That was one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen, but from a homeowners perspective, it's something else altogether. Do you remember they had a TV camera watching the volcano, so it was always on TV on the mainland?
I just left main Island when the side of the mountain blew up. We swung the plane down as close as we could get to see the town covered and the lava shooting out of the side of the mountain well above where we were flying. impressive.
I was stationed at Rockville Iceland at the time with the 932nd AC&W Squadron. Some of the airmen at the radar site volunteered fly over to the Westman Islands and shovel ash off the roofs of buildings....etc. I got some photo's of that, on my facebook page in my pictures folder.
That's fascinating. I went to Iceland twice to do the film, and we obtained some first night footage from locals. The first time we went to Westman by boat with some other camera crews. We had the helmets and so on. The volcanic bombs were flying and you had to look up all the time to be sure you wouldn't get hit. On the way back the ship encountered gale force 8 conditions. The crew was playing rock and roll music from the bridge. The boat was twisting and groaning as if it would split apart at any moment. The camera crews were either throwing up or frozen in a state of horror. I was in the later group! The second visit was much less dramatic.
MrJojogun I am very interested to hear your story as it seems we have been in the same circumstances at the same time. I was in the U. S. Navy stationed at Keflavik at the time. We sent a team of volunteers to Heimay and I was one of them. We, like you, grabbed our shovels and started clearing roofs. I helped clear ash off the roof of the hospital until the heavy machine accidentally fell off the roof. I have photos too but not online.I’d love to share if you’re interested.
JerrysTravels Your stories bring back memories of being there and helping save the fishing village. I was one of the couple dozen volunteer US sailors and Marines who worked with the local civil defense team. Like you, we wore helmets. The volcanic projectiles reached the size of softballs. Luckily, they were hardened before hitting us and were actually pretty light being made of pumice (right?). You could pick one up and break it open and light a cigarette. We also could stick a few in the pockets of our heavy coats to warm us up. We had to evacuate overnight as the volcano strengthened. We were put on one of the local fishing boats and I remember looking out the porthole and seeing the lava reaching the other side of the channel and almost blocking us. I’ve got more stories and photos if anyone is interested. I really enjoyed your video!
Thank you so much for this. I just watched the film The Deep which has footage of this and is integral to the story, so this has been a great resource :)
my grandma lived there when it happened. she told me that there was first an earthquake and then she looked out the window and there was just a huge fissure that opened up in front of her eyes
Amazing true story, maybe if they followed the Islandic example in La Palma (Canaries) and tried cooling the lava by hosing it down, they could divert the flow from their homes and towns.
This is my hometown, and a night I will never forget
That was one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen, but from a homeowners perspective, it's something else altogether. Do you remember they had a TV camera watching the volcano, so it was always on TV on the mainland?
There were alway's pictures on tv news and in the paper's
@@JerrysTravels and today there are like 15 webcams on the Sundhnúksgígar eruptions.
I just left main Island when the side of the mountain blew up. We swung the plane down as close as we could get to see the town covered and the lava shooting out of the side of the mountain well above where we were flying. impressive.
I was stationed at Rockville Iceland at the time with the 932nd AC&W Squadron. Some of the airmen at the radar site volunteered fly over to the Westman Islands and shovel ash off the roofs of buildings....etc. I got some photo's of that, on my facebook page in my pictures folder.
That's fascinating. I went to Iceland twice to do the film, and we obtained some first night footage from locals. The first time we went to Westman by boat with some other camera crews. We had the helmets and so on. The volcanic bombs were flying and you had to look up all the time to be sure you wouldn't get hit. On the way back the ship encountered gale force 8 conditions. The crew was playing rock and roll music from the bridge. The boat was twisting and groaning as if it would split apart at any moment. The camera crews were either throwing up or frozen in a state of horror. I was in the later group! The second visit was much less dramatic.
MrJojogun I am very interested to hear your story as it seems we have been in the same circumstances at the same time. I was in the U. S. Navy stationed at Keflavik at the time. We sent a team of volunteers to Heimay and I was one of them. We, like you, grabbed our shovels and started clearing roofs. I helped clear ash off the roof of the hospital until the heavy machine accidentally fell off the roof. I have photos too but not online.I’d love to share if you’re interested.
JerrysTravels Your stories bring back memories of being there and helping save the fishing village. I was one of the couple dozen volunteer US sailors and Marines who worked with the local civil defense team. Like you, we wore helmets. The volcanic projectiles reached the size of softballs. Luckily, they were hardened before hitting us and were actually pretty light being made of pumice (right?). You could pick one up and break it open and light a cigarette. We also could stick a few in the pockets of our heavy coats to warm us up. We had to evacuate overnight as the volcano strengthened. We were put on one of the local fishing boats and I remember looking out the porthole and seeing the lava reaching the other side of the channel and almost blocking us. I’ve got more stories and photos if anyone is interested. I really enjoyed your video!
Superb doc. Thanks.
Thank you. Exciting to make it!
i feel happy that the people in there are safe and i am also glad that they evacuate the area
I love it, thanks for sharing it.
Thank you so much for this. I just watched the film The Deep which has footage of this and is integral to the story, so this has been a great resource :)
Thanks. I believe some footage was used in the film "Brainstorm," the last film of Natalie Wood. I seem to recall the producers asking me for it.
my grandma lived there when it happened. she told me that there was first an earthquake and then she looked out the window and there was just a huge fissure that opened up in front of her eyes
I'm surprised such an effort was made to evacuate personal property and home furnishings.
Im from there but I didn’t experience that because I wasn’t born
Amazing true story, maybe if they followed the Islandic example in La Palma (Canaries) and tried cooling the lava by hosing it down, they could divert the flow from their homes and towns.
Its really great Baby!!!!
told ya, half a damn island blew up
Lol. Just came from that link.
How could they leave the beautiful horses there!
They were lucky the fissure didn't erupt through the middle of town.
Talk about luck
Heck them cooling down the lava flows was genius! They legit possibly saved Icelands economy due to saving the islands harbour
The documentary is great but this guy's pronunciation is all over the place
Probably my fault. I must have given him the pronunciations. He just came in to do the voice-over.
@@jeromehamlin8209 Did you make this documentary then? That's really cool!