I lived in Middletown during the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and was in the 3rd grade at Lyall J Fink elementary school in the borough. I remember getting an early dismissal from school and going home a few blocks away on Spruce Street. I was not alarmed even though I could tell something was happening.
My father was a Maintenance Supervisor at Three Mile Island (retired), and my parents owned/operated a local bar with co-owners in Middletown called The Railroad House (closed). This bar was a hub for the Three Mile Island workers and our families as it remained open around the clock, my family remained in Middletown during the accident since my father as well as other relatives continued to work at TMI throughout the accident.
The Railroad House continued to serve food and drinks to the locals and we carried on with daily life as usual amongst all the chaos. I vividly remember the T-shirts (which I thought as an 8-year old were hilarious) that were made and sold from The Railroad House. On the front of the shirt was the Three Mile Island cooling towers with the caption “I didn’t die from T.M.I.”, on the back was the Unit 2 reactor with several mutated humans holding up drinks with the caption “I got soused at the Railroad House” “Here’s to you Unit 2”.
I also remember how ironic it was that a week or so prior to the accident I went to the movies with my father and friends to watch the new Michael Douglas film “The China Syndrome” depicting similar events at a nuclear power plant.
front of shirt
back of shirt
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Tom