Social History in Comics: Star Spangled War Stories 179 - "A Town Called Hate!"

With Archie Goodwin as editor, this issue of Star Spangled War Stories (179, March 1974) features an Unknown Soldier story that exposes the intense racial infighting that had been a serious problem in the U.S. military during the Vietnam conflict, using a WWII setting. In the Armed Forces Journal in 1971, Col. Robert D. Heinl, Jr. wrote:

"The morale, discipline and battleworthiness of the U.S. Armed Forces are, with a few salient exceptions, lower and worse than at any time in this century and possibly in the history of the United States. By every conceivable indicator, our army that now remains in Vietnam is in a state approaching collapse, with individual
units avoiding or having refused combat, murdering their officers and non commissioned officers, drug-ridden, and dispirited where not near mutinous. Elsewhere than Vietnam, the situation is nearly as serious. Intolerably clobbered and buffeted from without and within by social turbulence, pandemic drug addiction, race war,
sedition, civilian scapegoatise, draftee recalcitrance and malevolence, barracks theft and common crime, unsupported in their travail by the general government, in Congress as well as the executive branch, distrusted, disliked, and often reviled by the public, the uniformed services today are places of agony for the loyal, silent professionals who doggedly hang on and try to keep the ship afloat."

Col. Heinl paints an extremely disturbing picture. He points out, "It is a truism that national armies closely reflect societies from which they have been raised. It would be strange indeed if the Armed Forces did not today mirror the agonizing divisions and social traumas of American society, and of course they do." It's easy to forget (for those of us who lived through the period) how troubled society was at the time, as the so-called 'Swinging Sixties' gave way to the disillusionment of the 1970s.

He goes on to say, "Internally speaking, racial conflicts and drugs... are tearing the services apart today."

The Colonel provides examples of racial troubles within the military, both in Vietnam and elsewhere. While it seems clear that the eruptions of actual racial violence usually but not always originated with the African American personnel, there is no discussion of any racist treatment which might have provoked such outbreaks, but of course one has to assume that at some point this existed, if not in the moment then historically. Col. Heinl writes:

"Racial conflicts (most but not all sparked by young black enlisted men) are erupting murderously in all services...As early as July 1969 the Marines (who had previously enjoyed a highly praised record on race) made headlines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., when a mass affray launched by 30-50 black Marines ended fatally with a white corporal's skull smashed in and 145 other white Marines in the sick bay...Even the cloistered quarters of WACs have been hit by racial hair-pulling. In one West Coast WAC detachment this year, black women on duty as charge-of-quarters took advantage of their trust to vandalize unlocked rooms occupied by white WACS. On this rampage, they destroyed clothing, emptied drawers, and overturned furniture of their white sisters."

There is little in the Colonel's report in terms of reassurance, but he does observe, "All services are today striving energetically to cool and control this ugly violence which in the words of one noncommissioned officer, has made his once tough unit divide up "like two street gangs.""

He finishes his entire piece with a general observation on all the factors he has described that were contributory to the dire situation in the military, of which racial in-fighting was admittedly only one aspect, albeit a major one: "...many a thoughtful officer would be quick to echo the words of BGen. Donn A. Starry, who recently wrote, "The Army can defend the nation against anything but the nation itself." Or -- in the wry words of Pogo -- we have met the enemy, and they are us."

Three years after Col. Heinl wrote that frightening assessment of the state of affairs in the military, the problem was clearly still in the public consciousness, and became the subject of this Unknown Soldier story, "A Town Called Hate!", written by Frank Robbins and illustrated beautifully by Jack Sparling.

When a segregated African American unit comes into town and meets a segregated white unit in the local eatery, the racial tension level spikes through the roof. That night, some soldiers in the all African American unit are mercilessly gunned down, by an assailant whose identity is unknown to the reader at this point.

After what went on earlier, the African American soldiers are in no doubt as to who the perpetrators of these murders are, and exact their own fatal revenge:

The Unknown Soldier already has a mission, but once the news of the racial conflict amongst the troops reaches headquarters, it looks like he's going to have another task. The exchange between the African American sergeant, the Unknown Soldier's aide, Chat Noire, and his commanding officer reveals racial tension present at all levels in the ranks.

For the time being, however, and very ironically, the racial conflict works in favor of the U.S. forces. The group of Nazis disguised as G.I.'s, that the Unknown Soldier has infiltrated, reaches the town. Still seeking vengeance, the African American unit mistakes the Germans for the hostile white U.S. soldiers. In taking them prisoner they find out they're Nazis, and also that they've contacted the Unknown Soldier.

