MARCH 1999 V. 63, N. 3
| FEATURE | MARCH 1999 V. 63, N. 3 | | |
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 Rocket Boys By Mark Toor Photographs Courtesy of Homer H. Hickam Jr. Having worked in the upper Kanawha Valley coal mines in the late 1950s, I can relate to the story of the Rocket Boys, especially the descriptions of coal mining in the southern part of the state. With a rich gift for storytelling, the author brings to life the tale of his youth with vivid details and heart-warming characters. This is truly one of the more touching and well written books set in southern West Virginia. Arnout Hyde Jr. The small town of Coalwood, West Virginia is now just a spot on the map. In Homer Hickam’s recent memoir, Rocket Boys, however, Coalwood comes back to life, through a vibrant depiction of the sights, sounds and even smells of the town and its diverse inhabitants. Hickam tells the story of a town often bitterly divided by the industry on which their fortunes live and die. The townspeople are brought together, however, by a young boy named Sonny, his intrepid group of friends, and their shared dreams. With the Soviet launch of Sputnik, Sonny's imagination takes off, and he and his friends start building rockets. Amazingly, the Rocket Boys' experiments help the town rediscover a sense of community and hope that transcends the barriers of labor strife, ethnic divisiveness and class struggle.  From the first pages of Rocket Boys it becomes apparent that Hickam set out to tell more than the remarkable tale of the teenage boys of the Big Creek Missile Agency, as they called themselves, who created sophisticated rockets from little more than coal mine scrap. Hickam recalls his relationship with his emotionally reserved father, the town's gruff mine superintendent, a man with more time for the mine than his family. Sonny's sensitive mother, a woman hardened by years of worry and resignation, recognizes her son's endeavors as Sonny's ticket out of Coalwood. Through the construction of his rockets, Hickam begins to understand his family and to appreciate their role in his growth. He also grows to understand Coalwood, and the fact that the entire town relies on his father and the mine he manages with authority and intelligence.On another level, Rocket Boys paints in vivid and detailed colors the story of a West Virginia coal town, a story that has too often been whitewashed with the broad brush strokes of a particular political or social advocacy. Coalwood is a cross section of 1950s America: Christian and Jew, black and white, rich and poor, labor and management. Growing up in the house of the man to whom they all reported, Hickam is free not to judge people for their differences. In exchange, the Rocket Boys offer the town a common thread that weaves a supportive fabric for the whole community. The need for this common ground in a community that knows it is surviving on a exhaustible resource is what supplies Hickam and the Rocket Boys with the capacity to succeed. As the coal reserves dwindle, the town finds, invests in, and supports a new and valuable resource: the enthusiasm and intelligence of its youth.  Hickam's writing reveals nothing of the technical and linear path that eventually led him to a career as a NASA engineer. He does capture the dark fear that surrounds the dangerous reality that is coal mining. He delicately addresses some of the emotional milestones of his youth. Finally, he brings to life with hilarious detail some of his teenage years more typical experiences: violent sibling disputes, broken hearts, and well-intentioned, but sometimes flawed, science experiments.The story of how teenage boys from an isolated corner of nowhere design and build rockets out of nothing but curiosity, ingenuity and creative mischief is fascinating and fresh in Hickam's hands. Of equal interest, however, is the story of how a small part of West Virginia history demonstrates the power of a community to wound and heal, to fail and succeed, and to unite and grow. Rocket Boys artfully captures a piece of the spirit that sets West Virginia apart from everywhere else. Purchase Rocket Boys from our Bookshelf Mark Toor is not a native of West Virginia, but has called it home for the last 12 years. He currently works in management for a large coal company in the Southern West Virginia coal fields.
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