Character
Because of his incredibly powerful voice, which matched his 5'11" 200-pound frame, Diamond was once dubbed "The Honker." Many of his comrades at Guadalcanal considered him "a human air-raid warning system."
Even while on active duty, Diamond lived informally, often going hatless and wearing dungarees in open defiance of military dress regulations. (He even accepted one of his decorations in dungarees.) Self-confidence, even cockiness, was one of his outstanding characteristics. He considered anybody with less than ten years in the Corps a "boot". While he bawled out recruits who sometimes instinctively saluted him, he frequently failed, himself, to salute less than a field grade officer.
Diamond rejected opportunities to apply for a commission — that is, become an officer — saying "nobody can make a gentleman out of me."
Read more about this topic: Lou Diamond
Famous quotes containing the word character:
“Reputation is not of enough value to sacrifice character for it.”
—“Miss Clark,” U.S. charity worker. As quoted in Petticoat Surgeon, ch. 9, by Bertha Van Hoosen (1947)
“The character of the crowds is made up of mimicry and hostility.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.”
—Katharine Hepburn (b. 1909)