BECKLEY, W.Va. — Progress to build a Miners Memorial Wall in Beckley was announced Wednesday during the city’s annual remembrance ceremony for the 29 lives lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. Wednesday marked the 13th anniversary of the tragedy, which occurred on April 5, 2010.
The City of Beckley, the Raleigh County Commission, Raleigh County and Beckley first responders, and the Beckley Chamber of Commerce came together to host the event at the Miners Memorial Garden near Shoemaker Square.
The names of all 29 UBB victims were read and bell rung after each name. Bates said the very first memorial ceremony was held at First Christian Church a year after the disaster.
“The thing I remember the most is that bell ringing out and echoing with each name inside the church,” ceremony organizer, former state lawmaker, Mick Bates said.
Last year, Bates had introduced the proposal to construct the Raleigh County Coal Miners Memorial Wall, and Wednesday he announced that they had managed to secure enough funding through a local economic development grant and community donations to get the project underway.
It will be built at the exit portal of Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine and will be dedicated on behalf of all coal mining families who have lost loved ones from mine tragedies, not only at Upper Big Branch but throughout the region and throughout the years.
Bates said that the many visitors the exhibition coal mine receives each year will now get to witness the names of over 2,000 miners and the bravery they had risking their lives underground.
“They’ll have an opportunity when they come out of that mine to look at a wall that shows the names of those that perished in Raleigh County doing what they will never do,” he said.
A basic rendering of the project was unveiled Wednesday during the ceremony. While no date of completion for the wall was announced yet, Bates said it will contain natural elements used in mines such as steel and other materials.
Bates said that the wall will honor all who have worked in the mines.
“So when we honor these men, we honor all who was lost, and we honor all those who continue to do that work,” Bates said.
Gov. Jim Justice was one of the several who contributed grant funding to help with the establishment of the remembrance wall. He said during his Wednesday media briefing that the tragedy affected many across West Virginia.
“It brought an earthquake of sadness to the coalfields, and surely to our family and many many others, and it was just plain terrible,” Justice said.
Senator Joe Manchin, the governor during the time of the UBB disaster, also gave a statement Wednesday, saying his condolences go out to all the loved ones dealing with the losses.
“Thirteen years ago, West Virginia suffered an immeasurable loss when 29 brave coal miners were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. My heart goes out to the friends and families of Carl, Christopher, Kenneth, Cory, Michael, Steve, Rick, Joe, Nicolas, Adam, Josh, Dewey, Gary, Grover, Ricky, Jason, Greg, Robert, Timmy, William, Dean, Roosevelt, Ronald, Eddie, Rex, Boone, Jody, Deward and Benny, whose lives were forever changed following that terrible disaster,” Manchin said.