I can attest to that ... in a fashion. I met Eugene Stoner ... as a Canadian serving in the US Marine Corps in 1964. The Marine Corps was testing the '63 Stoner System and my platoon at PI was involved. Eugene Stoner visited PI while our platoon qualified at the rifle range testing his weapon system. Didn't speak to him as a recruit, of course, but I spoke with his widow some 45 years later at a PI Stoner Plt. re-union.
That’s pretty cool. I know the feeling being a brand new private and having the top dogs around. I was 2PPCLI for a time and 3 tours. I generally didn’t engage too many in conversation that out ranked me significantly.