George Morgan Chinn (January 15, 1902September 4, 1987) was an American weapons expert and soldier. He attended
Centre College, and played on the
1921 Centre Praying Colonels football team
The 1921 Centre Praying Colonels football team represented Centre College of Danville, Kentucky in the 1921 college football season. Led by coach Charley Moran, the Praying Colonels compiled a 10–1 record, scoring 334 points while allowing 28 ...
, which won the national championship. Chinn then opened a diner in a cave, known as 'The Cave House', which also functioned as an underground gambling center. He served as the bodyguard of
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also se ...
while he was governor of Kentucky. Chinn was also Sergeant of Arms for the Kentucky Legislature. Later he was the production line inspector for several weapons' manufacturers, and eventually, a
Marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
. He designed the
Mk 19 grenade launcher
The Mk 19 grenade launcher (pronounced Mark 19) is an American 40 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher that was first developed during the Vietnam War.
Overview
The Mk 19 is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-serve ...
.
Eventually one of the United States's premier arms experts, Bill Bright said of him "He did for military weapons what Wozniak and Gates did for computers. He added the right pieces to make them reliable and usable. He was what was then called a garage (in his case, cave) inventor." Chin retired to become director of the
Kentucky Historical Society from 1960 to 1973, and later
Kentucky Military History Museum.
Early life
Chinn was born on January 15, 1902, to George P. Chinn (the warden of a state
penitentiary) and Anna (Carlisle) Chinn (who would die eight years later). His grandfather
John Pendleton Chinn, was a member of the Kentucky State Legislature. He grew up in Mundy's Landing, Kentucky. Chinn attended Braxton Hall and
Millersburg Military Institute, both of which he disliked. At the Military Institute, he set a state record in the javelin throw. Though he would not graduate until 1920, in December 1918, Chinn was to have been commissioned as an officer in France, but
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
ended before he could.
While at
Centre College, Chinn played football and wrote, among other places, in the local newspaper, ''The Advocate.'' Playing as a lineman, Chinn started games in
1920
Events January
* January 1
** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20.
** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...
and
1921
Events
January
* January 2
** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil.
** The Spanish lin ...
, though, as a result of constant injuries he often served as an assistant coach.
He worked as a golf salesman for
Lowe and Campbell Athletic Goods before leaving Centre to be assistant coach with
Charley Moran at
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
. Chinn left to coach at
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
, and later
Catawba University (at the latter of which he was often in practice the head coach). By 1930, Chinn was recognized as one of the best college football coaches in the country.
Chinn hired a man known as Tunnel Smith to help him build a diner in a cave, which he called 'The Cave House'. The restaurant soon proved immensely popular, attracting thousands of people. On the side, he ran an illegal slot machine operation and liquor business. When arrested, Chinn was acquitted as he argued it was not an illegal game of chance, because it was impossible to win. He was also involved in restoring a ferry known as the ''Iron Duke.''
Military
Unemployed, Chinn turned to his old friend, at the time governor of Kentucky,
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also se ...
. He served as a tour guide, and Sergeant at Arms for the
Kentucky State Legislature
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives.
The General Assembly meets annually in t ...
. He got to know the capitol and its workings well enough that some thought he should run for governor.
[ pp. 49, 56] Chinn later served as the bodyguard for Chandler and
Jack Dempsey when he spent time in Kentucky.
In 1939, he took a job as a weapons consultant to the army.
Eager to serve in the war, Chinn demanded to Chandler that he be allowed to join the Marines. He objected, saying "You're over forty years old, and you weigh 330 pounds! You'll get in the way and you’ll get killed, and you’ll get other people killed, too. Go home!" Eventually, Chandler relented.
He was 118 pounds over the weight limit, and ten years over the age limit.
Chinn received basic training at
Quantico, Virginia, and was then stationed at
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...
and
Cherry Point. He made a series of improvements to the
Browning .50 caliber machine gun, impressing his superiors. Chinn was then assigned to respond to questions regarding various guns. He worked on weaponry at the
Naval Air Test Center
Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River.
It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Sys ...
, the Navy Proving Grounds, the Naval Aviation Ordnance Testing Station and
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installat ...
. In 1945 Chinn travelled to the
Pacific Theatre, inspecting capabilities of the Marines. At the end of the war, Chinn, by then a colonel was one of the most prominent weapons experts in the army.
From 1946 to 1956, Chinn worked on a four volume, 500,000 word history of the
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
. He also worked extensively on the twenty-millimeter turret. During the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, he was assigned to
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
and
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. He worked extensively on the
Mk 19 grenade launcher
The Mk 19 grenade launcher (pronounced Mark 19) is an American 40 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher that was first developed during the Vietnam War.
Overview
The Mk 19 is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-serve ...
.
[ pp. 68-71]