David A. Johnston

David Alexander Johnston December 18 1949 May 18 1980 was an American United States Geological Survey USGS volcanologist who was killed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens in the US state of Washington A principal scientist on the USGS monitoring team Johnston was killed in the eruption while manning an observation post six miles 10 km away on the morning of May 18 1980 He was the first to report the eruption transmitting Vancouver Vancouver This is it before he was swept away by a lateral blast despite a thorough search Johnstons body was never found but state highway workers discovered remnants of his USGS trailer in 1993 Description above from the Wikipedia article David A Johnston licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia