I'm Navy SEAL Lieut. Tyrone (Ty) Fraser stationed at Naval Station Everett CDC. It no longer exists. I'm the last remaining officer. How I escaped is the stuff of miracles. Recording now…

Five of us were on a routine practice mission making use of the uninhabited eastern end of Lake Kapowsin as a freshwater dry run site for excursions to practice missions that we may have to do on inland mountainous terrain. We were using parts of Mount Rainier National Park to practice our incursion and survival skills.

Our helicopter delivered us at the drop site over the lake at precisely 0300 I was the second one following Capt. Zeke Karpinski to drop into the lake from 20 feet at precise 30 second intervals to avoid being grouped together in case of detection. The weight of my gear plus my drop ended with me about 15 feet under in the cold spring fed lake where my wetsuit made all the difference. I quickly made my turn to swim underwater to the east and our rendezvous on the shore 500 yards away.

As I made my turn, I sensed something different than all the other freshwater and saltwater exercises that I had made before. I turned slightly to see the surface of the water disturbed and the night sky turned a vivid reddish yellow glow. I immediately surfaced to find myself in a lake full of floating and falling debris with reverberating waves from what must've been a bomb because off to my left shoulder I saw a growing ball of fire that I quickly realized was a thermonuclear explosion that I'd only seen in films of the Bikini Atoll experiments with the H-bomb.

I immediately dove again knowing that shock waves may be coming and swam for the rendezvous point at the eastern shore. Just before I dove in, in the opposite direction, I thought I saw wreckage of the helicopter but I couldn't be sure. There was no sign of Zeke or any of the others. I hoped that someone had survived like me as I swam for all I was worth for as long as my breath would hold out eastward with debris that didn't float raining down all around me. The first thing I thought of was that Sharon and the kids had gone to visit Sharon's parents in Portland so they weren't in Everett… Thank God!

I surfaced for air several times before I reached the shore, dodging floating trees, branches and other wooden pieces. Luckily, I was underwater when two shock waves turned the surface debris into whipped shards like puree. The sky was lit up like some hellish day and I was glad I had my full face mask and goggles on because I could feel the hot breath and a strong wind emanating from that growing fireball that would have burned my skin if it was exposed for very long. I could even feel the lake beginning to heat up, thankful that my wetsuit was protecting me from both cold and heat. I imagined the lake boiling before long. 

Reaching the shore, all I could see was destruction, fire and debris. The water was now bath ready and I was glad to be getting out of it. The radiant heat on the back of my head was something I knew I would have to deal with. I drank heavily from the lake, knowing I might not get fresh water for some time. The change of clothing expected was not there because the helicopter was now burning as wreckage and debris in the lake and to the east. My flippers would be useless on land. I saw fires everywhere set by the shockwaves and I needed protection for my feet.

Taking my knife, I cut carefully around my toes turning my flippers into rubber shoes. I then cut strips from my flippers and tied them around my ankles to protect them from the heat to come. I knew I would have to move fast, so I decided to leave my carbine behind and rely only on my pistol for protection. Survival was of the essence, so I kept my survival pack on my back and started running toward Mount Rainier as fast as I could over and through the jumble of broken debris that lay everywhere in my path.

Picking my way over trees and branches, sometimes seeing pieces of the helicopter, I saw a carcass up ahead. I was worried that it was one of my buddies until I saw the antlers of a deer and knew it wasn't. The fur and skin of the deer had been charred and mostly blown off. I took out my knife and scraped the remaining skin off a hind quarter of the smoldering, half cooked venison and cut deep to the bone. I then carved out a three pound chuck of meat. Before I slipped it bleeding into my pack, Took a couple of bites of the hot, bloody flesh and immediately felt the energy it gave me. I would need all I could get.

Up ahead, a new danger loomed through my goggles protecting my eyes from the heat, I could see the snow on Mount Rainier melting and avalanches roaring down the slopes everywhere. I imagined the civil defense films that I had seen about pyroclastic flows that would come off that volcano and possibly reach all the way to Seattle.

From the bomb glowing like the sun behind me I knew that Seattle was no longer there to be in danger of an avalanche/flood event, but I was. I tried to pick the high ground as I worked my way forward as water from the melting snow pushing debris ahead of it was moving down the mountain. Off to my right, I saw another fireball growing and knew that Portland had been hit, too. My heart stopped at the thought of Sharon and the kids dead, along with her parents. I pushed those thoughts from my mind, trying to focus on survival--my mission, still.

