Whew!  Now that I've finished talking about the Holiday itself...What about the Comic Books Connection?

This year I've selected 'Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, well...Just three issues actually.  The series was actually pretty popular when I was growing up...Even though the Vietnam War did affect its' sales numbers.

Some that don't read comic books think that comic books just 'glorify' war.  That couldn't be further from the truth!  Sure, there are issues like #13 pictured above that feature Captain America and Bucky, but for the most part this Marvel Comic Book Series wasn't all about glorifying war.

A little 'history' here first:

Sgt Fury was actually first a civilian named 'Nick Fury', one of three children that grew up in the neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, New York City, New York.

I always wondered where Nick became good with his fists in brawls, especially with Sgt 'Bull' McGiveney of the Second Attack Squad, named the 'Maulers'.  It turned out he was an amateur boxer. It wasn't until much later (in issue #34 from September of 1966), that we learned that he left with his friend Red Hargrove to pursue his dreams of adventure. They both eventually settled on a stunt wing-walking aviation act.

I could go on about this earlier history, but it's the above three comic books that I singled out today that are the focus of this blog.  Suffice to say that Red was among the many killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

The success of the First Attack Squad's first mission headed by Sgt Fury in the Autumn of 1942 was brought to the attention of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It was he who incorporated the unit into the British Army itself, and the Squad was given the title of "Commandos".

Even though the early issues, brought to us by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, were at times a little far-fetched(?), it was issues like #4 from November 1963, that brought this comic book title to the attention of non-war comics readers.

That's because Private Jonathan "Junior" Juniper was killed in action after just three earlier issues!  This was unheard of during the early days of the Silver Age of Comics!   Even the front cover (see top left comic book cover), had a a blurb on it stating:  "Special!  One Commando Will Fight No More After This Nightmare Mission!".  Even though the front cover was more about Lord Ha-Ha's Last Laugh...it was what happened in the interior pages of this comic book that made this issue stand out.

Sure, today that's not such a big deal, but when I was a kid back in 1963, the comic book heroes didn't die. Villains yes, unless they were brought back repeatedly, (like Doctor Doom), but not the heroes. So this was the first 'death' that caught my attention.  And it was during a mission. So this comic book death certainly rates a special mention here on Memorial Day.

Then, before we could get over that, the comic book series had its' next death.  True, the death was not one of the Howling Commandos, although the front cover of Issue #18, (seen at above right), indicated that it could be one of them, but it is also worth a special mention this Memorial Day Weekend.

A casual browser at the spinner racks of the time just had to stop and pull out the comic book issue that raised proclaimed: "Once Again, Sudden Death Claims ANOTHER Victim! You Will Never Forget the Ending of This Powerful War Masterpiece!".

This issue killed off Sgt Fury's girlfriend. She was the British nurse named Pamela Hawley who had been introduced in issue #4, (Yes the same issue that killed off Junior), and was the daughter of an English Lord.  Somehow Sgt Fury fell in love with her,  but she was killed in a bombing raid of London before he could propose to her.  That was so moving to me back in May of 1965...

Talking about moving issues, the last issue being hi-lited today is that of Issue #13, shown near the top left of this blog. This was before the death of Bucky, who years later turned out NOT to be dead, but at the time we in 1964 knew he was.  I'm including him in this Memorial Day Comic Book Connection, because at the time we knew him to be one of those that 'died' in service of his country.

Yes, later on in this series, there would be the occasional other squad members who would join them for an issue or two before being killed, or transferred, but by that time I wasn't reading every issue...although I enjoyed Dick Ayers' artwork. Believe it or not, this title was sparsely distributed on the spinner racks at my local 7-11's out on the West Coast, San Diego area in particular!  Maybe because it was a 'Navy Town'?!