A Boy Scout patch, a new Operation Deep Freeze mug, and my high school ring

I've had several posts mentioning Operation Deep Freeze (ODF), the U.S. Navy operation which provided infrastructure support for the IGY Antarctic program. You can use the search function on the right side of this blog page to find those earlier posts.

I have two non-philatelic items in my collection that relate to ODF. The first is a Boy Scout patch I acquired some time ago, via ebay like most of my collection.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is administered through 272 local councils, with each council covering a geographic area that may vary from a single city to an entire state. There are 13 BSA local councils in Illinois. Three Fires Council was formed in 1992 from the merger of the Two Rivers and DuPage Area Councils (named for DuPage County). I'm not sure what was the particular significance of this patch. I assume it dates to 1958, but I suppose it might be an anniversary patch. One Boy Scout from my state of Pennsylvania was famous for his involvement in Antarctica and the IGY. In 1928, Paul Siple (1908-1968) was the first Eagle Scout selected for an Antarctic expedition, sailing with Richard E. Byrd. Later he served in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze I in 1955–1956, and was the inaugural scientific leader at the U.S. Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station 1956–1957. I may dedicate a future post to him.

Boy Scout patch from my collection, about 4" x 4"

The second memorabilia item is a recent acquisition, a very nice mug in excellent condition. We have seen plenty about the IGY and ODF in previous posts, but AIRDEVRON 6 is showing up for the first time.

ODF mug, AIRDEVRON 6, International Geophysical Year

According to Military Wiki, the Air Development Squadron Six was a United States Navy Air Development Squadron based at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This squadron of aircraft and personnel was established in 1955 at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. The squadron's mission was to conduct operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze. "AIRDEVRON 6" comes from Air Development Squadron Six (6).  This squadron was also know as VX-6. Navy squadron designations starting with VX indicated a group that supported Antarctic scientific research. I assume this is original to IGY times, not a reproduction, so that the mug dates to the IGY/ODF II (1957-58) or perhaps the immediately preceding ODF I (1955-56).

The logo on the mug is colorful and clear.  Besides the ship and plane that presumably represent naval vessels and aircraft, there is a penguin which must be the "puckered penguin" commonly used as the nickname for AIRDEVRON 6. The bee must be a "Seabee."

"Frank" on the back of the mug does not refer to the free franking of government mail discussed in my last post, but must be somebody's name. I don't know who he is, unfortunately.

The bottom of the mug shows that it was made by Balfour, which (from Wikipedia) was an American producer of high school, college, military, and championship rings and similar stuff. 

My editor here on the home front was able to make out the small writing inside the band on my high school class ring and confirm that it was also from Balfour. I lost this ring during high school while playing tennis. My parents kept asking me why I wasn't wearing it (pretty observant), so I surreptitiously ordered and paid for a replacement, a small fortune for me at the time. It was actually a rather vexing experience. I guess I have put on a little bulk over the years; it doesn't fit on my ring finger any more.

Class ring from Northwestern High School, Hyattsville, MD

Northwestern Wildcats, Class of 1968
Scholarship, Loyalty, Achievement