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Samuel "Happy
Sam" Sawyer
Joining the war effort early on, Sawyer served in
the British army training their men to fight the Nazi menace, as
well as trying to drum up support from the likes of Nick Fury and
Dum Dum Dugan. Sawyer went to a good deal of trouble to make sure that Fury became a member of the squad. Dugan became a member as well and soon both men reported to him as leaders of the First Attack Squad. After the squad's first mission, its members were made honorary commandos in the British army, and Sawyer gave the squad the code-name of the "Howling Commandos". A
brilliant military strategist, Sawyer oversaw the success of
all these special
mission taskforces, a feat which
earned him great respect throughout the military.
Although for the most part desk bound, Sawyer
did on occasion join in battlefield
missions, such as his leading of the Howlers
into the Treblinka prison camp in Poland.
Sawyer also helped fend off attacks from Colonel Klaue
and the Blitz Squad when they invaded his
headquarters in England In honor of his service to his country and friendship with Nick Fury, a SHIELD helicarrier was named after him. A veterans hospital is also named after him, the Samuel J Sawyer Memorial Veteran's Hospital. |
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Red Hargrove
Fury's best friend in the old neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, Red Hargrove was a troubled youth before Fury started lookling out for him. Following high school, Fury and Red joined Finley's Flying Circus, a traveling air show. They both became excellent pilots and stuntmen. When Finley's Flying Circus came to England in 1940, Fury and Hargrove gave parachuting instructions to Lt. Sam Sawyer, an American soldier attached to the British Army. Sawyer recruited Red and Fury to rescue Abraham Eskrine from behind enemy lines. Weeks later, Sawyer was assigned to rescue a British spy in Holland, and he persuaded Fury and Hargrove to accompany him. Their plane was downed in Holland, where they met circus strongman Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, who joined their rescue mission. In the end, all five safely returned to England. Hargrove was moved to say he would enlist and Fury said he would follow him. However Fury didn't enlist until 1941, where he received nine weeks of basic training at Fort Dix without Red Hargrove, hoping to ride out the wave of unemployment in the States. Eventually Fury reunited with Hargrove, both getting stationed at Pearl Harbor. Hargrove is killed during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and Fury is driven to the U.S. Rangers. |
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Jonathan "Junior" Juniper
One of the original members of the Howling Commandos, Juniper was not only its youngest member, but among its shortest lived. Often in the pitch of battle, Juniper leaped at chances for daring heroism as well as coming up with last-second ideas for escapes, among them a plan involving a sound truck which helped earn the Howling Commandos their nickname. Juniper came to the Howlers as an ace pilot of B-17 bombers having shot down 10 German planes as a tail-gunner. Joining the Army
fresh from his Ivy League education, Juniper's eagerness kept him
at the fore of the Howler action, right up to
his death during a rescue mission behind enemy lines. He was eventually
replaced by Percivial Pinkerton on the roster. |
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Lady
Pamela Hawley
The daughter
of Lord Hawley, Pamela joined the war effort as a nurse in an ambulance
unit. She first crossed paths with Nick Fury when the Howling Commandos
were assigned the task of rescuing her brother, the infamous Lord
HaHa on propaganda radio, behind enemy lines. For the most part
Pamela's role as a medic kept her in London away from the hair-trigger
life of Fury, however she faced dangers daily with the blitzes
of London, Fury and her facing them together on more then one occasion. |
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Jacques
Dernier, aka 'Frenchie'
High ranking leader in the French underground, 'Frenchie' as the Howlers affectionately called him, was a frequent contact for many missions behind enemy lines. Dernier played a critical role in the D-Day operations that trapped high-ranking Nazis inisde a chatue during the Allied invasion. Later that same night, he lead a team to rescue the Howlers from capture by the SS. The Howlers earlier had rescued Dernier from the hands of the Germans following a daring capture of most of the top rank of the French underground. Bruno Ricci played Jacques Dernier as a member of the Howling Commandos in Captain America: First Avenger (2011). |
For more on Sgt Savage, check out Jess Nevins' guide to the early Marvel Universe |
Captain
Simon "Skipper" Savage
Captain Simon
Savage's wartime career proved to be one of the most diverse in
the Allied army. Enlisting and rising through the ranks of the
Navy, he gained command of a submarine. Following the attack on
Pearl Harbor, Savage's submarine, the USS Sea Wolf, shuttled the
Howling Commandos to and from a mission behind enemy lines, where
he met Nick Fury for the first time. Things on the
home front were very much in flux for Savage as well, starting
off the war with a wife and
child, but as many soldiers experienced, had his wife leave him
while he was overseas. Savage continued to command submarines throughout
the war (its unclear how his Marines status affected this), occasionally
ferrying Fury and the Howling Commandos on various missions. On
at
least one occasion Savage returned to the Sea Wolf as a while commanding
the Raiders. Although the submarine was under the command of Captain
Wilhite, Savage was forced back into the captain's seat for a special
recon mission. His Leatherneck Raiders remained active through
at least 1944, wherein they rescued pilot Benjamin Grimm from the
Japanese. |
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Bull
McGiveny
Heading up the Second Attack Squad under Captain Sawyer proved to be a frustration as McGiveny often had to see his Maulers play second string to Nick Fury and his Howlers. A highly charged rivalry developed between him and Fury which spread to the other Howlers and Maulers. Aside from Dum Dum, no other soldier stood toe-to-toe alongside Fury better then McGiveny Adding to his chagrin, McGiveny often found himself the subject of rescue by Fury and the Howlers. McGiveny could also always be counted on making new members to the team unwelcome, including among them Percival Pinkerton, Eric Koenig, Kyril Kuslov, and even Steve Rogers! Following the war McGiveny stayed in the service, although never rising above the rank of Sergeant. He was last seen serving as a special advisor to the U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam. |
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Ilsa
Koenig Appearances
A dedicated resistance fighter, Ilsa Koenig shared her brother Eric's disgust of what happened to Germany under the rule of the Nazis. The Howlers were housed in her home on their first Berlin mission with Eric. Ilsa risked her life by taking pictures of important documents and later fought alongside the Howlers as they returned to Berlin with Eric to break her out of the city. Ilsa developed feelings for Dino Maneili but her brother seemed intent on pairing her up with Fury instead. Its unknown what happened to Ilsa after the war, let alone at the end of it. At one point her brother swears revenge over her death, although she appears in a subsequent issue. |
Rickets Johnson Bio & appearances coming soon |
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