Today in Comics History, June 5, 1944: C-Day

It is the day before D-Day (hence the witty post title), and Sergeant Nicholas Susan Fury and his Commandos Who Make a Loud Noise That Is Not Unlike Howling® storm...I mean, sneak onto the beaches of Normandy, and most of them have forgotten their buckets and spades.

In the very first issue of Sgt. Fury waaaay back in 1963, Lee and Kirby promised in the very last panel that one day (June 6, 1944, it be exact) the Howlers would fight in the Battle of Normandy, where Allied troops invaded occupied France to begin the push to Berlin. The event finally showed up in Nick's second annual three years later. Turns out Fury and the Furettes were actually sent a day before. Their mission: to clear the beaches of beer cans, lost car keys, and Nazis. (And their dog.)


from "A Day of Thunder!" in Sgt. Fury [and His Howling Commandos] Annual #2 (Marvel, August 1966), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by John Tartaglione, letters by Sam Rosen



They spare the dog (hooray!) and meet with their Free French underground contact (who also debuted in Sgt. Fury #1), plus they punch a lotta Nazis. And knock them out with tranquilizers. I originally said aloud "OH, COME ON NOW!" as I read that middle panel: this is the US Army, not the A-Team! You're allowed to shoot Nazis during WWII! Turns out, however, they need the German uniforms intact, un-bullet-holed, and without lots of unsightly bloodstains to infiltrate further inland into German territory. Wonder what they're gonna do?


Oh: they're gonna blow stuff the heck up. Go, JOE HOWLERS!


Well, that was certainly exciting! Now that they've blown up a building, there's certainly no need to follow that up with blowing up another one:


Nick and the Howlers are in for a long night and a tense day to follow. I'm pretty sure none of these guys get any sleep for at least the next forty-eight hours. But you can go to sleep and come back here tomorrow for Marvel's take on D-Day. We salute you, veterans of the Second World War! Excelsior!