Fictional Soldiers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Major Major Major

Major Major Major is a fictional character in Joseph Heller's satirical novel, "Catch-22", published in 1961. He appears in Chapter 9, which is also the standard designation for a bankruptcy proceeding or a type of army discharge for rehabilitation failure...coincidence? Major Major is a sad and lonely character.

He grew up with no mother, with a joke for a name and a resemblance to Henry Fonda which seems to work to his disadvantage. As a child he was disliked by his peers and adults as well. His skills were mediocre at best.

When he enlists in the army he is immediately promoted to major due to a computer glitch, and becomes everyone's superior without any experience.

Answer: General Bashington Bullmoose

"Li'l Abner" was a comic strip created by Al Capp (1909-1979) which satirized Southern conventions. The strip ran for 43 years, from 1934 through 1977, becoming a stage play and a movie. The main characters were hillbillies who lived in Dogpatch, U.S.A.

In June 1953 we first meet one of the supporting characters, General Bullmoose. Bullmoose is the prototype of the mercenary, cold-blooded, capitalist tycoon. He is a bombastic tyrant whose slogan is "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A." (a slogan paraphrased from the former head of General Motors).

His dream in life: to possess all the money in the world.

Answer: Ensign Frank Pulver

We first meet Ensign Pulver in a 1948 play based on a novel by Thomas Heggen. Henry Fonda played the title role, which he reprised in the 1955 film of the same name. The film takes place aboard the Navy cargo ship 'Reluctant' in the last days of World War II. Lieutenant Roberts desperately wants a transfer to join the fighting, but his superior officer continues to reject them. Ensign Pulver winds up sharing quarters with Roberts but is his polar opposite. Pulver spends most of his time in his bunk trying to avoid the captain at all costs.

In fact, the captain doesn't even know that Pulver is part of his crew.

Answer: Captain Wilton Parmenter

"Accidentally heroic and chronically inept" is the description of Wilton Parmenter who was given command and made captain of Fort Courage, Kansas. At the end of the Civil War, the Army sent its most useless men to the dumping ground at Fort Courage. This was the plot of the TV comedy called "F Troop" from 1965 to 1967, a kind of old west version of Ernie Bilko on the earlier "Phil Silvers Show" with its illegal activities.

Then, of course, there were also the Indians (before they were 'native Americans') called the Hekawi tribe, named after the statement/question: "We're the hekawi"?!

Answer: Private Will Stockdale

Based on the best-selling 1954 novel by Mac Hyman, "No Time for Sergeants" was made into a 1958 movie. The film starred the inimitable Andy Griffith as hillbilly and new recruit, Private Will Stockdale, as perhaps, one of the dumbest men ever to join the Air Force.

His sergeant puts him in charge of the latrines, and Will thinks it is a promotion. When he learns that someone from his group had ROTC, Stockdale thinks it's a disease. However, in Mr. Magoo like fashion, he always comes out okay, even to the point of getting his sergeant demoted.

When he finally gets up in the air in a plane, watch out!

Answer: Lieutenant Dan Taylor

Life, for Lieutenant Dan Taylor, was not such "a box of chocolates". Lt. Dan, as he was called, was played by Gary Sinese in the film "Forrest Gump" (1994). The lieutenant was Forrest's commanding officer in 1967 during the Vietnam War, where he losses both legs. Dan blames Forrest for saving his life when he should have died in a war like the other men in his family from the Revolutionary War all the way up through World War II. Dan and Forrest get separated but meet up again in New York in 1971 and become partners in the lucrative Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

Answer: Admiral William Adama

Edward James Olmos (from "Miami Vice") moves up several notches to become Admiral William Adama on the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" (2004-2009).
The original "Battlestar Galactica" from 1978 to 1979 had Lorne Greene (Ben Cartwright) playing Commander Adama. In the original, the fighter leads a fleet in a search for the legendary planet Earth. The 21st century version is much darker, as mankind's survivors struggle against the robot Cylons, literal killing machines. Adama leads the Galactica which protects the 'rag-tag' fleet of civilians.

Answer: Sergeant Vince Carter

Actor Frank Sutton (1923-1974) played Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter on the sitcom "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." from 1964 to 1969. ("Gawwww-leeeee"). Sergeant Carter was Gomer Pyle's easily exasperated drill sergeant, and the foil for the less-than-bright-bulb known as Gomer.

This show was a spin-off from "The Andy Griffith Show" where Gomer was an auto mechanic in Mayberry. Sergeant Carter, like us, probably wondered how Gomer ever made it into the Marine Corps.

Answer: Corporal Nym

Corporal Nym is a fictional character who appears in two of William Shakespeare's works, i.e., the comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor", published in 1602, and "Henry V" from 1600. Nym is a soldier, a criminal and one of the servants (along with Pistol) of Sir John Falstaff.

In "Henry V", the laconic Nym and bombastic Pistol argue, reconcile, and join Henry's army in order to profit from plundering in France. Poor Corporal Nym winds up hanged for looting. His name, "nym", may have been derived from the Old English word "nim", meaning 'to take', indicating the character's propensity for theft.

Answer: Commander William Riker

"Number One", Commander William Thomas Riker, was played by Jonathan Frakes on the science fiction show "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994). He was a commanding officer and a commanding presence for the Federation on the Starship Enterprise and second to none, except Jean-Luc Picard. Riker appeared throughout the series and the subsequent films as the first officer and, for a short time, the captain.

At the end of the movie "Star Trek: Nemesis" (2002), he accepts command of the USS Titan. You go Will!