Fiery Vigil - Out From the Ash

This html article is produced from an uncorrected text file through optical character recognition. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected.  Artifacts of the scans are misspellings, out-of-context footnotes and sidebars, and other inconsistencies.  Adjacent to each text file is a PDF of the article, which accurately and fully conveys the content as it appeared in the issue.  The uncorrected text files have been included to enhance the searchability of our content, on our site and in search engines, for our membership, the research community and media organizations. We are working now to provide clean text files for the entire collection.

On 4 June 1991 seismic activity increased dramat­ically on Mt. Pinatubo—21 miles north of the U.S. Naval Facility at Subic Bay and only 10 miles east of Clark Air Force Base. In response, the joint U.S.-Philip- pines scientific team working at Clark immediately briefed Rear Admiral Thomas A. Mercer, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Representative, and Commander, U.S. Facility Subic Bay. Within a few hours, volcanologists were warn­ing Rear Admiral Mercer that the situation may become critical. Mt. Pinatubo could do one of three things: reduce its seismic activity, remain at the same level for weeks, or quickly increase activity (indicating an imminent eruption) and pose an immediate life-threatening situa­tion to Clark Air Base and the local community.

Rear Admiral Mercer returned to Subic Bay and began planning to host the entire Clark population of 16,000. Subic Bay housing was already filled to capacity, and the possibility of more than doubling the population left very few options.

On Sunday, 9 June, seismic activity increased over the safe threshold, indicating the likelihood of a major erup­tion within the next 24 hours. At 2315, the decision to evacuate Clark was announced.

The 50-mile exodus from Clark on a two-lane road to Subic Bay began at 0600 on 10 June. Air Force person­nel and their families, except for a few hundred security personnel who remained behind, made the four- to five- hour bumper-to-bumper trip through the mountains. Com­plicating the vehicle evacuation was the public security threat directed against Americans by the communist New People’s Army. U.S. Navy and Marine helicopters flew overhead as a precautionary measure.

Evacuation processing of Air Force personnel and their families proceeded until late evening. Navy and Marine Corps families shared their small base homes with two and three Air Force families. Other evacuees slept on mat­tresses in the two base chapels, the day care center, school classrooms, and any corner that could fit a tem­porary bed. Accommodations were not luxurious, but al­most the entire Department of Defense population in the Philippines was out of danger.

Some Philippines politicians and media criticized the decision to evacuate, saying that it was politically—not safety—motivated and based on an attempt by the United States to obtain an advantage in upcoming base extension negotiations. Not until 12 June did the first major erup­tion of Mt. Pinatubo silence the skeptics and demonstrate the wisdom and foresight behind the evacuation decision.

Overcrowding at Subic Bay was severely straining the water and food supply, and other base services, prompting a decision to evacuate all Air Force dependent personnel to the United States. No one knew it at the time, but that quick decision was a major safety measure. It al­lowed the Navy to steam fleet assets to Subic Bay a full 24 hours before the eruption caused the loss of all sup­port services there.

On Friday, 14 June, the first major ash fell on Subic Bay. In the evening, rain and ash mixed together, form­ing a heavy, sticky substance that made roads extremely | slick. By early Saturday morning, the facility looked as 3

if it had a light dusting of snow—a rather unusual sight in the Philippines, and a false calm before the devastation that would follow shortly. The highly conductive nature of the volcanic ash was already playing havoc on the fa­cility’s power distribution and water supply system, but the situation was manageable.

“Black Saturday” began at approximately 0930. A spec­tacular ash plume, clearly visible from Subic Bay, rose

1. feet into the air. The major eruption that many vol­canologists predicted had finally arrived. All had agreed that Subic Bay would receive ash, but far more fell on the facility than any volcanologists had predicted in their worst-case scenario. At the same time, Typhoon Yunya was racing across the island of Luzon near both bases. One volcanologist said it was a “ten-million-to-one shot” that a volcano would erupt, after lying dormant for more than 600 years—and couple with a typhoon. This de­structive combination briefly and radically shifted the pre­dicted winds, causing destructive forces that no one could have predicted.

By noon, all base power was lost. Nature was totally in control. Falling ash blocked out all sunlight, reduc­ing visibility to zero. Earthquakes, some in excess of 5.0 on the Richter scale, continued throughout Saturday and into Sunday morning, adding to the fear of the depen­dent population.

By Sunday morning, the base looked as though it had been hit with a major snowfall. Had the situation not ap­proached life and death, it would have been almost beau­tiful. The base had no electric power, no water, no work­ing sanitary facilities, no emergency room capability, no refrigeration ca­pability, impassable roads, and col­lapsing roofs weighed down by wet ash. There was no option but to reduce the population as quickly and as safely as possible. Operation Fiery Vigil had to accelerate.

First on the scene during the heav­iest ashfall, the destroyer tender USS Cape Cod (AD-43) served as an emer­gency lifeline for the residents by pro­viding fresh water, food, electrical power, repair capability, and a work­ing emergency room. Without the Cape Cod, the situation would have quickly deteriorated, and the safety of

1. Americans would have been in serious jeopardy.

The evacuation began on 16 June, with nearly 900 boarding the USS Arkansas (CGN-41), USS Rodney M. Davis (FF-60), and USS Curts (FFG- 38). The next day, another 1,700 left Subic Bay on board the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), USS Lake Cham­plain (CG-57), USS Merrill (DD- 976), USS Gary (FFG-51), and USNS Passumpsic (T-AO-107). The USS Peleliu (LHA-5) was designated as the primary medical evacuation ship, taking the majority of full-term pregnancies and the most serious medical cases. Subic Bay Naval Hospital medical personnel aug­mented the Peleliu’s medical staff. The Navy’s oldest and newest aircraft carriers—the USS Midway (CV-41) and the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)—had the space to take thousands of evacuees, whose departure from Subic Bay rapidly reduced the strain on limited base life support services.

In less than ten days, the 17 7th Fleet ships that partic­ipated in Operation Fiery Vigil were able to evacuate nearly

1. individuals and send them safely on their 350- mile voyage to the southern Philippine island of Cebu. War­ships had been quickly converted to cruise ships. Sailors gave up their racks for the evacuees; ships’ menus changed to hot dogs and potato chips for the children; first-class lounges became playrooms; cartoons played continuously over the ships’ televisions; razor blades were replaced by diapers in ships’ stores; games of jump rope were common on the helicopter decks; pet motels were created out of boxes, not only for dogs and cats but also a pet wolf; and rubber gloves were used as baby bottles. Many evacuees visibly wept as they boarded the ships because of the gen­uine concern, warm welcome, and gracious hospitality ex­hibited by the sailors participating in the operation. Once on board the ships, the evacuees enjoyed their first cold drink, hot meal, shower, or working toilet facility in many days. A number of babies were bom during the evacuation, including four on board the Peleliu. A mother named the one baby born on board the Abraham Lincoln “Abra-