Today I learned that Harland Sanders was never a military colonel. He never actually served in the military. Instead, Kentucky Governer Ruby Laffoon gave Harland Sanders the title of “Kentucky Colonel” in order to boost his political support. The whole “Colonel Sanders” branding is a sham designed to promote the state of Kentucky.
From Wikipedia
In 1930, the Shell Oil Company offered Sanders a service station in North Corbin, Kentucky, rent-free, in return for paying the company a percentage of sales.
Sanders began to serve chicken dishes and other meals such as country ham and steaks. Initially he served the customers in his adjacent living quarters before opening a restaurant.
It was during this period that Sanders was involved in a shootout with Matt Stewart, a local competitor who had painted over a sign directing traffic to Sanders’s station. Stewart killed a Shell employee who was with Sanders, and was convicted of murder, eliminating Sanders’s competition.