I could see the rubble being pushed up in various places, knowing that water was behind it. I saw some trees up ahead that had survived the shockwaves and stood like poles, naked of branches and foliage, lit up by the eerie glow of hellfire. I got to those trees just as the avalanches from above reached where I was. There was a lot of rumbling and grinding as the water and debris surged around the trees and rapidly rushed down the mountain on either side of me. It was over within five minutes. All of the trees had been knocked down except the last few and the one that I was hanging onto for dear life. The lake behind me filled up until it was many times larger and then spilled over, rushing downward to the sea.

The mountain ahead was now nothing but rock and rubble, scoured clean of snow, dirt, debris and scree. But behind, the heat was growing with the fireball. I needed to find shelter. Up ahead, I saw a rocky outcropping. I headed for that and when I reached it and went around behind, I found some debris there left behind and protection from the radiant heat. I was exhausted, so I crawled up on some of the debris and rested. I even fell asleep for a while, dreaming bad dreams and then waking up choking from the foul air. I drank some water from my belly pack, started a fire and seared some of the venison, wolfing it down along with an MRE, before setting out again, this time, having to navigate deep gorges carved out by the avalanches. It was slow going even on the shoulder of the mountain.

A huge cloud had formed over the explosion site and I knew that it contained radiation from the fission triggers to the fusion bomb. I could see the sun rising and radiating behind the mountain through the dust and smoke but I was not in the shade with the fireball still behind me. By noon, I had worked my way around the base of the mountain and hoped by nightfall to be behind its shadow. But my strength was sapped by the altitude, heat and exertion. Rock climbing was not my forte, but I had to do it just to make it to safety. There was a chance that I wouldn't, but I put that out of my mind and kept going. Couldn't stop thinking of Sharon and the kids though… Bad thoughts.

An amazing thing began to happen. Up ahead, I saw greenery again as I skirted around the north side of Rainier. It took me over an hour to get to it, but the feeling was one of relief and leaving that fiery hell behind me. Soon, I was traveling quickly through groves of sugar pine and Douglas fir. I came upon a stream and drank deeply, not concerned about contamination. I even filled my belly pack with fresh water. 

But my rubber shoes, what was left of my flippers, while protecting me from the sharp rocks, had developed some nice blisters and were getting worn down by the same sharp rocks until they were no longer of any use. I shed them. Walking barefoot was a relief, but I kept the wetsuit on and continued climbing through the fern and pine needle forest with sharp twigs and rocks cutting my feet further as I went. I would have to stop somewhere soon. But I knew the fallout was coming and I had to get around to the lee side of the mountain if I was going to escape the brunt of it.

The long walk had me thinking again about Sharon and all the guys from my command. Were they all dead? Once again, I tried to put those thoughts away and focus on the exhausting task ahead to get away as soon as possible from the fallout.

As if by miracle, a road appeared and I walked as swiftly as I could on the asphalt surface that was not hot at this altitude. Stopping only to drink water, I was in the shade of the mountain in another five miles. I found another rocky outcropping and piled some pine boughs there for ground insulation. I lit a fire and cooked about half of the remaining venison. It went down easy and as I put my bloody feet up to rest, I fell asleep. My wetsuit as protection against the cold and fallout.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard a rumble from the mountain coming alive. It was only an earthquake, but I sensed that Mount Rainier, a volcano, was beginning to do what the hydrogen bomb had initiated and scientists had long predicted--erupt.

My feet had stopped bleeding but I needed to protect them. So I gathered some moss and tied it to my feet with the strips I had from my flippers. The cushion was helpful but I had to walk carefully on the road so as not to have them come off as I was walking. I walked on in the dark until I came to a junction that would take me over Chinook Pass, and, I hoped, safety. Signs told me that I was on 410 and that the village of Cliffdell was up ahead. The first encouraging sign that I'd seen. There were no vehicles or people anywhere in sight.

But the pass was rugged and 410 switchbacked on its way down. I was grateful I was on the road, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make it with those steep cliffs. But there was still no one on the road. I could only guess that anyone on the road here had left. And now, with the mountain rumbling, had evacuated.

By noon, I came upon Smiling Bob's Lodge and Campground. But it was deserted and locked up. I could have broken in and gotten shelter, but I needed to get as far away from the mountain as I could. Behind the filling station/deli/restaurant was an old truck with half flat tires. There were no vehicles in the campground except trailers. From the pine needles on the truck, it had been there a long time. I was trained how to jump vehicles, but the battery was dead.

