Charles A. Bevilacqua

[5] In 1948, he joined the Seabees, construction battalions of the United States Navy's Civil Engineer Corps, which had been set up during World War II.

[3] Bevilacqua's journal records his experiences in the Antarctic, including the trip there on the USS Wyandot, which passed through the Panama Canal before arriving at McMurdo Sound on December 27, 1956.

[12] The building originated as a memorial site for US Navy Petty Office Richard Williams, who was killed early in the mission when his tractor broke through McMurdo's ice.

[18] After leaving Antarctica, Bevilacqua continued to serve in Seabees construction battalions until 1978, including service in the Vietnam War, retiring with rank of CWO4 (Warrant officer Grade 4.

[19] The Antarctica Society wrote of his life: "Charlie was a dedicated, focused, and gifted individual whose unending hours of punishing and innovative work in often grueling conditions helped to start the U.S. Antarctic Program on its trajectory of unexcelled polar science.

Charles A. Bevilacqua, head of the Seabees team that built the first permanent station at the South Pole. 1956 photo by Dick Prescott, NSF.
Ceremonial South Pole marker in 1980, painted orange and black by Bevilacqua in 1956
Chapel of the Snows (1956)