Life in Southern West Virginia

Life in Southern West Virginia Coal Towns

THIS BABY DOESN’T DESERVE SYMPATHY

These accounts center around the coal mining communities of Nellis, Boone County (1934 to 1944) and Montcoal, Raleigh County (1944 to 1952), West Virginia, “Baby Bill’s” hometowns. Little Baby Bill was the youngest of the three sons of Paul Reese Maxey of Ironton, Ohio and Mamie Stone Maxey from St. Albans, West Virginia.

Baby Bill was born in Nellis in 1934, the second son, Steve, was two years older, and Don, the eldest, was two years older than Steve. Their Dad studied mining engineering at Ohio State University. He was first a mine foreman, mining engineer, chief mining engineer, and finally superintendent of three coal mining facilities for Armco.

ARMCO STEEL’S COAL MINING TOWNS

These two coal mining towns were owned and operated by Armco Steel Corporation whose home office was in Middletown, Ohio. This company really cared about their employees and was much more community minded than most coal companies during this era. Armco paid their coal miners well, treated them with respect, and as a result, had limited disruption during the miner’s strikes.

Armco kept the company houses in good repair and delivered coal at cost directly to each home for cooking and heating. They donated land for a school, church, park, and built and operated a large golf, tennis and recreation complex.

Every Fourth of July Armco sponsored a large celebration at the golf course. This included first aid matches between the mine safety and rescue teams. To the delight of the children there were free carnival booths, food, candy and soft drinks. This gala affair concluded with a gigantic fireworks presentation featuring fantastic patriotic displays and music.

When Baby Bill was around nine years old, his Dad was transferred from Nellis in Boone County to Montcoal in Raleigh County with Armco. Shortly after moving, Dad had to go back to Nellis and took Baby Bill along. His Dad stayed in the company boarding house and Baby Bill spent the night with his friend, Windsor Egan.

That same night a terrible explosion occurred in the Nellis mine, killing 11 miners. When a mine safety lantern goes out it is a warning of the presence of explosive gas. The standard safety procedure was to immediately evacuate the work area when the Wheat lamp went out. Instead of evacuating the mine, as they were trained, the foreman sent a miner out to get another lamp, thinking that one was not working properly. Shortly thereafter a spark or match ignited the gas and caused the disaster.

WORLD WAR II

This was a time when the entire nation came together as at no other time in our history. Although the real sacrifices were made by thousands of our soldiers, sailors, marines, and air force personnel, everyone pitched in. There were no defense plants in our small town but the coal mined there was considered essential to the war effort. The men that did not serve in the military were exempt because their jobs were vital to the manufacture of war supplies, were too young (below 18), disabled or were too old (more than 45).The greatest influence on growing up during this time was, without doubt, World War II.

It is absolutely amazing how this war brought everyone together in a well-focused, common cause. Everyone that did not enlist or get drafted, from children to the elders, did everything they could to assist our fighting forces. Battle casualties were terrible and demoralizing but this only seemed to crystalize the community into an all-out effort to support our troops. The children and Mothers raised vegetables in what were known as Victory Gardens thus leaving more food to ship overseas to the troops. The women joined the Red Cross and made bandages, knitted heavy wool sweaters and did many other things for the military.

Baby Bill’s Mother taught him how to knit the main body of those olive drab, wool sweaters — “Knit one, pearl two!” Meat, gasoline, and many other items were rationed, requiring special stamps to get family allowances. It was no wonder that the rest of Baby Bill’s family were shocked when they caught the 7—year old at the dining room table finishing off an entire meatloaf by himself while his Mother was preparing the other dishes in the kitchen.

A Gold Star banner with a dark blue background and gold fringe was hung in the window of families who had a son killed (some had more than one). Soldiers killed in battle were returned stateside for military funerals.

Baby Bill’s cousin, PFC William Doy Stone, was Grandpa Stone’s nephew. He served in the 133rd Infantry and was killed at Po Valley, Italy on only his third day in battle. Doy Stone was just 19. His parents, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Morris, were from Sundial, Raleigh County, West Virginia. In 1998 Baby Bill visited the recently completed war memorial at West Virginia’s State Capitol and found Doy’s name etched in the stone. This brought back memories of the war and reminded him of the military funerals in which he participated.

As a bugler in the Boy Scouts, Baby Bill was asked to play “Taps” for funerals of those returned, some several years after the war’s end. They were conducted by the military personnel who were members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Apparently the VFW didn’t have a trumpet player and asked him to serve in this capacity, wearing his Scout uniform. It always amazed him that while practicing, he could never play “Taps” without a mistake but never seemed to made one while playing for real.

As part of the war propaganda, radio stations often started off the news with the familiar dot-dot—dot-dash (International Morris code for the letter V which symbolized V for victory.) Steve and Bill, being very patriotic, got a bucket of black paint and painted a 3—foot high V followed by a . . . – on the side of their solid yellow house(all the coal miners’ houses were painted yellow except for the large white ones on the upper road where the bosses lived. That row was known as Cigar or Silk Stocking Row.) Little did Baby Bill know but this was an early sign of an aptitude for code for some 11 years later he became a Morris Code interceptor in the Army Security Agency during the Korean War.

THE KOREAN WAR

Corporal Baby Bill was serving, safe and snug, in concrete bunkers on Okinawa some 800 miles from Korea. At the same time mean Dl’ Uncle Don was an infantry officer stationed on the front lines in Korea. He and was wounded and honored with the Bronze Medal for bravery during the battle of Pork Chop Hill. The dangers he faced are indicated by the fact that he said a 45 caliber revolver his Uncle Julian loaned him saved his life more than once. Fortunately, he lived through this ordeal and his wounds were not too serious. Mean ol’ Uncle Steve also served in the US Air Force during this war as a jet engine instructor in Texas.

GRANDPA STONE

Grandpa was a very conservative, deeply religious man and an expert carpenter. He was called on to build such fancy things as spiraling staircases and intricate mantles. In Nellis, Grandpa was the chief carpenter for all of Armco’s company houses. Baby Bill loved the cold green beans that Grandma seasoned with fat back that Grandpa always had in his lunch pail.

Baby Bill seemed to show up just at noon wherever Grandpa happen to be working. Grandpa just couldn’t deny those “puppy dog eyes”. Baby Bill had a summer job between his forestry education at West Virginia University and needed a large plywood, insect incubator box built for oak wilt research. Grandpa built him one in his basement. When the box was just about complete he begin knocking it apart without saying a word. Excitedly, Baby Bill ask why he was dismantling the box and without measuring, Grandpa meekly said, “The box won’t go through my basement door!” About the same time, Grandpa cut his thumb off on a table saw and Baby Bill was the only one available to take him to the nearest hospital in Charleston, a 50 mile trip. Grandpa never drove more than 35 miles an hour even on an empty, straight stretch of road. On this occasion Baby Bill never got under 70 but Grandpa never said a word.

When Grandpa was about 80 he was picking cherries from a large tree in his yard when a limb broke and he fell breaking his neck. Like most people in that era he didn’t trust doctors and had never been in a hospital except for his severed thumb as an outpatient. He detested the hospital stay and insisted they release him. The doctors said he would have to wear a neck brace if he were to get to go home. At first he refused, then finally he agreed. But as soon as he got home he took it off and threw the brace in the closet. Grandpa called the neck brace his “ransom” for getting out of the hospital. His neck healed but it left his head tilted to one side. He continued to be active and lived to nearly 90.

Monday, November 11, 2013