It seems that against the army regulations none of the soldiers in Platoon wear a name tag. It would solved the Elias-as-first-or-last-name mystery, but it’s not so easy. Today I spotted the first one though. Wolfe has one on his flack jacket. Do I get a prize for finding it? 😛
… the story about a famous chief of Chiricahua Apache tribe. The movie is from 1950 and I have a blurred memory of it from my childhood. I suspect the storyline has not much in common with history, but the movie-Cochise was the one who chooses peace, in contrary to militant Geronimo, so the name O’Neill gives Elias in the script somehow makes sense. Even the tribe is the same (reference)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochise
http://www.desertusa.com/magfeb98/feb_pap/du_apache.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache#Chiricahua
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042286
PS: Movie Cochise has a scar on his right cheek, even if the old photographs show the real Cochise had none. Not that it makes sense, but I had to smile seeing it.
Worn by VietCong. Finally found a decent photo of them HERE
