GETTING THE CHOP IN ANTARCTICA
On 15 July 1964, a couple of months before the accident, Trevor Robertson telexed his parents: “I had a little operation. It was a big event. Spent three days in bed.” What he didn’t mention was that this operation was performed 5 m under pack ice, with a diesel mechanic administering the anaesthetic and a geophysicist assisting. And that it was probably the first and only circumcision to be done in Antarctica. The team’s doctor, Tollie Traut from Kenhardt, wanted to make sure that all the equipment in the sick bay was in working order, so he asked for a volunteer to undergo an operation that would require anaesthesia. A Jewish member of the team, Zac Ezekowitz, convinced Trevor of the benefits of circumcision. The whole team helped. Some cleaned, others shaved. There was even a photographer. Koos Pretorius, owner of a vehicle workshop in the Free State, acted as anaesthetist. Koos was also the dentist on base and had done a short course at the HF Verwoerd Hospital in Pretoria (now Steve Biko Hospital), where he’d learnt how to administer anaesthesia in case of emergencies. Ezekowitz assisted because he had “first-hand experience”. “I don’t remember the operation itself, but I woke up with stitches and in pain,” Trevor says. After three days in bed he was back on his feet. “My father passed away while I was on base. I never had the chance to tell him I became half-Jewish in Antarctica.”