Book salutes 1963 rescue

As David Fellin was being lifted from the mine shaft that nearly became his grave in 1963, rescuers could hear him singing “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain When She Comes.”

One of the rescue team members, J. Ronnie Sando of Beaver Meadows, remembers that moment and the whole operation clearly – almost as if it were yesterday and not 44 years ago.

Sando said he felt so strongly about the first-of-its-kind rescue, that he decided to write a book about it – a book he said should have been written years ago about an event that brought worldwide attention to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Sheppton mine collapse caught the nation’s attention when three independent miners were trapped more than 300 feet below the surface. Henry Throne, Fellin and Louis Bova were trapped inside the mine. Throne and Fellin were rescued, but Bova’s body was never recovered.

Sando said the technology used in 1963 -- drilling a bore hole to make contact with trapped miners -- is the same technique being used in Huntington, Utah, where six miners have been trapped and three rescue workers have lost their lives.

“When I heard that on the news, I got sick to my stomach and I cried,” Sando, 69, said of the Huntington effort. “But that’s how miners are. We are a brotherhood. We will die for each other. What happened in Utah proves that.”

Sando’s book, “The Famous Sheppton Mine Rescue – The Untold Story: The Blood and Sweat of the Rescue Team” – details the rescue and tells the story of how hope, hard work and maybe even help from above all played a factor. The book can be purchased on the Web site PublishAmerica.com or through Panorama Magazine’s Web site panorama@sunlink.net.

Sando and many other employees of Sullivan Trail Coal Co., which was owned by Louis Pagnotti Sr., worked tirelessly at the site for 14 days to free the miners.

The book has several pictures of the Sheppton rescue and it’s filled with details as told and experienced by Sando. It even addresses the allegation of cannibalism that went away almost as fast as it was brought up.

“There were people saying that Fellin and Throne resorted to cannibalism to survive,” Sando said. “The state police did investigate and Andrew Drabitko who was the head of the Independent Miners Association was lowered into the shaft to look for Bova’s body.”

Sando said a camera image that had been lowered into the site where the miners were rescued showed what looked to be a body with a miner’s hat. Sando said the image proved to be a wooden mine prop that Fellin or Throne had placed a helmet on when they were being lifted out. No charges were ever filed and the theory of cannibalism was never again mentioned.

“I can still see the three wives of the miners sitting in lawn chairs and crying,” Sando said. “They kept us going and I’ll never forget that.”

Sando is also a noted musician, having played with Elvis Presley’s band the Jordanaires. He has written several songs and he was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in January.

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