Fire That Canon! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Atlanta

On the night of September 1, 1864 Confederate Lt. General John Bell Hood evacuated the population of Atlanta, then proceeded to set ablaze military supplies and installations, causing a devastating fire in the city. The dramatic scenes were depicted in the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind".

Answer: Vietnam

The novel takes place from 1972 to 1975 and is based around the Rung Sat Special Zone (RSSZ) of Vietnam, in which the Long Tau Channel, a vital waterway, lay. Commander Lawrence is caught between the strategies his superiors in the Navy want him to pursue and the help his Vietnamese counterpart is asking for. Carl Nelson, while in the U.S. Navy, was the senior advisor in the Rung Sat Special Zone in 1972 and early 1973, when control of the area was given to the Vietnamese fighters he had been working alongside.

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut's satirical novel was nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, but failed to win. It was deemed controversial and was banned from some school libraries, mainly down to its use of profanity and its irreverent tone. Some schools are still banning it in the 21st century.

Answer: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Written in Key West, Idaho and Cuba by Ernest Hemingway, the novel concerned the author's own experiences as a reporter in the Spanish Civil War.
John Donne's "Meditation XVII" published in the book "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions", ends with the line: "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

Answer: Richard Hooker

Many of the characters everyone knows from the movie and television show are all in the book including, Hawkeye, Trapper John, Radar, Henry, Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan. In the book the tent Hawkeye and Trapper John occupy with another surgeon becomes known as the Swamp, they as Swamp men and the Swamp becomes known for having alcohol available in it.

Joseph Hooker was a Union general in the American Civil War, John Lee Hooker was a successful Blues guitarist/singer/song writer best known for the song "Boom Boom" and T.J. Hooker was a television show character played by Wiliam Shatner.

Answer: From Here to Eternity

"From Here to Eternity" won the U.S. National Book Award for fiction in 1952. The main character in the novel is Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, who becomes important to one of his superiors due to his boxing skills. Prewitt blinded a man in fight and refuses to box anymore, so he is then subject to over the top punishments unless he agrees to box again.

The three wrong answers are all other novels by Jones.

Answer: Band of Brothers

The book centers on the experiences of members of "Easy Company", 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment assigned to the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, and covers the Company from their basic training through the American airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne, the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp, the taking of the Eagle's Nest, to the end of the war.

The following excerpt is taken from the above mentioned Shakespearian play:
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Answer: Tunneling under the enemy

The Battle for Petersburg had settled into a stalemate. Most of the battles were being fought in trenches and the men were growing restless from the inactivity and confinement. Finally, Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, commander of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry and mining engineer from Pennsylvania, proposed a plan of digging a long tunnel underneath the Confederate lines and planting explosive charges directly underneath the middle of the Confederate First Corps line.

The plan was to kill all the defenders and also break the Confederate defenses.

A month later the tunnel was complete and the ammo was positioned. On July 30, 1864 the fuse was lit. The explosion immediately killed 278 Confederate but, due to the lack of effective offensive maneuvers by the Union troops, the Confederates had time to regroup and turn the outcome of the event to their advantage.

The final casualty count from this battle were: Union casualties 3,798 (504 killed, 1,881 wounded, 1,413 missing or captured), and Confederate casualties 1,491 (361 killed, 727 wounded, 403 missing or captured).

Answer: The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Written in 1953 by Michener, a former Naval officer, the book details the experiences of American fighter pilots in the Korean War as they take on a mission to supply bridges in enemy territory.

In 1951, Michener was based on the aircraft carriers USS Essex and USS Valley Forge which, at the time, were offshore of Korea and was writing a series of articles for The Saturday Evening Post regarding the Korean air war.

Answer: The Wars

Using the plural "Wars" in the title implies that there are multiple conflicts within the novel and within the protagonist Robert Ross. The book is riddled with symbolism, violence caused by war and by the men fighting the war. Despite the many encounters and character-changing events, Robert remains a sensitive, loving, man who slowly descends into madness.