their old high school yearbook—the pictures are the actual high school photographs of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts. Their year of graduation was set in 1945, implying they were born between 1926-1928 (likely 1927). In the yearbook, Andy's middle name is listed as Jackson. Barney's middle name is listed as Milton. In a later episode, Andy's middle name is Samuel. Over the length of the series, Barney had three different middle names. Andy's first job was working in the movie theater. He also mentions being in France "during the war" in the episode, "Ellie Comes to Town". In this instance, Andy is behind the drugstore counter riffing to Aunt Bee about a perfume with a French name, so it could be that Andy is simply being facetious. He also later mentions being in Africa and that he was a First Sergeant. (President Harry Truman declared an official end to World War II on the last day of 1946-thus Andy could have indeed been in World War II but too late to see any action.) Just to make matters more confusing, in Season 6 episode, "The Return of Barney Fife", it is claimed that Barney is coming back to town for Andy & Barney's high school class reunion, class of 1948. So evidently the producers of the show did not create a timeline for this character and stick to it. In an episode where Barney tries to find Andy a wife, Andy admits that he misses having a wife to come home to after work. If Andy's wife died the year Opie was born, they may have been married only two or three years. This could explain why Opie was an only child. Andy was depicted as a country-smart sheriff and a caring, nurturing father. His laid-back approach to law enforcement made him an ideal sheriff for the sleepy town. Andy is known to have shot only one man in his position as sheriff, which is the key event surrounding the episode High Noon in Mayberry. Apparently, Andy shot the suspect in the leg years ago during an armed robbery; in the latter of the episode, the suspect returns to Mayberry to present Andy with a shotgun as a gesture for having forced him away from his criminal lifestyle, giving him a chance to rethink his life and get back on track. In the episode "Aunt Bee Takes A Job", Andy