September 7th is the birthday of Richard Cole, born in 1915. Cole is one of just two living Doolittle Raiders. He was General Doolittle’s co-pilot. This is also the birthday of novelist Taylor Caldwell (born 1900 – August 30, 1985).
Today is also the birthday of Dr. Ludwig Vorgrimler (born 1912 in Freiburg, Germany; died 1983). Vorgrimler was the designer of the Spanish CETME rifle, from which sprang a plethora of roller-lock descendants from HK, including the G3, HK21, and MP5. His bolt design was also copied by the Swiss for their excellent PE57 and SIG 510 rifles. (Although the Swiss felt obliged to mount a “beer keg” charging handle on the right side of the receiver, for the sake of familiarity to Schmidt-Rubin shooters.)