Evening star., 1934-03-19
Drama Is Enacted in Operation
For appendicitis in Antarctico
Table Made of Thawed-Out Stretchers
Fire Threatens Instruments-Pa-
tients Bunk IS Feet Under SnOw.

matte battle to SdUe mans lite
through an emergency operation in
the ShddotD OF the South Pole tDdS
sent BY UireleSS from Little America
at the request OF the North Aneri-
can Newspaper Alliance. Admiral
Byrd and his associates opercdme
the greatest obstacles in their effort
to sdue the, stricken mans life. 1t
is the story of the struggle of a
doctor tCith death dlUdys at his
elboU.
! BY Radio to The Star and MANA.
LITTLE AMERICA, Antarctica
March l9-The story of the first
major operation ever performed on
the Antarctic Continent may now be
told. A drama of the lives of men ir
this isolated portion Of the globe, II
forms an epic in the history of the
efforts to penetrate this vast area o1
i trackleSs snow and ice.
For two days Joseph A Pelter
aerial mapper with Admiral Byrd's
South Pole expedition. had been in
disposed and complaining of pain
He remained in his bunk in the ole
Norwegian house Of the first Byrd ex-
pedition, which was sunk under Il
! feet of snow 1t is one of several
small Sunken structures that connect
with the old mess hall and leads of
| from the now caved-in main tunnel
which used to run between the mess
hall and the administration building
Pelter inSisteS that he was all
CTR onh ot1n
he said. Il ate too much of Al Car
bones seal meat"
Fails to Evade Doctor.
Pelter is slim, curley headed
merry chap and probably no man in
the camp is better liked. He exacted
from his visitors promise not to tell
the doctor, and the promise was kept
However, James M. Sterrett, former
University of Pittsburgh medical
student, who looked after the health
of the crew of the Bear of Oakland
during its southern voyage, came in
looking for him. Pelter was in con-
siderable pain. Sterrett became con-
vinced that Pelter had appendicitis
and called DR.. Louis H. Potaka. the
young Maori physician from New
Zealand who replaced DR.. Guy o.
Shirley as the expeditions medical
officer when the latter returned to the
United States because of illness.
DR.. Potaka was not certain that It
would be necessary to operate imme-
dlately, but he decided to make all
possible preparations. The only
building fit for the operation was the
shack of the Columbia Broadcasting
System. The other buildings are
crowded and naturally not particu-
larly tidy The radio shack is built
of fir. 1t is divided by a partition,
with living quarters for six men on
one side and the operators room
with the radio equipment on the
other In the living quarters the
hunks are built in tiers against the
wall. There is coal stove in the
center of the room. In the vestibule
ther is half-inch Of ice and snow
on the floor that the heat from the
stove never reaches.
Into this shack DR.. Potaka decided
to move Pelter. While Sterrett helped
Pelter up the ladder. rising in the
snow shaft that provides the only
egreSs, DR.. Potaka returned to his
Office in the administration building
For him, at any rate, the operation
could not have come at a worse time
For three days he had been trying
to establish an Office in the old library
room in the administration building
In cleaning out the old room, which
was full of debris and trash, his
medical supplies had become scat
tered and a large part of them were
piled around the vestibule at the
bottom of the 14-foot vertical shaft
that serves as an entrance to the
building.