A ceremony was held at the Centralia Coal Mine #5 Disaster Memorial in Wamac on Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of the explosion that killed 111 miners underground just a short distance away.
Wamac Mayor Butch Mathus, Junior noted in opening the program that the disaster continues to affect many families in the area even today. He wants them all to know they have not been forgotten and will never be forgotten.
Wamac Mayor Butch Mathus displays the tools used by coal miners when opening the Memorial Program on Friday afternoon.
“We are here again as a solemn tribute to the miners that perished and gave the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a tragic thing where safety wasn’t followed through that could have prevented this event.”
Historian John Shaw further elaborated on the previous inspections and complaints about conditions in the mine, including one just seven days before the disaster.
John Shaw shares what the miner’s families went through on that tragic day 75 years ago.
“The ventilation was inadequate and the mine was dirty, dry, and dusty and it needed to be sprinkled. They recommended those changes be made and made immediately. If they had been done we probably wouldn’t be here today doing what we are doing. It was on March 25 of 1947 about 3:26 in the evening….the unbelievable and unexpected happened. An untold number of lives were affected. It wasn’t just the 111 but the extended families that are here, neighbors, church families.”
Shaw says he still feels how horrible it was for the miners who knew they would not survive, some leaving notes of good bye for family members.
The names of all 111 miners who lost their lives in the disaster are part of the Centralia Coal Mine #5 Disaster.
Peter Lenzini was one a half years old when the disaster took the life of his grandfather.
“These are my aunts, my mother, father and grandfather talked about, everything was dated before or after pop died.”
Others described the wait to see who had survived. Jay O’Brist who lost a grandfather noted the confusion if it was the day or night shift in the mind that had lost their lives as the explosion had occurred near shift change time.
The ceremony included the reading of the names of the 111 miners killed and the playing of the song Folk Singer Woody Guthrie wrote about the Dying Miner.
Many churches in Centralia ran their bells at 3:27 to exactly mark when the tragedy had occurred 75 years ago. After three minutes of silence to commemorate the minute of the explosion, the Centralia American Legion and VFW Color Guard gave a 21 gun salute followed by the playing of taps by Don Beaty.
