I will never forget seeing my father grab his donkey-jacket and shovel to go help dig for these children. I was their age exactly. He didn't come home for 2 weeks, and when he did, he could not speak for days. He was utterly broken. The things he saw were horrific. We who were there will never forget Aberfan. 😢 😢
@homebird I had never heard of this but just read about it... unimaginable horror.😭 The fact that the tip liquefied and then resolidified after everything settled must have made it many times more difficult for people like your dad. Where did you live at the time?
@hallmarc I lived just over the hill from there. Fortunately in a different school. Yes, the tip liquified. And the scandal of it all is that the Coal Board were warned it was happening, and knew about it. They have never fully been held accountable.
@homebird yes, I read that there were no prosecutions. In the states it would have been considered gross criminal negligence and in those days it would have been prosecuted as such, even against appointed officials. Today they would get off scot free.
@hallmarc They paid off the parents with a pittance. Just like Trump!
@homebird i think they did a tv show on this incident and i just googled it to remind myself. how horrific. i can't imagine the trauma of your father having to do that work. burying 1 child is hard enough. burying over a 100 at one time? unimaginable.
@homebird I saw the episode of this on the Crown and I believe a Welsh series covered it as well. Bless your father for that work, what a terrible event and such trauma.
@Anemone He was, in my eyes, a hero, as were all the men who went that day. Their lives were never the same.
What a devastating tragedy 😞 I didn’t know about this until I saw your post, and I will not forget, now 💜
I’m sorry for the trauma this caused for your father and for all of the people affected by the disaster.
🫂💜
@Minholkin Thank you, sweetie <3
@homebird Oh gosh! It was truly awful. I didn't know you were there. 🫂
@stueytheround Yeah, one of those things that are "etched" in the memory.
@homebird 💔