"Thomas Kozak was 18 years old on December 6, 1907, when the Monongah Mine exploded at 10:28 AM.
"Thomas Kozak was 18 years old on December 6, 1907, when the Monongah Mine exploded at 10:28 AM. Thomas had been married for one year and his son was 6 months old. He kept the baby’s photo in his breast pocket behind a piece of oilcloth to keep the coal dust off. The explosion killed 362 men that day, the worst mine disaster in American history. Thomas was in a side tunnel with 15 other men when the roof dropped. The main air shaft was blocked. The timber holding up what was left of the ceiling was cracked and groaning. The foreman, Mr. Walter Finch, age 67, yelled, “If that beam goes, the air pocket goes and we all suffocate!” Thomas looked at the beam, then at the photo of his son. He was 18. He was married. He was a father. He got under that beam. He put his back against it and his feet against the floor and he held. He told the men, “Dig.” For six hours Thomas held 900 pounds of broken timber and rock while the other 15 men used picks and their hands to dig through the collaps...