Photograph of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, no date.

Richard E. Byrd, Skyward. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

Typed carbon copy letter from Richard E. Byrd to the Honorable W. D. Herridge, His Majesty's Minister for Canada, 13 September 1933.

Richard E. Byrd pin

Admiral Richard E. Byrd

Richard E. "Dick" Byrd sandwiched in a year at the University of Virginia, 1907-08, between longer enrollments at the Virginia Military Institute and the Naval Academy. He achieved national fame for his flight to the North Pole in the Fokker trimotor "Josephine Ford" on May 9, 1926. The book Skyward contains pieces of fabric from the plane. The following year Byrd turned his attention to Antarctica, establishing a base, "Little America," on the Ross Ice Shelf. On November 28 and 29, Byrd and his crew flew to the South Pole. On their return to base they explored and photographed previously unknown parts of Antarctica. In 1933 Byrd began to organize a second expedition. In September he asked his brother, U. S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, to deliver a letter to the Canadian ambassador in Washington asking him to intercede with the Canadian Prime Minister for "thirty full blooded Eskimo dogs of the very finest type...for my Expedition."