My dad was a coal miner for 50 years boy does this video hit home for me 😥

You could really tell that it is still hard for them to talk about it without getting a little choked up. So sad, such a terrible thing.

I hope they can get a photo of the other man to put in there too.❤

Dam bro... that video made me quiet... it’s a sad story told by brave men... tons of respect for them... tons of respect for you as well... and I hope they can find a picture of the fallen brother...

Mabel Joyce Cooley, mother to Larry and Mort Cooley, passed away a few years ago. She also lost her brother, Jackie Tate in the same disaster. A great woman.

Wow not gonna lie this made me tear up.. the song at the end really got me too. Amazing job Stephen you can tell alot of heart went into this video

I love these old stories. I could listen to all kinds of stories from our elders.

I almost cried this is sad but Stephen is a nice person.

@jacquelinestgermaine8996

3 жыл бұрын

Yes he is a sweet young man.

Awesome video hon, my gramps was a coal miner. ❤❤

This story is heartbreaking. Tragedy tears community apart but, it also brings them together

very interesting....great job guys nicely done ...God Bless..beautiful no man left behind...amazing ..this is so sad

Sad Story all together😔 Thank you for this Video 👌 Always interesting to hear things first hand 🌹 Your effort to share Videos is great🤗 Thank you much❣ Carmen from Germany 🙋🏻‍♀️🎈

My heart goes to all I lost my best friends dad that was like my dad in the Crandall canyon mine disaster in Utah and my heart still hurts for him they are still inside the mountain they wasn’t able to get them out.

@TheDamGuide

3 жыл бұрын

I'm so sorry for your loss..

@jacquelinelopez929

3 жыл бұрын

Gosh that is just heartbreaking...for you and your BFF. Prayers for you both🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

That was such a sad day. My heart goes out to the family and loved ones of those lost in this tragic accident. God bless all those involved in trying to rescue these men. Thank you, Stephen xxx

Steven that was an amazing video....and you made it with such care and respect.....You are a Good Man xxx

Such a tragic event. Thanks for helping to keep their story alive. Great video, Stephen!

good video steve i can't wait for the next one also a huge congratulations on getting closer to 3k subs your going to be huge one day i can't wait i hope you have a great weekend

Very very interesting video,well done Steve

Thanks Stephen.

This is the true back bone of America. 👍🥇

Steven thanks so much for this video!!!! We are truly blessed to be hear today!!! God Bless everyone of those brave wonderful men!!!!!

LOVED, LOVED AND LOVED this video.. May God bless all the lost souls 🙏 very sad but very interesting, may they never be forgotten.. Stay safe everyone love from UK 💕💖💕💖💕💖

Wow unbelievable, so sad.... I learned a lot from this video 👍

Sup Steven! Great video! 👍

Thank you stephen love your videos They are always so educational look forward to your next video.

Such a sad story! I don't remember this but I remember another in the 90's?? Just as tragic! I couldn't be underground like that. Its amazing these men are still alive!! Miners die fairly early from lung disease! Thanks Stephen!🥰

This was a superb video.Thank you so much.

Fantastic job Stephen! Keep up the great work. This was a sad but very touching tribute to these men!

Thank you Stephen for covering this history and interviewing these men. It is a difficult topic to discuss. I cried as it is so sad and as the men said it didn't just affect the families but whole communities. Sending love to you from Australia.

Awesome job Stephen! What an emotional video. Thank you for doing it!

😥. You handled that so well and sensitively. I'm sure as hard as it was for them to talk about I bet it was also good for them to have their story told. It also makes me think about all the graves in Tonapah cemetery from the mines there.

I've always loved working with the older generation. They are full of facts and lots of stories that are relevant to our history, our generation. What you've shared with all of us is so important for future viewers to know and learn. These three gentlemen speak with such love for their fellow workers... brothers, fathers, fellow mankind. This is such a rare kind of love and respect; one we don't see in this day and age any longer simply because people are so wrapped up in themselves or their electronic devices. It's truly a shame to see love for one another, like they shared, disappear. I teared up hearing the history of this tragic loss of life. Thirteen men lost their lives in Mine 21 on that fateful day. These three heroes were part of a team that went down below the Earth's surface to recover what remained of the bodies for their families. I can't even imagine the PTSD they must endure. It was evident in the timbre of their voices how much they're suffering as they recall the odors of the charred bodies, the visuals, even the sounds of that day, yet one can still hear how much love and respect they still hold in their hearts for their fellow brethren that passed away that God-forsaken day. You are such a gentle interviewer. You have a true knack for bringing out the best in people. Your kindness is genuinely appreciated by those around you, as well as your viewers. I've always been an avid fan of yours, Stephen since day one, but after watching this video, I am definitely an even bigger fan. You, quite simply put, are an incredible person. Your soft-spoken ways made it easy for these three gentlemen to settle in and relax even more as they told their accounting of that day. Thank you, my friend, for sharing this important piece of history. ❤️❤️❤️

Amazing video Stephen 💕

I live in Grundy County. My pa was a coal miner along with my great uncle and others. Fortunately they weren’t in this mine. Every time I go to my grandmothers house we pass by mine 21. Even though I wasn’t born yet, my heart still goes out to all the families. I would recommend going to the Grundy County historical center or the Palmer coal miners museum.

Awesome job Stephen!

This was an absolutely riveting interview. You can see how much they are still affected by this. God bless them.

Great video..thanks

Great story and well presented, very tragic for all involved, i understand exactly the situation you went through, i was a coal miner for 45 years also part of the rescue team here in Australia.

Such a thoughtful video 💖💔 Heartbreaking history - while for some its just that, for others its a part of life. Hope to see more videos like this one ❤

Steven how sad great video you can tell it stay with them awesome video☹👍

well im 14 hours late again😔😔😔😔but it better late than never 😉😉😉😉 always love this kind of videos always has something to learn from our elders sad story but it makes us also realies than our.life is short so take everyday special as always... thanks steve for another job well.done good luck and stay safe always love from philippines🥰🥰🥰🥰

Wow Stephen, your videos are getting better and better, very impressive. Keep it up

I love the way you give history for the video you produce!! Keep it up buddy you are doing great Stephen!!!! Man what a sad story. So many people died! I can't imagine being 3 miles under ground. May God rest their souls 🙏!

That was a great video. You did these men such a well earned respect so beautifully. I remember this event being the news for some time back then.the nation mourned at the time

Stephen you are awesome to do this video on this story. I have never heard or known of this story before. This was a long time ago and I was real young and didn't pay much attention to the news back then. But this is very sad and horrifying for those poor miners and their families and community. My heart goes out to them. Cause they still hurt over it today. Thank you for sharing this dear. It IS an amazing story learning all about the miners and their jobs and all the equipment they used and how dedicated and hard those rescuers worked to go down there and investigate and see what happened. Lesson learned from this that mining ⛏️ was always dangerous and there's always a risk of something happening and miners losing their lives and never coming back. The risk was always there and was huge. I Enjoyed your mini film documentary about this disaster and listening to those Tennessee old Timers tell what they know and remember. It was very educational but heartbreaking. Thank you to those men for their stories. RIP to those miners who lost their lives. May they enjoy heaven and see their loved ones again someday. Hope they were all saved. I wonder why that pocket of methane was there? It's a shame that they couldn't have known what was in there before they went in. And that there wasn't something they could take with them that could have detected the methane beforehand and warned them of it. So they wouldn't have struck a lighter. I don't know.... But I know that if I had been a miner .... I would NEVER have been trying to light up a cigarette or been smoking in a mine .... With the possiblity of there being gases in there. Nobody should ever be smoking in a mine. Better yet... They shouldn't smoke at all. That's just the way I see it. Cause it's bad for your health anyway and that explosion might not have happened if they had not been a smoker. God rest their souls. Thank you so much for sharing this Stephen. It was very interesting to watch and also was a nice tribute to those miners. Bless you. I enjoyed it. I also cried my ass off 😅. Err cried my eyes out lol at the end with the pictures tribute and that beautiful country song that was written for them ... Being sung. That was just beautiful Stephen .... You did an excellent job on this video dear.😊 You make my Fridays great ☺️❤️ My mom was from Mountainview TN. And her ancestry goes way back to the people who helped to make Tennessee a state including that we are descended from the first governor of Tennessee John Sevier. He was my 8th great grandaddy in the 1700s. It's in our family history book. I always feel at home with People of middle and Eastern Tennessee and those Tennessee accents. Cause my mom is from that part of Tennessee and was one of 9 kids. So I had a lot of aunt's and uncles. I love the Tennessee accent. They are all gone home to heaven tho. Including my mom. I miss them all. Listening to these men talk. Reminded me of them also. Thank you again for this video Stephen. 👍. It was great.😊 Love ya always. 🙏❤️🙂

@lorishiversdogmom

2 жыл бұрын

@Christopher Kilgore Wow. That is awful.

@lorishiversdogmom

2 жыл бұрын

@Christopher Kilgore Dang. I'm so very sorry about your family losses. But that just don't seem right to work a job and sacrifice your health like that. Seems unfair. Thanks for sharing.

What a Story. Delivered with class & empathy. Enjoyed it, Stephen. Thank you. 💗

Hi Stephen. This was incredibly sad about the tragic mining accident. You presented and told this tragic event with great respect and empathy. At least the surviving miners from this horrible and tragic accident get to have this story told and videoed to tell future generations about this tragedy. Thank you Stephen for doing this story. I’m sure the mining survivors and families of the deceased miners would appreciate you doing this story. I’m looking forward to your next video. Take care, stay safe and well. I hope that you , Luna and your family have a fantastic Good Friday and a Happy Easter. 🐇 Love and friendship, From Cheryl ( New South Wales, Australia) xxxxoooo

Well done for taking time to document and interview these very brave men...there's a need for more recognition in these cases...thank you for being wonderful Steven x

Man that end got me, when he said they got together and said no they are our brothers, we'll bring them out, no brother left behind! Gosh they just don't make men like these no more!

Great job... it is nice to hear these stories that people may not know or don’t remember. You do them justice and give them a voice so they won’t be forgotten. I also loved the song at the end👏🏻

This was incredible, Stephen. Such an amazing video. Thank you for sharing.

very informative stephen..there is so much history in the Tennessee Valley.thank you for taking the time to do this story. blessings

Very very sad😔

My father Anthony Patton ran Patton mining coal company. I'm hi son Michael Patton. I worked in the mines for a couple of years. I met some real hard working men out there on Whitwell mountain. Good people

Thanks so much for keeping our history alive and documenting these first hand testimonies.

YT decided I needed a mine tragedy lesson today. Thank you for covering this one.

❤️🙏

this is translated with google translate, hope it will be correct. :::::::: Hello everyone, thank you Stephen, I am a former miner in France, very beautiful video and beautiful testimony of our elders, the life of a miner is difficult and dangerous, collapses of galleries, falls of rocks, fires, explosions from "Grisou", in France this gas was called Grisou, odorless, colorless but if we were near the leak of this gas, we could hear it. The means to detect it were, the miners' flame lamp, the firedamp, a small device worn around the neck or the firedamp sensor which was linked to daylight at the televigile. I had worked in a very gassy mine, I also had friends who perished because of a gas explosion, only memories remain. We knew that we were going down to the bottom but we didn't know if we were going to see the day again, once at the bottom, we thought more about it and we did our job. We had a lot of deaths in France because of the firedamp and thanks to God and to ourselves sometimes, we are alive. I have a great thought for these minors who died, may they rest in peace. One day, I went down to the bottom with a young man who had just been hired for the job, arrive at a point, he stops and took a lighter out of his pocket, I slapped him that he fell in. ground, I told him, you never do that again, be happy to be still alive, next time, I'll bury you alive !!! he continued to work for years but never came down with a lighter again. here is a small contribution from me. There would be so much to tell. Thank you again for this video and thank you to the rescuers and comrades who testified for this misfortune. My friendships as a miner to them and as we said we minors, Gluck-Auf (good luck).

Roy "Mule'' White was my grandfather's brother. He was one of the 13 killed in this explosion that day. My whole life, I grew up knowing what had happened to my great uncle, but not because of what my grandfather told me. He wouldn't talk about it. He too was a coal miner. As was their father. Roy Withe Sr.

Well, this hit hard. I couldn't watch all of it. My daddy, a retired miner, was in the hospital with terminal cancer when this happened. My mother, brother and I tried every trick we could think of to keep the tv off any channel where they were talking about the explosion because we knew he'd take it hard if he found out. I remember that night waiting for word from the mine. It was awful awful awful. May they all rest in peace.

I have never seen or heard anything about this video, but so glad I came across it. Absolutely love they tell the story, with love and compassion for their Brothers. My dad lost his life that day, Jimmy Wayne Rogers. Thank you all for telling this story, I know JT Shadrick and Jewel Shadrick and have heard them tell this story. When I went one day, JT walked with me talking about that day, and he fought back tars as he talked. When they say or refer to the 13 miners as Brothers, that was exactly what they were. Thank you for the video, it has made me proud to know they are keeping the memories of my dad and 12 more going so they will never be forgotten.

Music too loud, Mr Dam Man!! Could not hear what the gentleman were saying.

@susanhall7199

4 ай бұрын

Well, the one guy wouldn't let nobody else talk

Such a sad tragic accident. May they all R.I.P. beautiful video

Fascinating. Thank you for not letting these experiences die with the passing of time. God bless.

I remember this so well. Lived not far away. Cousins and friends gone.

My brother worked mine 21. All my family worked at tcc. The Cash family. Clyde Goat Cash was my Grandfather. My is John Cartwright Jr. Bones

Sad horrible event .thank you for this video. May they all. R.I.P.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

R u ok i havent seen you in a while

@TheDamGuide

3 жыл бұрын

Yep! Posting new videos every week!

@renitalockhart5793

3 жыл бұрын

My daddy William (Sonny) Frizzell worked at mine 21 most of the 40 years he was a miner. The morning the accident happened Mort and Larry Cooley actually rode to work with my daddy that morning. So sad and we lost some great men!!!! I will never forget that day and where I was at when the news broke of this terrible accident.

@yvonnebarton7005

2 жыл бұрын

We want to see u put out more videos because u are Alsome guy.U put out the Best video s

Man, I never thought I would miss being under the mountain. "Until Jesus comes".............AMEN!

I remember that day it was bad my friend lost his father that day he was in the mine when it blew up his dad's name was Harvey Nolan

My grandpa’s brother was one of the miners killed.

Very good video

I'd be terrified of being in there.

This is an amazing video. We need people to get these stories before the men are gone. Great job!

Great presentation and video.

Thank you

I was 11 when this happened I remember the news coverage although it was brief due to the fact that I lived in Florida approximately 900 miles away. Prayers for the families of the victims and the brave men that recovered their friends.

They are no words for this my heart goes out to the family of these miners I was in the explosion in 1983 McClure no 1 mines on evening shift that killed 7 miners one of them was the first women killed in a Virginia coal mines it was a clinchfield coal mines McClure no 1 mines they are no words for the way I feel iv never got over it 2 of the men road to work with me God bless you and your family

No miner left behind is still the unwritten rule in the mines!!!

2:46 he sounds exactly like the cowboy from The Simpsons

My wife is Franky WILBORN'S daughter and we have a couple pictures but not alot

@christopherhouston9803

2 жыл бұрын

I really want to talk with you she never met him and it would mean a lot I think to here how great of a worker he was or anything she knows nothing about him

@TheDamGuide

2 жыл бұрын

Sadly I don't know much about the individual workers, but if she goes to the Whitwell Coal Miner's museum they guys there would know a plethora more than me! It's free to visit, and definitely worth it!

He lit a cigarette?!! OMG!

I just cannot imagine the stupidity of any mine management allowing men to smoke underground. If that had been a British mine then the accident would not have occurred as miners are forbidden from taking any smoking gear with them, they are searched to ensure they carried no contraband. What possessed those miners to smoke when it was common to find methane pockets when mining coal? It was a self inflicted accident, one stupid act causing so much upset and pain to others.

@shastarollins748

Жыл бұрын

The mine was supposed to do weekly checks on every shift but had failed to do them since October 12th 1981 and the miners died on December 8th 1981. There was an investigation and contraband was found but there weren’t any witnesses to say that someone actually lit up. The excessive amount of methane in the mine was over 1.5%. More than they had ever dealt with but they still sent those miners in after night shift left the mine early due to the methane. I know this information because my father was one of the 13.

Great place to have a cigarette!

Don't mine COAL, kiddies! Stay in School. Maik id wid yer BRANE...b uh BRANE SIRJIN!!

Was the mine(s) eventually closed due to reserves being mined out, or quality of coal, or other reasons?

@TheDamGuide

4 ай бұрын

Loss of profitability and changing safety regulations that were brought on by this disaster.

I worked at a coal mine long time ago mid continent coal mine John Reeves CEO of that out 10 dollars he put 9 in. His pocket and one in the company

Music is riding higher than voice.

Why would anyone light a cigarette in a coal mine? Guess they should have looked into that guy before hiring him

How did they know that someone was like a cigarette that caused the explosion?

@TheDamGuide

Жыл бұрын

There was an extremely thorough investigation led by federal agents on it. I suspect they found the lighter, but I'm not sure.

@philliphall5198

Жыл бұрын

There should be a open statement and the proof shown to public

Wait what I even know u never smoke in a coal mine

A cigarette lighter?

@luannyates5199

Жыл бұрын

That was the story. A miner lite a cigarette

Being I was a modern day coal miner there is no way you can go underground with cigarettes,lighter matchs,camera or a phone and it's so sad it takes a tragedy like this to rules and regulations to where you are 100% not allowed to do. I've been checked going in while I was under and in my way out! R.I.P to the men and families!!