Evening star., 1936-12-20
GEN. BRA|NARD
TO Be HONORED
Will Become First Honorary
Member of American
Polar Society.

Mrs. Marie Ahnighito Peary STAT
ford, called THE Snow Baby" because
she is said to have been born further
north than any other white child in
the world, will present scroll tomor-
row afternoon to Brig Gen. David L.
Brainard, u. s. A., retired, which will
make him the first honorary member
of the American Polar Society.
The ceremony, which will be held at
pm. in the Army and Navy Club.
will mark the 80th birthday Of the
explorer, the last survivor Of Gen.
A. w. Greely's Arctic expedition Of
l881-1884.
Gen. Brainard will celebrate his an
niversary by greeting old friends and
reading messages from polar explorers
and scientists.
|. Mrs. Stafford Is the daughter Of the
late Admiral Robert E. Peary, who
reached the North Pole in 1909. She Is
a member of the Polar Society.
The scroll is signed by Paul Siple,
the society's president and veteran Of
Admiral Byrd's two Antarctic expedi-
tions. Inscribed on the scroll Is a map
showing the route taken by Lieut..
James B. Lockwood and Gen. Brain
ard. then a sergeant. by which they
reached the then furthest point north,
surprising the record held by British
explorers for ATS years.
Enlisted in Army at 10.
Gen Brainard enlisted in the I'd
United States Cavalry when he was
10, and participated in the Sioux, Neg
Perce and Bannock campaigns In
1878. A transfer to the Signal Corps
after eight years with the Cavalry led
to his assignment as first sergeant on
Greely's expedition.
The United States joined with Great
Britain, Norway, Sweden. The Neither
lands, Russia, Germany, Denmark and
Austria in establishing q ring of wide
ly separated outposts, all within the
Arctic Circle, to record complete series
of meteorological and magnetic OBJ
servations simultaneously.
Two Journeys to Grinnell.
Greely made two journeys into the
interior of Grinnell Land. and to
Brainard and Lockwood he intrusted
the leadership of the northern party
that succeeded in attaining the new
'farthest north"
While the expedition had two years
of supplies, the Neptune, the first re-
lief ship, pushed north the following
year with supplementary supplies.
Two hundred miles south of Fort Con-
ger the Neptune was beset by heavy
| ice and had to turn south, but before
doing so left o small food cache on
| Littleton Island. In August, 1883,
when the second relief ship. Proteus,
attempted to reach the Greely party
it was crushed in the ice and sank
with it's precious supplies. Its crew
was rescued by the Yantic, an auxil-
iary Government vessel.
Beyond the reach of supply ships.
once the Greely party's fate seemed
sealed. They already had passed one
Winter of privation. Greely and his
men went southwark until they es-
tablished camp, called Camp Clay,
near Cape Sabine, on october Is, 1883.
Their huts were Of heavy granite
stones dug from the snow and ice and
lifted into place with swollen, bleed
ing hands. Here in desperate patience
they awaited the relief ships that
never came.
One by one the men died. On June
| %, 1884. when the United States Navy
vessel Thets, with Comdr. 0ater
AdmiraD w. s. Schley In charge,
reached Cape Sabine only Of the
Is men in the party were still alive.
They had been without food Of any
kind for Al hours. Another 48 hours
and the entire party would have been
lost. Six of the seven reached civili-
zation alive.