I have never met Charlie Herzog, but I have long surmised that he and Colonel Bruce Day are good friends. How that came about I cannot say. I have had the pleasure of speaking with Bruce a few times on our cell fones, but have not yet met him. I had hoped to do so in June 2010, when I attended my first "Yooper Shoot", but Bruce had to bow out at the last moment, as some storm damage in KS had nearly demolished part of his house there.
One point of correction- nothing to do with grammar or snytax, but my late Grandfather's two 12 bore Parkers are Grade 6 guns- AH(E), not the next higher grade, AAH(E) or grade 7 as you surmised. They were his live bird and game guns- like me today, he favored the 12 bores, although he and my Dad gave a me 20 gauge M12 (28" mod) on my 12th Birthday. By age 15 I was shooting 12 gauge guns exclusively, except the 30 for rabbits and squirrels.
You raise a fair point, and I try to pay extra close attention to any especially made by LIFE members here, as that indicates a serious commitment, at least to me. If Mae and I drive out, and as we are both serious history buffs, and there are so many sites in MD etc. from the War of Nawthern Aggression that ripped apart our land for four years, we may well do that, I will bring one of the two AH grade guns and allow Bill to look it over to his heart's content- shooting it- that might be a 'whole 'nother ballgame', we shall see.
Howsome-ever, if we fly out. all bets are canceled- I'd trust a politician before I'd entrust the airlines and the TSA goons with any valuable gun. Fair enuf???
