{Whitesville, West Virginia}...Two years after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, the UBB Miners Memorial will be unveiled Friday afternoon in a public ceremony to begin at 2:00 P.M. in Whitesville. Mike Gwinn, who has been working on the project for more than a year, says the 48-foot granite wall that's at the center of the memorial exceeds his expectations. The memorial is etched with the outlines of 29 miners who died in the April 2010 explosion. On the back is the history of coal mining in West Virginia and the names of those killed at UBB. Those speaking at the event are Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Senator Joe Manchin, 2nd District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, 3rd District Congressman Nick Rahall and Joe Main, the head of MSHA. The monument will be unveiled by members of the mine rescue teams that participated in the search and recovery. The honored guests for the day's event are the families of those killed at UBB. The UBB families will get the first look at the monument during a special tour of the memorial before the event.
