Richard E. Byrd the rank of captain. After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930. A 19-year-old American Boy Scout, Paul Allman Siple, was chosen to accompany the expedition. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. This was also seen in the film "With Byrd at the South Pole" (1930) which covered his trip there. Byrd, by then an internationally recognized, pioneering American polar explorer and aviator, served for a time as Honorary National President (1931–1935) of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in
Richard H. Cruzen 1939 Cruzen assumed command of the 65-year-old screw barkentine USS "Bear" (AG-29). "Bear" participated in the United States Antarctic Service Expedition, under the command of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, a renowned aviator and explorer who led the government financed expedition to evaluate the economic and military value of the Antarctic continent. Navy records state that 1,000 miles of new coastline was discovered by survey missions by the "Bear" and aircraft. After the expedition, Cruzen was commended by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox for "superior seamanship, ability, courage, determination, efficiency and good judgment in dangerous emergencies". Cruzen was one