Dear Ruth, Thank you so much for writing us! We were just talking here at the AVO offices in Fairbanks about this eruption, as it has the very sad distinction of being the only historical Alaska eruption with a direct fatality. It must have been an awful time for your Dad and the others on Chuginadak Island -- to live through the eruption and then search for Sgt Purchase. We were thinking of writing something special about this eruption for our social media channels -- perhaps as a Veteran's Day tie-in, as military personnel have contributed so much to our historical and current volcano observations. Thank you for sharing part of your story with us, Cheryl Cameron cheryl.cameron@alaska.gov Just read your article re: this eruption. My father, Donald W. Drewes, was the captain for this weather station and Sgt Purchase was a member of the weather team under his command. He told us about searching for Sgt Purchase by traveling by boat around the island, with huge boulders being spewed from the volcano and landing in the water around the boat, while others searched the land. Many of the boulders, as stated in your article, were the size of cars, some larger. I try to imagine what that must have been like, trying to dodge those boulders and knowing my dad couldn't swim He said the letter he had to write to Sgt. Purchase's family was one of the most difficult things he'd ever done.