In 'The Forever War', what is the name of the human protagonist?

In “The Forever War,” the human protagonist is William Mandella.

Mandella begins as a physics student who is conscripted into the United Nations Exploratory Force for an interstellar war against the Taurans. He is selected for an elite unit because of his intelligence, education, physical fitness, and scientific background.

The novel follows Mandella’s combat deployments and repeated returns to Earth. Relativistic travel and collapsar jumps mean that he experiences only years of service while centuries pass for humanity, making familiar societies increasingly alien to him. Marygay Potter, his fellow soldier and eventual partner, remains his most important personal connection.

Mandella is sometimes mistaken for a conventional heroic space-soldier, but Haldeman presents him as a reluctant participant in a dehumanizing military system. The character also reflects the author’s Vietnam War experience: Mandella’s surname nearly echoes Haldeman’s, and both are physicists who served in the military. The novel first appeared in 1974 and won major science-fiction awards.