Illegitimate boys who grew up on orphanages at one time were condemned to a hard life on the fringes of society. They were deprived of an education and any chance of a normal life. They either "lived on their wits" which meant by minor pilfering or male prostitution, even though they might not have been homosexual by nature, homosexuality being against the Law in those days.

Or they enlisted in the army. Their names were invented without much imagination - Tommy Atkins was generic. Kipling wrote a poem about them:

"It's Tommy this, and Tommy that, And chuck him out the brute,
But it's 'Savior of his Country,' When the guns begin to shoot!"

That's why the Sergeant's favourite term of abuse was "bastard", because it was so often nothing less than the truth. Bastards had no place else to go - nowhere to go home to. Often they couldn't read or write and would sign with an X.

Quentin Tarantino is following the tradition with his latest film entitled "Inglourious Basterds".