Memorial Day

[eagle]

Hi, all.

We all know that TSM's middle name is "Sullivan." I wonder: is that a tie to the Sullivan brothers from Iowa, who died in service?

Just something to ponder this Memorial Day, as we take a moment to remember those who died in service.

Hmm...

[MagnumILWU]

The 5 Sullivan brothers died aboard the USS Juneau, in November of 1942! Nothing to do with Pearl Harbor!

[eagle]

Well, now my WW2 ignorance is well known, oops, and I wonder why I had connected the two. I must have read an article about the Sullivans too quickly, but at least they died in service and so I'm not a complete maroon.

I assume the "Magnum" in his name has to do with ammo sizes, but maybe I'm wrong about that one too.

[Reef monkey]

I'm sure you're right that "Magnum" was picked for the character's last name because of its associations with powerful ammunition rounds. Watching the show as a little kid I had a cap gun that looked like an M1911 and had "Magnum .45" on the side, and it took a few years before I learned that an M1911 didn't actually fire a .45 Magnum round.

A side note, I was watching the original National Lampoon's Vacation a week or so ago, and when Clark Griswold is forcing John Candy's character to go with him on all the rides at Wally World, Candy looks at the M1911 style bb gun Griswald has and says "That's not even a real gun, is it Clark?" and Clark replies "What are you talking about, this is a Mangum PI!"