Colonel George M. Chinn's (1902-1987) life story reads more like fiction than the biography of a Kentucky soldier. A smart and fun-loving character, Chinn attended Centre College and played on the famous "Praying Colonels" football team that won the 1921 national championship. After graduation, he returned to his home in Mercer County and partnered with munitions expert "Tunnel" Smith to dynamite a cliff. The resulting hole became Chinn's Cave House - a diner that also functioned as an underground gambling operation during Prohibition. He even served as Governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler's bodyguard before joining the Marine Corps in 1943. In Kentucky Maverick, Carlton Jackson details the life of a legendary and highly decorated Marine whose career spanned both world wars, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Chinn's service paired a love of history with a special kind of genius: he documented the history of military technology while designing innovative weapons such as the M-19 automatic grenade launcher, which is still used in the armed forces today. After leaving the Corps, Chinn leaned on his many connections to become the director of the Kentucky Historical Society. Carlton Jackson's entertaining biography weaves together outrageous tales of gunplay and politics while revealing Chinn's sense of humor, unbending will, and a sense of destiny that could only be fulfilled by a true twentieth-century Renaissance man.
- ISBN10 081316107X
- ISBN13 9780813161075
- Publish Date 6 July 2015
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University Press of Kentucky
- Format eBook
- Pages 224
- Language English