Rex Applegate

June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998

  • Learned marksmanship from his uncle Gus Peret
  • 1940 graduated from the University of Oregon with a Business Degree
  • 1940 join US Army
  • developed armed and unarmed close quarter combat courses for the US Army
  • 1941 recruited by Wild Bill Donovan for the OSS
  • close-combat coordinator for all clandestine missions  in WWII
  • personal bodyguard to President Franklin D Roosevelt
  • 1943 he wrote Kill or Get Killed
  • 1980s designed the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife
  • 1994 inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame