While the explosion would eventually lead to advancements in mine safety and regulations, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said that the human element of the disaster must never be forgotten.

"(Some of these men) probably coached little league baseball or were deacons in churches around here," Roberts said. "They came from all walks of life and ended up in the coal mine together. They were husbands and fathers and uncles, and maybe even grandfathers. ...

"They were people who contributed to this community. They were alive here, and they were taken way too soon. I think about how hard it was to go from saying goodbye to dad and talking about Christmas and then, just like that, they're gone. Think about what a hole that left in every household."

One of the 19 miners whose body was never recovered was Emilio Megna, whose son Peter was 16 years old when the tragedy occurred.

Megna said that fateful midnight shift was meant to be his father's last before leaving the mining industry to open a business, and he recalls all to well receiving the news of the explosion.

"It was a nightmare from then on through today," Megna said. "It never ends. You think about what could've been if he said 'I'm not going to work.' ... We have to keep this going and let people know what happened."

Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., was 21 when the explosion happened, and not only lost his uncle in the tragedy, but also some of his friends. 

"It's a day that will live in infamy for me," Manchin said. "Everyone was in disarray. I remember sitting at the company store for three days just waiting to hear any news at all, and they finally told us they were going to have to seal the mines. It was one of the worst days of our lives, knowing that our loved ones would be entombed there and we'd never get them out. It was a hard time, but we haven't forgotten it 56 years later."

While Consol No. 9 wasn't the largest or deadliest coal mining disaster in the country, it was the first to be seen nationally and worldwide thanks to advances in technology and media.

This paved the way for a march in Washington, D.C. led by the families of the 78 miners lost, which in turn spurred passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, which forever made the dangerous act of coal mining a safer career for thousands of Americans.

While those regulations have been critical in protecting coal miners across the country ever since, Roberts said that the 78 men who died on Nov. 20 1968 can never become just a statistic, and their memory must live on.

"If we didn't do anything else here, we should be honoring the fact that they walked here and contributed to this world, and they were made by God himself," Roberts said. "They were heroes, which is true, and they saved many lives with their sacrifice, which is true, but they were also real people. They were loved by many, and they would've been loved by more were their lives not cut short."