Pike Expedition
On November 15, Pike recorded the first sight of the distant mountain he called "Grand Peak". It has since been called Pikes Peak in his honor. Pike tried to climb the peak, hoping to get a view of the surrounding area to record on maps, the 14,000-foot summit. Pike's group ascended a lesser summit nearby—likely Mount Miller, which was named for Theodore Miller, one of the soldiers who accompanied Pike. With winter threatening, Pike pressed onward up the Arkansas, and on December 7 the party reached Royal Gorge, a spectacular canyon on the Arkansas at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Private Pike
Pike was born in 1922, and is the youngest of the Walmington-on-Sea platoon. Aged 17 when the series begins, he is not old enough to join the army, although presumably he has reached, or is nearing, his 18th birthday when he is about to receive call-up papers in When You've Got to Go; in the event, it is revealed that he has a rare blood type that excludes him from military service. In War Dance, it is revealed to Mainwaring from Wilson that Pike "is going on 19". He lives in the shadow of his bossy and over-protective mother, Mavis Pike, who is in a relationship with Sergeant Wilson, referred to by Pike as "Uncle Arthur", who is hinted to be Pike's father. If so, he also has an older half-sister by Wilson's estranged wife. (The writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, confirmed after the series that Wilson was Pike's father. This was also revealed in the Radio Series (and sequel to Dad's Army) - It Sticks Out Half a Mile where Mainwaring meets Wilson in the branch at Frambourne, where Wilson is the Manager. On chatting to Wilson, he says "And how's your son?" Wilson laughs in an embarrassed tone and says that he has left the bank and is now Under Manager. Wilson's tone shows that he must be the father and Mainwaring's question shows that he knows the truth.) His mother is supposedly a widow; it is unclear if there ever really was a Mr. Pike, as he is never clearly mentioned. (However, if she is a widow, then Mr. Pike would have died when Pike was a baby, or may have died before Pike was born or even conceived, as he initially called Wilson "Daddy" until told to call him "Uncle.")