The Community Times Dispatch

Funeral director was trapped in wreckage for nearly 3 hours

Community members will pay final tribute to the late Ernest Jackson Mungo, Jr., former director of Mungo Funeral Home, at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at Saints Center Ministries, 106 Colson Street in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Reports indicate that his life was claimed following a tragic accident, which left him trapped in a 2007 Cadillac on Sidneys Road for several hours.

According to Lance Corporal Bob Beres of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, on Friday, December 7, 2007, the vehicle was traveling north, when it went off the right side of the highway. The driver, which was Mungo, overcorrected back to the left and then back to the right, ran off the road and struck a tree.

Colleton County Fire-Rescue Executive Director Barry McRoy said Fire-Rescue personnel responded to the accident at 18:06 Friday night. Mungo was wearing a seatbelt; however, he was heavily entrapped in the wreckage with most of his lower body crushed between the car dash and the floor. His upper body was pinned between the tree, roof and door.

Personnel from Sherrill’s Wrecker Service and Tommie’s Wrecker Service assisted Colleton County Fire-Rescue with the extrication of Mungo’s entrapped body. Paramedics were able to conduct certain medical procedures and administer medications. Mungo was extricated after two and a half hours, placed into an ambulance and transported to Colleton Medical Center where he died of his injuries.

One Firefighter-Paramedic was injured when the steering wheel airbag deployed, two hours and fifteen minutes into the extrication. The force of the deployment struck the firefighter in the arm and face, knocking him out of the vehicle. He was transported by Medic 9 to the Colleton Medical Center.

Ernest Jackson Mungo Jr., was born December 1, 1930 to the late Reverend Ernest Jackson Mungo Sr., and the late Keturah Reid Mungo. He was the eldest of eight children. He departed this life on December 7, 2007 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Brothers Charles Jackson Mungo and Van Curtis Mungo preceded him in death as well as his first-born son Ernie Jacquet Mungo.

E.J. as he was affectionately known was converted at an early age and was a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, Kershaw, South Carolina that his father the late Reverend Mungo founded.

E.J. received his early education at Lancaster Training School in Lancaster, South Carolina. Upon graduating high school, he enlisted in the United States Army where he fought in the Korean War and was awarded the distinguished Purple Heart. Upon his return from the war, E.J. enrolled in the McAllister School of Embalming in New York where he graduated in December 1950.

After graduation, E.J. opened Mungo Funeral Home in Kershaw, South Carolina. During this time he married the late Eddilue Asgill Mungo and to this union three children were born.

While his business flourished in Kershaw, he and his late brother Charles opened Mungo Funeral Home in Lancaster, South Carolina. After several years in business, E.J. moved to New York where he continued his trade. After a brief stay in New York, E.J. then moved to Walterboro, South Carolina where he opened the present Mungo Funeral Home.

While in Walterboro, E.J. was affiliated with numerous organizations which included: The Walterboro Chamber of Commerce; The Walterboro Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen; Masonic Lodge #75, 32^nd Degree Consistory and the Shriners Walterboro Temple # 20.

E.J. was a humanitarian, a philanthropist and he was considered a “father” to many. He gave his time and his service to those in need throughout South Carolina.

On January 24, 1986, E.J. married Ella M. Way and to this union a son was born.

Ernest Jackson Mungo Jr., leaves to cherish his memory his wife Ella, two daughters, Octavia Mungo Jones, Sanford, FL., Sheresa Mungo (Leroy) Ingram, Lancaster, SC., one stepdaughter, Christie Hazel, Brooklyn, NY., one son, Ernest Jackson Mungo III, Walterboro, SC., five sisters, Jessie Williams, Columbia, SC, Emma S. Exum, Capitol Heights, MD., Mary K. Criss, Lancaster, SC., Ada M. Mungo, Columbia, SC., Keturah M. Sanders, Augusta, GA., four grandchildren, five step grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends.