The captured aviator's father is a nobleman - as he puts it, "my people are of Prussia little barons" - who does not approve when his eldest son renounces the title of "baron" (417). The father dies during the War of natural causes.
The mother of the German prisoner in "Ad Astra" is at times distant from her eldest son, because of her husband's disapproval. After her husband's death, she informs this son of developments within the family. Very shortly before the day of the story, she writes again to inform him that since his last living brother is dead, he must be assume the title of Baron after all.
The youngest of four German brothers flourishes in the German military service, beginning as a "cadet of dragoons" (417) and eventually becoming an aviator. When his eldest brother last sees him, he "iss now ace with iron cross by the kaiser's own hand" (419). In 1916, he is shot down by the Canadian air ace Bishop.
At the time of the story, 'subadar' was a rank roughly equivalent to captain, given to Indian nationals who led Indian troops as part of the English armed forces. The subadar in "Ad Astra" identifies himself as a "prince" in India, "my country" (408). Before the War, Bland saw him deliver a speech in Oxford, England, a time when the subadar himself says "I was a white man also for that moment" (409). In France he is attached to a battalion of Indian soldiers who serve the British military, probably by relaying British orders to them.
The third child of the German family (and a younger brother of the German prisoner) is the twin of Franz. He shows no obligation to serve his family, and according to his oldest brother, he "did nothing in Berlin" (417). Although he comes home to be assume the title of Baron, his brother continues: "he does not stay at home. In 1912 he iss in Berlin newspaper dead of a lady's husband" (418). It seems likely that the "lady" is this man's mistress.
Bandaged and "sick," the German pilot whom Monaghan has shot down on the day Germany surrenders is nonetheless described as wearing the appearance of "a man who has conquered himself" (412). Born into a noble family in Prussia as the oldest of four brothers, he repudiated his hereditary title. He studies music at the university in Bayreuth, marries a woman beneath his privileged class, and fathers a child with her. Over time, however, the loss of each of his three younger brothers sends him back to military service.
Writing "twelve years" after November 11, 1918, the unnamed narrator served during the War as an American flying in a British squadron (408). In his only explicit references to himself, he talks about the "pleasant" but tense feeling that precedes the moment "in combat" when "you know something is about to happen" (421). Until the last pages of the story he remains a silent witness to the events, but he reports what the others say and do clearly and without bias. He agrees to write the wounded German aviator's wife.
The character in "Ad Astra" named Hume is probably another Allied aviator, but in the story his role is to narrate the way Sartoris managed to avenge his brother's death.
Franz is the elder of a pair of twins who are younger brothers to the captured German officer. When his older brother refuses to become baron, Franz, as next in line, is passed over because he is already committed to the career of a military officer. Franz becomes baron designate when the younger twin is killed in Berlin by a jealous husband. Franz progresses through the ranks from colonel to "general of staff" (419), but near the end of the War is assassinated by a German soldier in Berlin.
Monaghan, a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps, describes himself as "shanty Irish," because his late father made "a million dollars digging sewers in the ground" (414). He is also a former student at Yale. Monaghan seems uncomfortable with his complex social status, and there is "something of the crucified" about him after three years of war (414). When peace is declared, he removes his uniform insignia: "I don't know what I am. I have been in this damn war for three years and all I know is, I'm not dead" (415).
