No one, certainly at that moment, seemed to remember that it was Dufek who had, only two years earlier, been the first man to stand on the South Pole since Scott and his four companions 44 years before.
Or that he and the six United States airmen with him had achieved this by pioneering an extremely hazardous landing – and equally perilous takeoff – in a small but wondrously versatile Douglas DC3 passenger aircraft called Que Sera Sera, adapted by the navy with skis and Jato (jet assisted take off) bottles of rocket fuel.
This, perhaps was the defining moment when the heroic era ended and the great adventure of colonisation of the Antarctic by scientists became a reality.

Vivian Fuchs, left, and George Dufek standing alongside
Fuch’s Snow-Cat a few minutes after the British party
arrived at the South Pole on 20 January 1958.

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Rear Admiral George Dufek,
US Navy, the forgotten man of Antarctic exploration

Three men of complex but very different characters met at the South Pole on January 20, 1958 -- Dr Vivian Fuchs and Rear Admiral George Dufek, USN, both veterans of many years Antarctic and Arctic exploration, and Sir Edmund Hillary whose snow and ice experiences had predominantly been in high mountains. In another, more romantic, era all might have been called men of destiny.
Vivian Fuchs, 49, a powerfully built, jaunty six-footer swung down from the leading Snocat as Ed Hillary, 38, broke from our group and walked towards him, calling out “Hullo, Bunny”. Although about four inches [1.6cm] taller, Hillary looked tired and rather gaunt, still recovering from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty tractor exhaust during his dash to the Pole.
Fuchs almost ran to the New Zealander. “Hullo, Ed,” he replied. “Damned glad to see you.” And the pair shook hands warmly.
Watching, along with me and a small group of assorted newsmen and US naval personnel, was George Dufek, 55, also powerfully built, though stocky and several inches shorter than either Fuchs or Hillary. Dufek had made this meeting possible and yet was the unheralded and largely unacknowledged guardian angel to the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.