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Pynchon Names @pynchonnames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Screenshot of social-media posts about Biafran War mercenaries, with a long excerpt highlighted in blue.

Transcribed Text:

Pynchon Names
@NamesPynchon

There was Jimmy and Tommy and me. And there was the Italian Giorgio Norbiato. The Rhodesian explosive expert Johnny Erasmus. The Welshman Taffy Williams. Then you had Nickey Eyes and Johnny Korea. Jimmy Two Times, nicknamed because he said everything twice.

Video Dreadfuls
@53gaDr3amca5t · Sep 23

Parody account

The Biafra War was not fucking real bro. This shit reads like a joke someone would make about 1960s mercenary warfare in Africa.

for special tasks.[24] Steiner chose a skull and crossbones as his regimental symbol, which he thought would constantly remind his troops of the risks inherent to war rather than any reference to the pirates’ Jolly Roger or the Nazi SS, and adopted the slogan "Long Live Death! Long Live War!"[25][26] Steiner found the Biafrans to be quick learners and highly motivated, and the 4th Commando Brigade saw themselves as an elite force and were proud of their skull and crossbones symbol.[15]

Steiner’s subordinates were a mixture of adventurers consisting of the Italian Giorgio Norbiato; the Rhodesian explosive expert Johnny Erasmus; the Welshman Taffy Williams; the Scotsman Alexander "Alec" Gay; the Irishman Louis "Paddy" Marlooney; the Corsican Armand Iaranelli who had been able to enlist in the Foreign Legion by pretending to be Italian; and a Jamaican bartender turned mercenary who called himself "Johnny Korea".[15] Norbiato,