An African Expedition

In the spring of 1946, World War II was over, and returning veterans were beginning to rebuild their lives. Bill Terry's hitch in the Air Force was up, and as he was trying to figure out his future, along came the lovely Gladys Walland, who literally swept him off his feet. Six months later, they married. Then Wendell Phillips came into their lives with an offer of steady employment, new horizons, and all the adventure they could handle-in Africa. Wendell was the driving force behind the 1947-1949 University of California African Expedition, but Bill and Gladys Terry, it turned out, would be the ones doing most of the driving.



With little knowledge of the places they were about to go, the Terry's headed to Cairo, Egypt, where they would manage an expedition that would cover more than 15,000 miles and eleven countries. It would bring together scientists from many disciplines-from archaeology to zoology. For more than two years, they assisted in historic discoveries while traveling the length of Africa. They worked with international notables, like biblical archaeologist William F. Albright of The Johns Hopkins University, and South African paleontologist Dr. Robert Broom, discoverer of the million year old early hominid Swartskrans Man.



An African Expedition offers a personal insiders view of history in the making. Told with humor and generously laced with priceless photographs, this is an adventure of a lifetime.