteorological and gravity observations to amass a wealth of scientific data about Antarctica.

(MORE) HUBBARD MEDAL (PAGE THREE)

Cooperation between the Britons and the Navy was close. The

Fuchs team was 200 miles beyond the South Pole when one man was found nearly dead in his Sno-Cat from carbon-monoxide poisoning. A distress signal was flashed. The Navy's air station at McMurdo Sound swiftly dispatched two planes on an emergency night flight with bottles of oxygen. On one plane was a specialist in monoxide poisoning. Medical skill and oxygen soon had the explorers on their way.

They arrived at McMurdo Sound on March 2, 1958—three minutes ahead of schedule. The Navy's medal is inscribed: "Awarded to the U.S. Navy

Antarctic Expeditions 1955-59 for outstanding service to science in exploring vast South Polar regions and establishing scientific stations for the International Geophysical Year."

Navy's All-out Assault In preparing for IGY, the Navy mounted a massive, all-out assault on Antarctica, employing thousands of men with unprecedented logistic support. It is continuing its researches there. The great engineering triumph of Operation Deep Freeze I, II, and III was the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, built, supplied, and maintained by airlift„ Nine Navy technicians were among the band

of 18 Americans who spent man's first winter at the South Pole. National Geographic's Hubbard Medal is conferred by its Board

of Trustees and is traditionally presented by the United States President.

The medal commemorates , a founder of the Society

and its first president. # # #