They are older now, but still sturdy. Several walk slowly, one with a cane. They use nicknames they gave each other more than 20 years ago when their lives — entrusted to one another in their dangerous work — became forever entwined in history.

The Quecreek miners, whose story of entrapment, near-death and rescue captivated an anxious nation 20 years ago, met for a reunion on a balmy evening earlier this month at the Somerset Country Club in Somerset, Pa.