The mission that had been expected to last for between 6-8 months came to an early and faltering end. The Chilean press reported that the mission had "run into trouble" and that there had been "many fatalities". (The official record, though, states that one plane crashed killing three men; a fourth man had perished on the ice; two helicopters had gone down although their crews had been rescued and a task force commander was nearly lost). The Chileans claim that it is known that the Central Group of Operation Highjump were evacuated by the Burton Island ice-breaker from the Bay of Whales on 22nd February 1947; the Western Group headed home on 1st March 1947 and the Eastern Group did likewise on 4th March, a mere eight weeks after arrival. What was going on is still not a matter of public record, however it is known that Admiral Byrd was immediately summoned to Washington for the Secretary of War, James Forrestal, and interrogated by the Security Services on his return on 14th April 1947. (Forrestal was late to commit suicide.)

More about Operation Highjump (3)

On 5th March 1947 the ‘El Mercurio’ newspaper of Santiago, Chile, ran the headline ‘On Board the Mount Olympus on the High Seas’ which quoted Byrd in an interview with Lee van Atta:

"Adm. Byrd declared today that it was imperative for the United States to initiate immediate defence measures against hostile regions. The Admiral further stated that he didn’t want to frighten anyone unduly but it was a bitter reality that in case of a new war the continental United States would be attacked by flying objects which could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds."