ASHLEY - The spirits of America's war dead and spirits of victims of anthracite mine accidents were summoned by speaker after speaker Monday as a new memorial to coal miners was unveiled at Ashley.
"When your father left that morning for work, you were not sure he would return." state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Twp., said, speaking of the thousands who went to work in the coal mines each day.
Mr. Yudichak and others invoked their own families' coal-mining heritage. He applauded the monument as a fitting remembrance of the miners of Northeast Pennsylvania, and the crowd of about 250 in turn applauded when Ray Clarke of Ashley unveiled the monument.
Mr. Clarke, chairman of the board of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society, was in tears as the blue tarp fell away, exposing the black granite monument. A new American flag fluttered at half-staff as the deteriorating Huber Breaker sat in the background.
"We may not save the breaker," said Robert Hughes, executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Mine Reclamation, "but with this monument and this park, we still can tell the story."
The society owns 3.1 acres in front of the breaker, land donated by Earth Conservancy. Mr. Clarke said work will continue on creating a path, on which people can view the breaker while it stands. Kiosks will tell the story of mining and the miners.
State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, cited the freedoms that Americans enjoy to gather, to speak, to vote and to worship, freedoms protected by war dead.
"Today is Memorial Day. It is fitting to also honor those who gave their lives in the mines." The spirit shown by anthracite miners is "the same spirit you have today," he said.
Those in the military and miners both did "noble work," said state Rep. Gerald Mullery. The Rev. Carol Coleman, of Ashley and pastor of Luzerne United Methodist Church, said we must honor the "quiet heroes," the miners who had the courage to face dark days and "went to battle every day of their lives."
Steve Biernacki, a member of the Huber Society board, was master of ceremonies for the program. He noted that 31,088 miners died over the course of anthracite's history in Northeast Pennsylvania.