A few names were known in full, some in part, some not at all. No one cared. Except in clearly unreasonable cases, a soldier was generally called by the name he preferred, or by what he called himself, and no great effort was made to disentangle Christian names from surnames from nicknames.Tim OBrien
About This Quote
The person who was in charge of the military called the men by their surnames. If the man preferred to be known by a nickname, he was referred to by that nickname. For instance, if someone called himself “Joe,” he would be addressed as “Joe” and not as “Private Joe” or “Sergeant Joe.”
Source: Going After Cacciato
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