Gol-leeee, guys! Gomer promoted

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Shaaaa-zam!

Jim Nabors played Lance Cpl. Gomer Pyle. Advertiser library photo

Say what?

Yes, folks, it's true. America's most lovable Marine private first class is getting a promotion. After 36 years.

Talk about brass. Gomer's extra stripe will be hand-delivered to him Thursday morning at a private ceremony at Camp Smith by none other than the No. 1 leatherneck himself, Gen. James L. Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps.

"I told the general I don't know if I should accept this — it's just too much power," said Pfc. Pyle, speaking yesterday through his alter ego, actor Jim Nabors, who has a home in Honolulu. "At this stage of my life, it's almost too much to think about what it could lead to."

"Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," now a fixture of American culture, began Sept. 25, 1964, on CBS as a spinoff of "The Andy Griffith Show." It was a weekly TV mainstay for five years and 150 episodes.

Gomer was an ever-trusting, naive goofball who considered the likes of Barney Fife the height of sophistication and his gruff drill instructor, Sgt. Carter, a hero.

"Even though Gomer wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, he maintained all the attributes that a Marine is supposed to have," said Marine spokesman Chuck Little. "He was honest, trustworthy and always gave 100 percent."

The decision to hold Thursday's ceremony came about so quickly that the military didn't have time to coordinate a public event. Nabors, who has officiated at the Indianapolis 500 opener for years, said it came about when he met Jones at this year's Memorial Day race.

"(Jones) was laughing about it and said, 'You never even made it past the rank of private!' " Nabors said. "He said, 'We should really do something about this.' "