Bravo for Bravo Sarah Tuck Gillens
I n 1956, I was just a pup. I woke up one morning six feet from the floor, cradled in the warm hands and silky
beard of a tall man, John Tuck, Jr., a Naval Seabee officer known as Jack. My name is Bravo. I was born at McMurdo Station in the Antarctic. Jack’s job was to handle sled dogs. My job was to follow Jack around. “How’s that pup of yours? ”asked an older trainer, Dutch Dolleman. “Bravo’s growing bigger every day, watches everything like he knows something important is going to happen.” Jack replied setting me down in the dog pen. Jack smelled like leather, he and Dutch were making sled dog harnesses. I ran over to Mom who sniffed me all over. She said that Dutch knew a lot about dogs and surviving in cold climates. Settlements would be built around Antarctica as the International Geophysical Year was starting, the first worldwide scientific survey of our planet. Scientists would come from all over the world to study the climate, the environment, and atmosphere. My brother and I do our own studies of the environment at our dog hut, “Dogheim”. We sniff the frosty air and smell penguins. We dig the hard packed ice and find more ice. We watch the sky come alive with shooting, waving colors at night, it makes our hair stand on end. “Mom, what’s your job when you are done raising us?” I asked as I burrowed into her thick fur. “We dogs are here just in case,” Mom said, “If any transport planes land and can’t get back to McMurdo, then drivers,
22 4 Legs & a Tail
Photograph by: Cliff Dickey, National Science Foundation, Date Taken: Austral winter 1957
dogs, and sleds would be dropped by parachutes for a rescue operation.” “Yikes! I’m glad we’re not sled dogs yet!” I wandered outside and listened to Jack and Dutch. Jack had graduated from Dartmouth College and studied reindeer in Greenland. When he heard about this opportunity, he wanted the Navy to send him. He worked with the other Seabees gathered around Dick Bowers, the building leader. I loved listening to the plans for the pole. Dick was warning the guys about the dangerous, difficult adventure ahead.
Winter 2022