I broke into the single stall garage by breaking a window pane on a door and opening it from inside and found a battery on a shelf. Five minutes later, I had power and was cranking the engine, reluctantly, into life. Luckily, there was a half tank of gas in it. And there was still pressure in the air tank that allowed me to inflate the old tires. I would have to drive slow to save them.

Back in the deli, I found a couple of phones but there was no dial tone. I grabbed some fresh fruit, deli meat, trail mix and other things that would sustain me for a few days, if necessary. Left a few bucks on the counter but didn't pay for stealing the truck. My wetsuit was killing me because it was getting quite warm and itchy. So I stripped to my sweat-soaked stinking skivvies and placed the suit and my pack with my groceries on the front seat beside me.

About the time I reached Nile, hurriedly navigating the downhill curves at around 50 mph with shuddering screeching brakes, I saw in the rearview mirror Mount Rainier blow its top. Only, unlike Mount St. Helen before, there was a substantial amount of lava shooting out of the top of the mountain and flowing down its sides. I pulled over for a minute just to watch the power of it, and then continued on coming upon US 12 five miles more where there was a National Guard checkpoint.

I pulled up to the Sgt. in charge and announced that I was Lieut. Tyrone Fraser, U.S. Navy, and that I needed to contact my family and Naval command as soon as possible… "Could you lend me your cell phone?"

The young man with fuzz for a mustache and "Pvt. Mike Jarrard" on his name tag, looked at me like I was from outer space and shook his head, "No," while backing away with both hands gripping his gun. Thinking as fast as I could, I carefully reached around and held up the wetsuit. Knowing that he might shoot me for doing it. "See… This is my wetsuit. I was on maneuvers. My pack has other Navy insignia.

He came closer but still kept a firm grip on his rifle. I pulled up the pack and brought out some Navy issue gear like my knife and it slowly dawned on him that I was for real. He handed me his cell phone and I made the call that I'd been waiting two days to make as tears started rolling down my face in scared relief. I dialed…

A female voice answered… "Hello, who's calling?" It was Sharon!

"Shar… It's me! I made it. Nobody else did, but I got out by sheer luck and I'm not even injured." He could hear her crying loudly on the other end. "I was worried sick about you and the kids."

"Dad decided that we would go up in the Cascades and camp for the weekend. We were on the eastern slopes when we got the news about Portland. Mom didn't want to come along, but we persuaded her that it was a very good thing for the kids. We thought you were dead." She started sobbing again.

"I'll see what I can do to help us all get resettled after this whole mess is over. I have to check in with the Navy but I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. Where are you?"

"We are in Bend, in a motel. They are telling us we are safe from the fallout here that will be worse further north. Thankfully, the North Koreans only hit Seattle and Portland. I hear they are giving them hell. But when you reach your command, they'll tell you more than we know. I know you got to go, but please take care. I love you so much. We all love you so much. Take care. Take care." She was crying again.

"I love you too--always will. I was so scared that you were all gone too. Gotta go. Love you…"

"Bye." I handed the phone back to the young man and saw that he was crying, too. A minute later, I had to ask him for the phone to call naval command. I used the code words that I was given to be picked up in enemy territory and they told me they would be on their way in a few minutes.

Thirty minutes later, I was picked up in Yakima where I grabbed a quick shower at the airport and then flown to the Naval Air Station at Alameda to be sent overseas. I'm recording this on the flight down to Alameda as part of my debriefing.

Epilogue: In a stupid but brash show of power, the North Koreans launched two missiles with thermonuclear warheads to the only cities in the United States they could reach: Seattle and Portland. It was a foolhardy move, because, with steel resolve, Congress immediately declared war and the entire Pacific fleet was mobilized to attack the North Koreans before they moved on the South.

The North Korean Air Force was eliminated within three hours. All of their missile launching sites destroyed by tactical missiles within six hours and all of the major military defense installations were wiped out within two days. Lieut. Ty Fraser was part of the invasion force supported by the Japanese and Chinese that took Pyongyang on day four and all of the military bases on day five. All of the North Korean leaders and military were either killed or captured to be tried later.

By day six, both North and South Koreans were streaming across the border in the thousands to try to find family and friends separated by sixty years of standoff. While the devastation in the United States and North Korea was immense, the stupid move by the leaders of North Korea had once again tested the United States's resolve and freed people from bondage.

By day ten, Lieut. Fraser returned to his family and began the process of creating new homes for both his family and the parents of his wife. He received a promotion to Capt. and a Silver Star for his bravery, but he always told everyone, "I'm not a hero. I was just lucky."

Copyright 2016 © Ronald W. Hull

12/5/16