Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best!

[Cheesesteak]

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@Ana_Byrd

Did the boxes contain military supplies? yes

Did the boxes contain supplies for civilians? no

Did the boxes contain people? no

[Cheesesteak]

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@Chronos

Did the corporal’s country fight in WWII? yes

Were the corporal’s celebrated actions during a war? And if so, were there members of his nation’s military fighting in that war? yes and yes

Did the corporal’s actions have significance for military intelligence? no

Would the corporal have known at the time the significance of his actions? no

Did the corporal at the time know what was in the boxes? no

Was the content of the boxes a secret? no

Are nuclear weapons relevant? no

Is the corporal’s country in Europe? Asia? Africa? North America? South America? Oceania? Europe

Is “truck” here the usual meaning, an automobile with a large cargo area? military truck for carrying supplies

Is the fact that the corporal was a servicemember relevant to why he was celebrated and remembered? yes, insofar as he would not have been celebrated or remembered without serving in the armed forces

[Cheesesteak]

@iamatractorboy

I think I might know the answer to this so I will blur it in case I spoil people’s fun…

Was it Queen Elizabeth II?

No, our soldier was not Queen Elizabeth, but that is a solid guess.

[Chronos]

Mostly just for the sake of pronoun use, but
Was the corporal male?

[Cheesesteak]

@Chronos

Was the corporal male?

Yes he was.

[Chronos]

Oh, and
Was the corporal acting on his (or her) own initiative in loading the boxes? Was the corporal ordered to do so by a superior officer?

[Cheesesteak]

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@Chronos

Was the corporal acting on his (or her) own initiative in loading the boxes? yes
Was the corporal ordered to do so by a superior officer? no

[Peter_Morris]

Did the corporal come from one of the world’s smallest countries?

[Saint_Cad]

Does celebrated mean earning the most medals out of all of the soldiers in his country?
Was he celebrated for
one act?
a series of acts?
his career?

[Mahaloth]

Is the item he was loading relevant to the puzzle?

Would trying to determine the identity of what the item being loaded be helpful to us?

[Cheesesteak]

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@Peter_Morris

Did the corporal come from one of the world’s smallest countries? no

@Saint_Cad

Does celebrated mean earning the most medals out of all of the soldiers in his country? no
Was he celebrated for
one act? in part
a series of acts? not especially
his career? the other part

There is one act for which he is especially known, but he may very well have been a celebrity for the totality of his career.

@Mahaloth

Is the item he was loading relevant to the puzzle? no

Would trying to determine the identity of what the item being loaded be helpful to us? potentially

[Saint_Cad]

I’m getting a Petrov vibe on this. He was the Soviet Lt. Colonel that single-handedly stopped World War 3. I’m thinking something like the corporal did NOT (hence the lateral thinking) load something into a crate like a nuclear weapon, VX gas bomb, etc. So with that in mind here’s the question.

Is he celebrated for NOT loading something into a crate?

If not: did he load a person into a crate? I’m thinking to smuggle them out of the country.

[Buck_Godot]

Was the loading of a particular set of boxes that led to his fame?
Is he celebrated for appearing in media, like for example, the kissing sailor on VJ day?
Was he the subject of a novel, poem or movie?
Were the boxes more or less ordinary crates of military supplies?

[Cheesesteak]

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@Saint_Cad

Is he celebrated for NOT loading something into a crate? no, he definitely loaded things

If not: did he load a person into a crate? I’m thinking to smuggle them out of the country. no

@Buck_Godot

Was the loading of a particular set of boxes that led to his fame? no, it could have been any relevant set of boxes his company was loading
Is he celebrated for appearing in media, like for example, the kissing sailor on VJ day? no
Was he the subject of a novel, poem or movie? Yes, in the sense that his military career / life was recounted in at least one book and one movie/tv production that I am aware of
Were the boxes more or less ordinary crates of military supplies? yes

[Buck_Godot]

In your opinion would the average American have heard of this person?
In your opinion would the average person from his home country have heard of this person?

Without this movie/book would he have been celebrated?
Is it something about the nature of person during his service that makes them note worthy (e.g. lhe is royalty, he was 6 years old, he had no arms)?
Was his service during WW2?
Is he famous for what he did in the war?

[Cheesesteak]

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@Buck_Godot

In your opinion would the average American have heard of this person? no, but he has been covered in major media outlets on more than one occasion
In your opinion would the average person from his home country have heard of this person? It depends on what you mean by “home country” He was a bit of a traveler. The nation he served under during the war has numerous statues of him, I would assume many average people there would know his story. His birth nation, I would assume he is much less well known there

Without this movie/book would he have been celebrated? he was celebrated long before the movie/book
Is it something about the nature of person during his service that makes them note worthy (e.g. lhe is royalty, he was 6 years old, he had no arms)? yes
Was his service during WW2? yes
Is he famous for what he did in the war? yes

[Peter_Morris]

@Buck_Godot

Was he the subject of a novel, poem or movie? Yes, in the sense that his military career / life was recounted in at least one book and one movie/tv production that I am aware of

Is he primarily known because of the book and movie? Or would he be publicly known without them?

[Buck_Godot]

Even though his job in the war was to load boxes was he famous for doing something more heroic?

Did he suffer from a disability?

Was he famous before he became soldier?
Was he of an unusual ethnicity to be a soldier in that country?

[Mahaloth]

Is this Ernest Hemingway?

[Cheesesteak]

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@Peter_Morris

Is he primarily known because of the book and movie? Or would he be publicly known without them? I’d say they were a response to his notoriety, though they and other media would have spread knowledge of his exploits to a wider audience

@Buck_Godot

Even though his job in the war was to load boxes was he famous for doing something more heroic? he was not famous for anything other than being part of this army unit and loading boxes

Did he suffer from a disability? my understanding is that he was perfectly healthy

Was he famous before he became soldier? no
Was he of an unusual ethnicity to be a soldier in that country? I think it’s fair to say yes

@Mahaloth

Is this Ernest Hemingway? nope