Harry Truman (volcano victim)

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This article is about the victim of the 1980 Mount St. Helens volcanic blast. For other people named Harry Truman, see Harry Truman (disambiguation).

Harry R. Truman (October 30, 1896 – May 18, 1980) came to brief fame as a resident of the U.S. state of Washington who lived near Mount St. Helens and died in its 1980 eruption after stubbornly refusing to leave.

He was a resident of the Mt. St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake. He was not the owner of the Spirit Lake Lodge, as is sometimes reported.

He became a minor celebrity during the two months of volcanic activity preceding the eruption, giving interviews to reporters and expressing his opinion that the danger from the volcano was "overexaggerated". Harry seemed to shrug off all concerns about St. Helens and his situation, at one point stating, "If the mountain goes, I'm going with it."

He died in the blast, along with 56 other people, and his body was never found. The site of his former lodge is buried under ash and debris.

He was born in West Virginia but was a resident of Chehalis, Washington, when he served in World War I and survived the torpedoing of the Tuscania in February 1918 off the coast of Ireland.

The modern day Truman Trail and Harry's Ridge in the Mount St. Helens region are named after him.

He was the subject of the book Truman of St. Helens: The Man & His Mountain by Shirley Rosen (ISBN 0-9623297-1-1). He was also portrayed by Art Carney in the 1981 docu-drama film St. Helens. [1]