Marine Reservist Dan Lehman and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo
For 500 years Mount Pinatubo on the island of Luzon in the Philippines had slept, villages clustered at its foot.
The indigenous Aetas lived and farmed on the slopes of it. Only scientists worried that Mount Pinatubo’s sleep was ending and how it would affect the densely populated island.
On June 15, 1991, the scientific prediction of a cataclysmic eruption came true. A spume of hot ash 22 miles high soared into the air. Avalanches of hot ash and gases poured down the slopes. Monstrous mud flows buried villages. Tens of thousands of people in the area were evacuated — and Dan Lehman and his Marine Reserve Unit were just 23 miles away from Mount Pinatubo.
Dan said, “The ash was so heavy some of the buildings collapsed because of the weight of the ash on the roofs. We stopped patrolling the 51 square miles of jungle. The damage was so bad there wasn’t a tree with a leaf on it. Our duties were to clear the roads of ash. Then we were called in to evacuate personnel at Clark Air Force Base.”
When 19-year-old Dan Lehman enlisted in the Marine Reserves in 1989 he had no idea that he would be involved in the massive evacuation on Luzon when Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991.
Graduating from Dow High School in 1988, the next year he joined the Marine Reserves going to Camp Pendleton in California for boot camp. After a thirty day leave home, he returned to Camp Pendleton for MOS school.
MOS is Military Occupational Specialty schools for Marines located at military installations around the United States. Dan was trained to be a crew member in amphibious assault vehicles. Dan said, “I was attached to an infantry reserve and learned how to operate light armored vehicles and fire. They were like a tank but instead of a track the light armored vehicles have four wheels on each side. We learned to fire 50 caliber machine guns and 20 mm guns.” Amphibious vehicles could go in the water as well as on the land.
Dan said, “After graduation from MOS school in August of 1990, our commanding officer warned us of coming events and told us not to expect to go home and stay home. We would probably be activated.” Dan returned home to Midland spending the next year reporting to his Reserve Unit in Grand Rapids and then assigned to the Reserve Unit in Saginaw where he did week-end training at Fort Custer and spent two weeks during the summer at Camp Grayling.
War had opened up on two fronts by now. Operation Desert Shield had begun Aug. 2, 1990, a buildup of troops to defend Saudi Arabia. Operation Desert Storm began Jan. 16, 1991 with the United States leading a coalition of other countries against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
In October of 1990 Dan married Melissa Kesemeyer of Saginaw. Dan’s Reserve Unit was activated for Desert Storm in December of 1990. He remembers sitting in their apartment on Carpenter Street and seeing his wife Melissa cry as they watched television with the crawler telling the Marine Reservists to report to their units.
In January of 1991 Dan’s unit left Camp Pendleton in California for Camp Hansen on the island of Okinawa. The Marines did more training while waiting to be deployed to Iraq. But the war in Iraq ended on Feb. 28, 1991, and the Marines thought they would be going home in a month. That didn’t happen.
Dan’s unit was sent to Subic Bay in the Philippines to replace the Marines who had been deployed to Iraq. As replacements, their job was to patrol and guard naval assets in the area. Now on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, Dan’s unit kept busy with field maneuvers. But regardless of where they set up a temporary camp, Filipinos followed them. A perimeter wire fenced the camp off from the “locals” who had followed them and cooked outside the camp. The natives wanted to trade their food for the MREs that the Marines had to eat.
Dan said, “MRE stands for meals ready to eat. We would trade the MREs for rice and fish and other things. We used a lot of tobasco sauce to make the MRE food fit to eat. We added water to the dehydrated meat and fruit in our metal canteen cups. We warmed the food in our canteen cups with something that looked like a big aspirin table but it gave off heat enough to warm the food. There was spaghetti and meatballs which weren’t that bad. The chicken ala king was the worst.”
Villages where the natives lived were near the camp. Some of the natives lived in shacks made from cardboard. Dan said, “They were very good at appropriating things from the American servicemen. With the tropical climate a cardboard shack was warm enough to live in. The MREs came in cardboard boxes and when we threw them away the Filipinos appropriated them for building. They always came behind us to pick up what we left behind. They took the metal rifle casings and made things they sold.” Dan has a long hunting knife that he’s sure was made from the leaf spring of a Jeep
Filipinos were broken into different tribes but the Marines never had any close personal action with them. In the Subic Bay area, Olongapo was the main city and the natives spoke English. The Aeta highlanders were indigenous to the region living and farming on the fertile slopes of the volcano named Mount Pinatubo. But life changed dramatically when Mount Pinatubo erupted.
The gases and ash forced into the air with the eruption caused temperature changes around the world in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Rivers changed courses. Massive evacuations took place. Dan’s unit at Subic Bay evacuated the personnel at Clark Air Force Base. The base was so badly damaged that it was eventually abandoned. Some six million people altogether were affected. Agriculture was irreparably damaged for several years.
In August of 1991 Dan’s unit reported back to Okinawa and then to the United States. He was discharged from the Marine Reserves in 1992.
Back in civilian life, Dan and Melissa rented an apartment on Carpenter Street in Midland. Ironically, it was the same apartment that they rented when they were first married. Dan went back to the same job he had when he was activated for duty. In 1993 their son Brandon was born. In 1995 their daughter Cheyenne was born.
Brandon is employed at a local business in Midland. Cheyenne is finishing up at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota, graduating with a teaching degree and then pursuing an RN degree. Dan was a volunteer with the Mills Township Volunteer Fire Department for 18 years, retiring two years ago. He is employed with AVI-SPL Audio Visual Systems, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Melissa is employed at MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland.
President Ronald Reagan was once quoted saying, “Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.” Dan Lehman agrees. If you’ve been a Marine, you’ve made a difference.