Coal Tattoo

The Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, April 5, 2010

Two years ago this afternoon, a horrific explosion ripped through Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County, W.Va.

Twenty-nine coal miners died and two others were injured.

For many of us, the 2nd anniversary is a time to revisit the disaster, to ask questions about whether enough has been done to prevent another one. All too soon, it will be just another date marked on the long, deadly calendar of this nation’s shameful record of mine explosions, fires and other disasters.

To those who lost loved ones, April 5 will forever be the day that their husband died, the day they became an orphan, the day they lost their son or their best friend. Here’s the list of the miners that so needlessly died that day in the spring of 2010:

Carl Calvin Acord

Jason Atkins

Christopher Bell

Gregory Steven Brock

Kenneth Allan Chapman

Robert E. Clark

Cory Thomas Davis

Charles Timothy Davis

Michael Lee Elswick

William Ildon Griffith

Steven Harrah

Edward Dean Jones

Richard K. Lane

William Roosevelt Lynch

Joe Marcum

Ronald Lee Maynor

Nicholas Darrell McCroskey

James E. “Eddie” Mooney

Adam Keith Morgan

Rex L. Mullins

Joshua Napper

Howard D. Payne

Dillard Earl Persinger

Joel R. Price

Gary Wayne Quarles

Deward Allan Scott

Grover Dale Skeens

Benny Ray Willingham

Ricky Workman