Colonel
Norman D. Vaughan, 96, a member of the first
Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1928-1930, was
the first American to drive dogs in the Antarctic.
He was also Admiral Richard E. Byrd's chief
dog driver during the 1929 Antarctic Geological
Party, which set foot on land never before seen
by man. His book, With Byrd at the Bottom
of the World, is a captivating account of
this expedition. In December, 1994, he returned
to the Antarctic and climbed his namesake, Mount
Vaughan, 10,302’, three days before his 89th
birthday. Mount Vaughan was named in Norman’s
honor by Admiral Byrd for his contributions
to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition. His mission
was to pay tribute to all the dogs of the Antarctic,
to draw attention to the preservation of the
Antarctic, and to be a role model to young and
old to be active and live younger, longer, healthier
more active lives. National Geographic Explorer
was there.
Vaughan
was a dog driver in the 1925 Grenfell Mission,
Newfoundland/Labrador - a medical mission in
which he assisted Doctor Grenfell in delivery
of medical help via dog sled.
He
served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air
Corps, Search and Rescue, with 425 dogs under
his command. He participated in the Battle of
the Bulge with 209 dogs and 17 drivers, and
commanded the dog sled ambulances used for the
rescue of wounded soldiers. He also instigated
the rescue by dog team of 26 air crew on the
Greenland ice sheet, and retrieved a top secret
Norden bombsight single-handedly. He became
Chief of Search and Rescue for the North Atlantic
Division of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), the air wing of the United
Nations. In the Korean War, he served in the
Psychological Warfare Department, assigned to
the Pentagon.
Vaughan
has always enjoyed the spirit of competition.
In 1932 he participated in the Dog Racing Event
during the Olympic Games, and 20 years later,
was the first non-Alaskan dog driver to compete
in the North American Sled Dog Championships.
He has also mushed in 13 Iditarod Sled Dog Races
and was awarded Most Inspirational Musher and
the True Grit Award (1987), and in 1990 was
named Musher of the Year, as well as entered
into the Musher Hall of Fame. His last finish
was in 1990, at the age of 84.
For
12 years, Vaughan was also involved with the
salvage of six P-38 planes from the Lost Squadron
in Greenland.
Vaughan’s
latest venture since 1997 is the organizing
of an annual 868-mile Serum Run to commemmorate
the 1925 dash to Nome to take anti-toxin serum
to hundreds of dying people stricken by diptheria.
There were 18 of the fastest dog teams, in relay
from village to village, who passed off a precious
bundle of serum one to the other in the darkness
of mid-January. Today Norman leads a group of
30 dog mushers and snowmachiners from village
to village to keep the story alive in the schools
and to promote immunizations.
Vaughan’s
motto in life is "Dream big and dare to fail."
