Combs rose from poverty in his native Clay County to obtain a law degree from the University of Kentucky and open a law practice in Prestonsburg . He was decorated for prosecuting Japanese war criminals before military tribunals following World War II , then returned to Kentucky and his law practice . In 1951 , Governor Lawrence Wetherby appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Kentucky Court of Appeals . Later that year , he was elected to a full term on the court , defeating former governor and judge Simeon S. Willis . Kentucky 's Democratic Party had split into two factions by 1955 when Earle C. Clements , the leader of one faction , chose Combs to challenge former governor and U.S. Senator A. B. " Happy " Chandler , who headed the other , in the upcoming gubernatorial primary
Japanese war criminals
Japanese war crimes
Bert Combs