Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-21
NEW HONORS AWAIT .
BYRD IN VIRGINIA.
Leaves for Richmond After
Presentation of Medal by
President Hoover.
Continued From First Page)

Continued From First Page)
started out with me has returned
that we left not a single man on the
lce-and that every one is here tonight -
Such thing satisfies the heart
ne asserted as the auditorium broke
into storm of applause.
DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor. president of
the National Geographic Society. who
presided, explained that the special
medal was necessitated by the fact that
Byrd already possesses the society's
Hubbard gold medal. which has been
awarded to only eight men. The Hub
bard medal was given Byrd for his
aerial conquest of the North Pole.
Respects Paid Entire Crew.
DR., Grosvenor paid his respects to
the entire command of 80 bronzed men
who composed the expedition. The
husky veterans of the Antarctic were
seated on the platform during the cere-
monies, and they Squirmed uncom-
fortably as all eyes were directed upon
them and all hands clapped acclaim.
In introducing President Hoover, DR..
Grosvenor evoked applause by referring
tn the President as an experienced
world traveller himself whose visits
to the far ends of the earth have in
cluded virtually every point but the two
poles.
IF there had been starving children
or unhappy human beings to relieve in
those bleak places however" Or. Gros-
venor remarked, lit is probable that
Herbert Hoover would have managed
to get there somehow"
DR.. Grosvenor expressed regret that
Mrs. Hoover was unable to be present,
and told of her active interest in the
society as member for % years.
The audience obtained an astound-
ingly impressive idea of the hardships
involved in Antarctic exploration from
the remarkable motion picture film OF
the expedition. which had its first
showing last night. 1t was the first
time, too, that Byrd and the members
of his party had seen the reels, for
they were rushed to America ahead OF
the main party and developed in New
York
The pictures are synchronized with
studio sound effects that add materially
to the effectiveness of the film, and the
final dash over the pole by airplane is
described by the voice of Floyd Glib
bons, veteran correspondent.
Spectacular Shots Taken.
Made by professional movie men. the
film is replete with spectacular shots
from beginning to end. Billiards which
of the settlement in Little America were
faithfully reproduced on the screen. The
collapse of an ice wall and the Subse-
quent rescue of a member of the party
who was precipitated into the icy polar
sea Is depicted. Amusing shots of curl
osity-fllled penguins. frolicking whales
and seals were interspersed. There was
pathos. too, in the execution of Spy"
lead-dog of one of the sledge teams, who
broke a foot on the ice. but struggled
onward until feIled by exhaustion.
The climax of the show, of course,
was the film record of the epochal
fight to the Pole and return. The
battle of Balchen to clear the forbid
ding mountain Businesses of the polar
plateau was shown by the camera car
ried on the flight, and the great mo-
ment when the tri-motored ship arrived
over the Pole. followed by the drop
ping of a weighted American flag in
memory of Floyd Bennett, Byrd's North
Pole pilot, was gripping feature.
In his report to the society last night
Admiral Byrd described Antarctica as
"the last uninhabited frontier of the
world" whose vast extent" has been
scarcely touched.
After ALL" he said there is little
in the experiences of those of us who
live in temperate chimes to enable us
to enviSage the true aspects of Ant
arctica. Much of it has never been
seen, much less explored It's bound
and its area is an estimate. This, and
its remoteness from the world centers,
have contrived to give it suggestion
of unreality.
Population Is Transient.
"No life exists there except soiourn-
ing penguins, gulls, seals, certain forms
of microscopic life and the whales
which have found in adjoining waters
a last retreat. The only population that
this immense continent has known is
the transitory communities of exploring
parties, and the whalers and Sealers
who have landed briefly on its coasts.
In Winter it is perhaps the dreariest
Of places. Our base, Little America lay
in bowl of ice, near the edge of the
Ross Ice Barrier. The temperature fell
as low as 70 degrees below zero. One
could actually hear ones breath freeze.
yet we did not suffer unduly. Not
nearly as much, that is as other eX-
ploring parties have suffered. Because
this was an expedition directed toward
scientific fact-flnding, we took ad-
vantage Of the experiences of our pred
ecessors and the comforts provided by
modern ingenuity. And we proved it
is possible for human beings to live
In polar regions without extraordinary
hardship"
Admiral Byrd answered the cues
ton Why did you go there?" with the
observation that "As long as any part
OF the world remains obscure, the curl