Born — December 25, 1924. Six years old in 1930, but his birthday was not early enough for him to start school. He started 1st grade in 1931. Pistol High School in 1940s had only 11 grades. Les was in the 10th grade at the time of Pearl Harbor (age sixteen; almost seventeen).
Pistol Timeline Timeline
Les and Lou, illicit sex, September, 1939. Les was fourteen; Lou, sixteen.
Teddy, bi-racial son, born June 19, 1940.
Les graduated from high school in May of 1943 at age 18. Despite being counseled otherwise, went straight into the army that summer. After basic, he volunteered for the airborne.
June 6, 1944. Les was 19 years old when he jumped with the 101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles, into Normandy. His was a member the 3rd Battalion, 502d PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment). Pissing, puking, praying American teenagers.
Bastogne, December 25, 1944. Les gets his leg blown off on his 20th birthday. His friend Deuce is killed.
December 24, 1945, Homecoming parade and dance welcoming Les, “Hero of Bastogne.” It was his first encounter with Molly Hathaway.
Marriage to Molly Hathaway. April 1, 1946. Les is 21. Marriage lasts less than a year during which Molly has abortion and an affair with Hugh Boylan. She leaves with her mother to get a quickie Reno divorce.
Sunday, September 17, 1947. Les’ second marriage to Penny, Penelope Bond, in St. Louis, MO.
Birth of triplets. Daughters. June l9. Same birthday as Teddy.
The year begins with Les receiving the Jaycees “Young Man of the Year” award in January, and includes the death/murder of Lou by the Klan, February.
Les retaliates in March; kills Michael Cusack, Klansman. He held Cusack responsible for Lou’s death. Cusack was another character from Ulysses, the Cyclops.
Trial and conviction — August, 1949.
Angola bound. On day of arrival, September 1, he is thrown down steps and gets a severe head injury. Hallucination comparable to “Bloom in Nighttown” from Joyce’s Ulysses.
In February, Les is pardoned by Governor Earl K. Long. Rehabilitated in a Houston clinic at expense of his former father-in-law, Fate Hathaway. Returns to Pistol on June 1, 1950.
October 31, 1952 — Halloween. Fatal car wreck. Les is 26 years old.
Pistol CharactersStories
Warden, Angola, Louisiana State Prison
Local toughs. No friends of Les.
A woman Les meets in a Norman villiage close to Cherbourge prior to the return of his unit to England.
Klansman. Murderer of Lou. Name linked to “The Citizen” of Joyce’s novel who torments Bloom in Barney Kiernan’s Pub. Cusack played football for Pistol Thicket High School a few years ahead of Les and was an All-State lineman and shot putter.
Paratrooper and blasphemous friend, tutor and critic of Les. Especially took aim and ridiculed Les’ religious background. Killed on Christmas day, Bastogne.
Friend of Les who summoned him to Arcadia and documented the tryst of Molly and Hugh Boylan.
Father of Molly and town’s wealthiest man. He remained supportive of Les through divorce from his daughter Molly and years afterwards.
An English nurse with whom Les becomes involved during a hospital stay. Back in England a month after the Normandy landing, he broke a leg from a training mishap.
Jacob Jacobi – Army buddy. They renew acquaintance in St. Louis. Jacob arranges a wedding ceremony for Les and Penny.
Les’ defense attorney. Counter-part of wise old Nestor in Homer’s epic.
A woman Les meets and becomes engaged to while in Dublin on a week’s pass with Deuce.
Les’ Mother. Catholic. Foil of husband, a part-time Baptist preacher.
Main character. WWII veteran. Evolves over time from hormone driven teenager who fathered an illegitimate, bi-racial son, Teddy, through two marriages to a prison term for murder.
Les’ dad. Part-time Baptist preacher. High school drop-out. Not a successful businessman.
Pistol Thicket high school friends and football teammates.
Paratrooper. Good friend. Killed during operation Market Garden..
Young black woman who became the teenage, un-wed mother of Les’ son Teddy. She later married Clarence Henderson and had children Wanda and Libby.
Barmaids at The ArmedMan Inn. Counter-parts to the Sirens of the Ormand Hotel in Joyce’s Ulysses.
Les’ first wife Molly. Name from Mrs. Marion Bloom, wife of Leopold. The name Hathaway is linked to Anne Hathaway, the unfaithful wife of Shakespeare according to Stephen Dedalus. Stephen was acharacter in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and in Ulysses.
Friend of Les.
Les’ second wife. Link to Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus. She became the mother of three daughters.
Illegitimate son of Lou and Les. Teddy, in some sense, grew up to write Pistol Thicket as Stephen Dedalus, in the person of James Joyce, came to write Ulysses.
Friends of Les. Clay a college student on the GI bill; Vera works in Mr. Stegall’s drug store, The Pistol Pharmacy