My grandfather was a coal miner in Southern Illinois. Severely burned in a mine explosion and recovered, only to be killed a few years later by a passing car while assisting another driver on the shoulder at dusk. I was very young and only have hazy memories of him. Rough job, going down into a hole in the ground. After that, they really ruined the landscape around there with strip mining, using those huge shovels and trucks that are two stories tall.