E32 - Walter McKinley Lewis: A Life of Adventure

Walter McKinley Lewis is a Retired Coast Guard Hospital Corpsman Senior Chief Petty Officer. Here his story of escaping the segregated south to becoming platoon leader at Boot Camp and continuing to follow his passion in the Coast Guard, where he was a helicopter SARs medic and “Doc” on the ice cutter, Glacier which travelled to Antarctica three times while stopping at  some of the world’s most amazing ports. There were sports, too: football on the ice at zero degrees, softball in New Zealnd, and a thrilling basketball game in Fiji that you have to hear to believe! Walter ranked out in the Coast Guard, retiring after 28 years of service, but his adventures and insatiable zest for life continue.

Please be aware that it carries a warning for historical recounting of a tragedy in Vietnam, in which Walter opens up about a friend’s death. It is hard to listen to and may be triggering to some, so please be aware of this subject matter.

SHOW NOTES:

Bunkie, LA | Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunkie,_Louisiana

Cottonport, LA | Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonport,_Louisiana

Ho Chi Minh Trail | Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_trail

Drake's Passage | Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Passage

Admiral Richard E. Byrd - Self-Isolated at the End of the World | NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/science/antarctica-byrd-distancing-expedition.html

Timeline Robert Scott's Expedition | American Museum of Natural History - https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/race-to-the-end-of-the-earth/scott/timeline

McMurdo Station | NSF - https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/support/mcmurdo.jsp

Race to the South Pole: Scott and Amumundsen | Royal Greenwich Museum - https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/race-south-pole-scott-amundsen

Amundsen Becomes First to Reach South Pole, December 14, 1911 | ScientificAmerica - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/south-pole-discovered-december-14-1911/

George Washington Gibbs, Jr. Defied Danger and Racism to Become the First African-American to Visit Antarctica | Smithsonian Magazine - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-washington-gibbs-jr-defied-danger-and-racism-become-first-african-american-visit-antarctica-180971568/

MOVIES & SHOWS THAT WE TALKED ABOUT:

Twelve Years A Slave - Official Trailer - Searchlight Pictures | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02Ie8wKKRg

Bonanza (Ben Cartwright) - Death On Sun Mountain  - Grjngo-Western Series | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwIraTNNZfk

The Help (2011) Movie Trailer (HD) - Movieclips Trailers | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOTkNsxhECY

Deadliest Catch Official Trailer - Original Productions | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BnWa7bHOLI