As the 1920s crashed into the 1930s, great changes were afoot in Henderson, KY. Prohibition had ended. FDR shuts up the ill-health naysayers (thanks Bernarr, and Liberty magazine) on the way to being sworn in as president, and someone, or some people, be they mobsters, crooked labor union thugs, some Arkansas Traveller, or some other nefarious slickers, threatened to kidnap Henry Kraver’s grandson, Roy “Sonny” Taylor, Jr.

So, Henry sent “Sonny” down to Castle Heights Military Academy* for safe keeping. “Sonny” ended up in Gen. George S. Patton’s inner circle after charging a machine gun nest, earning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart in the process. And we shall refer to Roy as “Ace” now, the nickname bestowed on him by the General himself. Patton also gave Ace his beloved, custom sidearm, a Colt army issued 1911 .45 pistol. Then Patton died. Ace went to Hawaii to command the 35th. And Corky learned to surf.

*Henry Kraver died four years later, a victim of injuries sustained after a suspicious “fall” (off the mezzanine, down the stairs?) at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, IL. Sixty three thousand barrels and countless bottles of prohibition whiskey later.

Ace fought in Korea and was wounded-in-action (again), was the first officer on the ground in Vietnam, and planned a Bay of Pigs invasion with General Westmoreland. Corky absorbed the art of surfing from Paoa “Duke” Kahanamoku, shlepped golf clubs for General Westmoreland, and earned his own stripes at Castle Heights Military Academy while rooming with Gregg Allman (we don’t talk about Al Gore). Then, after schlepping out of a macher deal on the 50th floor at Rockefeller Center (not Pan Am, mind you), he resurrected Henry’s distillery (DSP-KY-50) and wound up in the Bourbon Hall of Fame.