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Adventurer / Explorer / Expeditioner / Friend
1905 - 2005
Colonel Norman Dane Vaughan was a member of the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1928-1930 and the first American to mush dogs in the Antarctic. A monument at 10,320 feet, Mount Vaughan was named to honor Norman by Admiral Richard Byrd for his contributions to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
Vaughan served in World War II in the Department of Search and Rescue. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge while commanding dog sled ambulances used for the rescue of wounded soldiers. He later became Chief of Search and Rescue for the North Atlantic Division of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the air wing of the United Nations. In the Korean War, he served in the Psychological Warfare Department, assigned to the Pentagon.
Vaughan participated in the Dog Racing Event of the 1932 Olympic Games. He has mushed in 13 Iditarod Sled Dog Races in Alaska, and was awarded the Most Inspirational Musher Award and True Grit Award in 1987. Three years later he was named the Iditarod's Musher of the Year (1990).
During the late 1990's Norman initiated an annual Serum Run by dog sleds that followed the same Iditarod Trail used in 1925 to dash anti-toxin to Nome to aid hundreds of dying Eskimos suffering from diptheria.
Norman's motto in life was: Dream Big and Dare to Fail. His writings include, My Life of Adventure and With Byrd at the Bottom of the World.
The final published work of Norman Vaughan is the 'Foreword' he wrote in PURSUING THE UNTAMED, 2005.
Norman's passionate pursuits have survived his passing through the dedication of his remaining wife Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan.
Email: carolyn@normanvaughan.com
Website: Norman D. Vaughan
Additional Links: Wikipedia / 'Norman D. Vaughan'
npr / 'Interviews: Norman Vaughan, Explorer'
Kent A. Kantowski / 'Col. Norman Vaughan / . . . my serum run pages'
National Geographic / 'Explorer Norman Vaughan Dies at 100'
Norman Vaughan photo credit: Michael Funke
