Antarctic

While serving in the U S Navy, there was a time the Navy "loaned" my brother to a civilian science station in Antarctica - Palmer Station - to be their medic for a period of just over a year. This was from November 1978 until December 1979. Jerry was a Corpsman (medic) in the Navy, but to prepare him for this adventure, they sent him to California for EMT training so he could set a broken jaw, or perhaps pull an abscessed tooth, or take care of some other medical emergency. This was an exciting time for our family because we heard from him more often than any other time in his 21 years of service. He didn't write letters, and there were no emails back then. He contacted us via phone patches with Ham radio operators throughout the US.

Palmer Station had an occasional tour ship stop by for an hour or two. During their visit, another job for Jerry was to man the souvenir shop. In the shop were shirts. My kids were thrilled when Jerry returned and had a sweat shirt with the Palmer Station emblem on it for each of them. 

Fast forward to a few years ago. That year I gave Peder and Hans a photo box with many photos of them as kids. One of the photos was of Peder wearing his Palmer Station sweatshirt. Sarah, Peder's wife, this past year surprised Peder by having a duplicate Palmer Station shirt made for him, as well as one for Aurelia and Felix for his Father's Day gift. You can read about it here.  Knowing how much I liked this, she had one made for me for my birthday. 

Peder, approximately 4 years old

Peder holding Felix with Aurelia

Wearing this today, I had to answer many questions. It was fun reminiscing.