Harry Truman Buried: Innkeeper Defied Mt. St. Helens
Harry Truman, the 83-year-old owner of Mount St. Helens Lodge, refused to evacuate despite weeks of volcanic warnings and was buried under 150 feet of debris when the mountain erupted with the force of 500 atomic bombs. His stubborn defiance made him a folk hero in the weeks before the blast, and his body was never recovered from the pyroclastic flow that obliterated Spirit Lake.
May 18, 1980
46 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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