REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD - DOCUMENT SIGNED 07/23/1917 - HFSID 4007

RICHARD E. BYRD. Partly Printed DS: "R.E. Byrd" as Lieutenant "jg", U.S. Navy for the Chief of Bureau, 1p, 13½x5½. No place, 1917 July 23. On vellum. Headed: "Certificate of Qualification-Aeronautic School". In part: "This is to certify that Corporal Thomas L. Moody U.S.M.C. has qualified as Airman in the United States Navy, having completed the prescribed course of instruction in the Aeronautic School, Enlisted Men's Class, on March 10, 1917, attaining a proficiency of 92.5 per cent...." After being graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912, Byrd served in the Navy for three years until 1915 when he was forced to retire because of old leg injuries. He returned to duty in 1917, entering the Navy's aviation branch, winning his pilot's wings in 1918. The then-28-year-old lieutenant has added "jg" for "junior grade" next to his rank which had been penned in another hand. In 1926, Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first to fly over the North Pole. In 1929, Byrd established the "Little America" Antarctica base and flew over the South Pole. On his Antarctic expeditions in the 1930s, Rear Admiral Byrd discovered Marie Byrd Land and the Edsel Ford Mountains. Still exploring in his late 60s, he commanded the Operation High Jump (1946-1947) and Operation Deep Freeze (1955-1956) expeditions. Lightly creased. Soiled, lightly creased. 2 file holes and 2 nailhead-size holes at left margin. Folds, vertical fold touches "y" in Byrd.