First women at Pole
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This is the moment of the first time in history when women set foot at the South Pole. The man in blue in the middle is Rear Admiral David F. "Kelly" Welch, USN, then the Commander, Naval Antarctic Support Force. He was able to arrange for the woman Antarctic scientists and a newspaper reporter from Detroit to make this trip to the Pole and make this historic event. The reason these folks are stepping off the C-130 ramp together is that the news agencies were pressing RADM Welch to tell them who would be the first woman off the plane, and thus the first woman at the South Pole. Fortunately, the C-130 has the wide ramp and all were able to step off at the same time. Thus there were six women who first set foot at the South Pole. The male at the right edge of the picture is then Lieutenant Jon Clarke, USNR, the aide to RADM Welch. In 2001, Jon was an attorney in the Denver area; he'd retired from the Naval Reserve as a captain.
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