Ira I. Boggs (1895-1983), a veteran of World War I, was a West Virginia mountaineer as rugged as the mountains in which he lived most of his life. He survived by practicing his strong Christian faith, toughened by hard work while growing up in a large family sustained only by the fat of the land and the sweat of the brow. His machine gun battalion was alternately labeled Pershing’s Pets and the Sightseeing Battalion because they followed behind the main front and traveled extensively while in ready reserve for their final sacrifice. A less envious title for a machine gun unit was The Suicide Troops. (In battle, they had an average life expectancy of seven minutes.) He was on his way to the active front when the armistice was declared, but he narrowly escaped some enemy bombs when his unit lit up their campfires in a premature anticipation of cease-fire. His extensive travels gave him a special appreciation for the natural beauty of his home state, and he had a rare talent for describing it.
