Life Happens got me twisted about what is and isn't a hero the other day. In my mind, "Hero" has always been defined by one person...a gold standard against which all others are measured...my dad. So I have decided to tell his story, in bits and pieces...and share with you some of the fun he shared with me. I may even share some of the other stuff, too.
One of the Chief's greatest adventures was "wintering over" in Antarctica in the early 50's. As winter approaches down there, all the support systems withdraw and leave the main camp isolated until "spring". They lived in ice caves under the surface. The living quarters were lined with GP Medium tents (General Purpose) to provide a little insulation. Being below the surface, they created an artificial night and day by lowering lights and heating. It was full time long johns and bunny caps, even in the "heat of the day".
Chief tells us that when the day shift was over, they went into the tent, turned up the heat and started up a card game until time for dinner. As they got into the game, something dropped onto his head. Not too many bugs live in the ice caves so he was spooked. He reached up and came away with something wet and gooey and cold. Before he could tell the others, another card player jumped up cussing about something landing on his hand. Another joined in when something landed on his cards. Soon they were all up and jumping around as the tempo of the indoor shower increased. One of them said, " it's BEANS!!" The ceiling of the tent was in shadow so they had to get a flashlight to find out that...sure enough...the ceiling was coated with pork and beans and they were raining down on them.
It took some time to figure out where the bean rain came from. Seems one of the guys from another tent came in to visit and found that everyone was at work. When the tents were not occupied the heat had to be turned down to conserve diesel. Did I mention heating was accomplished with the old military pot belly stoves? This guy put a can on beans on the heater to warm them up ( a rookie, he failed to poke a couple holes in the can to vent). Another sailor came by and they decided to go elsewheret and the rookie forgot about the beans. Some time later, the beans reached the right temp to explode, sending the beans to the ceiling. Since the heat was down at the unoccupied level, the ceiling was frozen and the beans stuck and froze. When the day shift came in and turned the heat up, the beans slowly thawed, then dropped.
It is a silly little story, but it was one of the Chief's favorites. The isolation and constant cold was maddening. I guess there were a lot of silly little things that happened to the crew that became bigger than life because of the tedium and monotony. But fifty years after the fact, he could still get giddy as a little girl sharing his story of the day it rained beans in his tent.