Q: How were those at Little America updated about Byrd's stay at advance
base? How did you know how he was doing?
JH: While he was at advance base, Byrd had regular appointed contact times.
And bulletins were posted all the time on the results of that contact. So we
were kept up to date on what had gone on, and, and so on.
Q: When did you first realize Byrd was sick and what did you learn about it?
Do you remember?
JH: Well, we began the suspicion that something was wrong with him when he
would miss a contact, or have trouble staying on the air very long. And as
time went on this became so frequent and the bulletins became so terse, short
and so on that we decided that something was really wrong and something had to
be done.
Q: What was the cause of what happened to Byrd? What happened to Byrd out
there?
JH: In short, the vents from the generator and from his cooking stove plugged
up due to condensation in the exhausts and moisture in the air, and plugged off
the vents, and he was poisoned with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Q: How sick did he become?
JH: That's a hard question to answer. I know that he very nearly died.
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