Posted on 01/06/2006 8:31:12 AM PST by Former Military Chick
This letter released by the Toler family on Thursday was written by Martin Toler Jr., who died with 11 other miners in the Sago mine. The note was given to Martin's brother, Tom Toler, by the coroner. It reads "Tell all I see them on the other side JR I love you It wasn't bad just went to sleep."
(Courtesy of the Toler Family / AP)
BUCKHANNON, W. Va (Reuters) - A letter scrawled by one of the 12 miners who died after an explosion trapped them in a West Virginia coal mine offered some comfort to relatives on Friday as the single survivor remained in hospital.
Randal McCloy, who was rescued after more than 40 hours underground, was reported to have emerged from a coma and his wife said he was responding to her and their two children, though doctors were keeping him sedated.
A picture of the note written by Martin Toler Jr. showed rough letters scrawled with an ink pen on a piece of paper signed JR. "Tell all I see them on the other side," he wrote.
"It wasn't bad. I just went to sleep. I love you."
The dead miner's final words were discussed by his nephew, Randy Toler, interviewed on CNN by phone from Tallmansville, a small Appalachian mountain town where the mine is located.
"I think he wanted to set our minds at ease, that he didn't suffer, and I just think that God gave him peace at the end," Randy Toler said.
McCloy was transferred on Thursday to Pittsburgh's Allegheny Hospital for treatment to reduce carbon monoxide levels which doctors fear may have damaged his brain.
His wife Anna told ABC's "Good Morning America" her husband became excited when his two small children visited him after doctors said he was no longer in a coma. "He knows when I'm there, because when I'm there he gets excited and he's trying to lift his eyelids and look at me," she said.
McCloy's mother, Tambra Flint, said on the same program she thought some of the older miners who died might have shared their oxygen supplies with him to save the younger man who had the best chance of survival.
"I have a feeling that they did," she said.
SEVERAL NOTES FOUND
The state's worst mining disaster since 1968 was made more poignant by initial reports saying 12 of the men had survived, prompting three hours of jubilation that quickly turned to despair when the reality became apparent.
Mine authorities have said that several notes were found with the victims but only one had so far been made public. The man who wrote it, Martin Toler, 51, had worked as a coal miner for 32 or 33 years, since he was a teenager, his nephew said.
Asked why young Tallmansville boys go off to work in the mines despite the constant dangers, Randy Toler said: "When you grow up with it and you start at such a young age, when you feel you're invincible, it's an adventure-type thing. You're too young and dumb to worry about a lot of danger ...
"The danger is there, but the nation needs coal. We need energy as well as we need defense. Soldiers put their lives on the line every day and coal miners are the same way," he said.
Randy Toler said he believed other notes found with the miners' bodies were likely written with his uncle's ink pen.
"Coal miners typically don't carry ink pens, just the section boss does. .. and I'm sure he would have directed them to do that. I'm sure he probably told them that it didn't look good and they needed to make peace with their maker."
Toler said his uncle had a pleasant, joyous disposition.
"He was a very jolly, happy person who never displayed any depression or any down moments," Toler said. "He always kept his chin up, always laughing and good-naturedly teasing you.
There has been no explanation for the explosion on Monday at the Sago Mine which employs about 145 miners and produces about 800,000 tonnes of coal annually. Investigators are looking into whether it might be linked to a lightning strike.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had issued 50 citations to the Sago mine, including some for accumulation of combustible materials such as coal dust and loose coal.
(Additional reporting by Jon Hurdle in Tallmansville, Philip Barbara in Washington)
Yeah that line jumped out at me as well.
I never thought of it that way, but he's right.
Most of us rely on coal fired power plants for our juice, and don't even really think about where it comes from.
Tasteless.
I know it speaks poorly of me, however; I had never looked at coal mining in this way before. Now, I feel ashamed for having taken these folks for granted and their contributions to our national defense .
About 18 months ago we buried the finest man I've ever known....my hero....my Dad.As we were at the gravesite and the priest was speaking words of comfort,a small white butterfly hovered nearby for a few seconds and then flew away.I immediately knew that that was God's way of saying "he's with Me,he's happy,he's not suffering any more".
So whether it be a note from a coal mine,a jar of peanut butter or a white butterfly,it means the same thing,IMO. I do hope that the families find peace and am happy that they know that their loved ones were thinking of them at those difficult moments and that they did not suffer.
No need to feel ashamed,IMO.Coal mining is hard work,it's dirty work,it's dangerous work and it's necessary work. I believe that all miners have known this since day #1.
Maybe someone (or something) else finished it for him ...
Well, maybe this should be a lesson for all of us to mend our fences and be sure and let those we love KNOW we love them BEFORE we die. Let's hope everyone does this.
OH absolutely. Same way with getting lost in the woods. Would you want a coal miner or as you say the kerry/kennedy types. No thanks. Coal Miners anyday!!!
IMHO ... these are things that should be done all along the route.
Oh milagro....what a beautfiul message from your husband. A heart in the middle of a brand new jar of peanut butter. He loved you very much. Little things mean a lot. You will be together one day when your work on earth is finished. We never know what that work was when one of our loved ones leave but...we will someday. So, continue on with your life, smiling knowing your husband loved you so much and he knew when you opened that jar of peanut butter that you would smile. He just didn't know that it would mean so much more and would give you such comfort given the circumstances. God bless.
There were 12 of them. He had obviously seen others succumb before him and knew what was soon going to happen to him, and how it would happen.
Is any of the miners Christians?
Exactly. Except sometimes people get so busy and caught up in what they are doing on a daily basis they forget. Sad but true.
Ditto.
My father was a seminar leader and one of his clients was a funeral director's association. He was told by many of his students that the most common question they heard when the family came to visit their loved one was, "Why didn't I tell you I loved you more often?"
This is a good reminder that there will come a day when you can't.
Ping. Thought you might want to read this article.
I still have my unopened "death letters" from my deployments to D/S and Somalia. I'll never open em, (bad luck) but someday when I'm gone my kids will get to open them and hopefully show them just what they meant to me.
God Bless those miners and their families.
Semper Fidelis
Don't bother. They don't get it.
It struck me that these men loved their families so much that they didn't want them to think they died in terror.
A very comforting thought to a miners family.
A long time ago an orphaned, abandoned infant baby boy was taken in by a loving coal mining family.
The boy went to work in the local mines when he was twelve. At first he cared for the horses. Later he entered the mines where he would hand load coal for the next fifty years.
Before he was eighteen, he was involved in a mining accident where the roof caved in where he was working. An older immigrant miner who had no family in this country pulled the young miner from the cave in but died as a result of injuries he received during his rescue.
When the young miner turned eighteen he took the last name of the miner who saved his life.
The young miner was my grandfather. And because of the bravery of the older miner who rescued him there are a whole lot of Ramcats scattered about this great country.
Some are doctors, scientists, engineers, accounts, business owners, military and yes some are coal miners.
May God bless the families of the fallen miners.
These men knew how to be men.
I have noted that if one rationally questions something that everyone else on a thread is responding to emotionally, then one is setting oneself up for flaming of one degree or another.
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