Chat Noire rolls into town in the nick of time to quell the racial conflict amongst the U.S. troops. Evidence then emerges that appears to indicate that disguised Nazis shot the African American soldiers, hoping to divide the Americans against each other. Sufficient unity is recreated to turns everyone's attention to the Nazi onslaught, and succeed:

While the point has been made that racial divisions in the military are counterproductive to the mission of our armed forces, there's a kind of disturbing epilogue that only the Unknown Soldier and Chat Noire are party to. In surveying their dead after the battle, the corpse of one white soldier is found, still clutching the German weapon he'd captured, used as his own, and which had become a kind of trademark lending it's name to him as a nickname. Those German cartridge cases found at the scene of the initial crime that sparked the racially polarized battle within the U.S. forces now take on more meaning. The white unit bought the Nazi infiltrator explanation because they knew it really was one of their men who carried out the shooting. The African American unit were convinced by the evidence that they had been hoodwinked by the Nazis. But the real truth was that it had been a racist white soldier who had gunned down his African American comrades in cold blood, and the engineers' initial deductions had been correct. For the sake of the war, the problem was solved temporarily, but the racial divisions still existed.

 

This story picked up on this racial conflict in the military theme that had originally been brought to light in comics by Harvey Kurtzman and Ric Estrada's "Bunker!" in Two-Fisted Tales 30 (Nov-Dec 1952), from over 20 years earlier. According to Col. Heinl, racial conflict within the U.S. military had a long history, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. He noted, "Racial trouble is no new thing for the Army. In 1906, after considerable provocation, three companies of the 25th Infantry (a colored regular regiment) attacked white troops and townspeople of Brownsville, Texas, and had to be disbanded. Among the few pre-World War II War Department records still heavily classified and thus unavailable to scholars are Army documents

on racial troubles."

America's struggle for racial equality and integration has, on the one hand, been a source of criticism of the American people. But looked at another way, and I would say a more accurate way, it is the struggle of a nation at the forefront of developing a more enlightened, more advanced civilization. This struggle is seen in America because it is here where racism has been challenged by both white and black, and where the fight is on the front line. Where America has already trodden, other countries have yet to follow. While there are undoubtedly many areas of progress still to be made, I would argue that there is no nation on Earth that has advanced as far as the USA in developing a harmonious multi-racial, multi-cultural society, despite whatever shortcomings we still have to address. Comics like this issue of Star Spangled War Stories, that bring important issues out into the open, have played their part in the progress that has been made.

Social History in Comics: Our Army At War 179 - "A Penny for Jackie Johnson!"

This Kanigher/Kubert Jackie Johnson story in the April 1966 issue of Our Army At War (179) is reminiscent of the Lee/Kirby story in Sgt. Fury 6 of a few years earlier. One of Bob Kanigher's specialties was the writing of anti-racist comics, and many of the few 1960s comics to address this issue were by him. The tension between the tolerant Johnson and the bigoted Sharkey, who, from the moment he joins Easy, harasses the African American soldier, recalls the sparring between Gabriel Jones and George Stonewell in Sgt. Fury 6. Sharkey represents a stereotype of sorts himself - he identifies himself as from the mountains, suggesting a fairly remote white community hanging onto antebellum racist values. Sharkey also voices a stereotypically negative opinion of the reliability of African American fighters/soldiers. Although set in WWII, in which there were few instances when white and black soldiers fought side by side, the anti-racist messages in both the Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury stories appear aimed at combating the racial tension that at the time was tearing apart the U.S. military, especially in Vietnam, as well as civilian society.

The plot revolves around the penny Sharkey placed in Jackie's hand when he offered it to him when they first met. Throughout Jackie leaves the door open for Sharkey to drop his racist stance, but Sharkey ain't bitin'. Finally, in extremely dangerous circumstances, Sharkey and Jackie are both wounded, and Jackie risks his life to rescue Sharkey and get him back to camp. At last Sharkey breaks, and experiences a life-changing revision of consciousness. Rock, as usual the story's narrator, ends by reminding the reader of what he said at the beginning, that in Easy there's only one skin color, and that's G.I.!

Kanigher's message here is simple. It's in our best interests as Americans to see each other that way, as Americans and not as separate categories of people based on race and skin color, even though those morphological and even cultural differences might be there. I'd say that on one level Kanigher seems to promote the 'melting pot' approach to integration, because Easy, as American society in microcosm, is the uniting principle that over-rides and even obliterates any differences amongst its members. On the other hand there is also recognition of racial differences within that unification, exemplified by Rock's comment that Jackie is always fighting his own war to gain acceptance of his race. That could be extended into a philosophy that promotes acceptance of diversity within the over-arching unity. Jackie is not expected to nullify his African American identity. Each member of Easy is expected to accept the others without qualification, regardless of racial or ethnic difference. That is the usual, unspoken (because it isn't necessary normally to bring up the issue) status quo of Easy, disrupted in this story by the incoming presence of a racist whose divisive view of humanity clashes with Easy's harmony. This story does place the responsibility for racist attitudes with a white American, but the reality in the U.S. military was that, increasingly as Vietnam wore on especially, racial tension or actual violence within the forces was as much instigated by African Americans as it was by whites. This is a trickier issue to address, because historically it had been clear that the white American, as the oppressor, was at least the only force capable of open expression of racism. Racist African Americans were of course in existence but somehow excused for their racism because, as Malcolm X pointed out, such was a natural response to the racist oppression African Americans had been subjected to. However, while it might be understandable in terms of causality, racism of all descriptions causes division and is destructive. Both Marvel and DC did attempt to address anti-white racism, appropriately far less frequently than they looked at racism against African Americans, and it is definitely an even more sensitive issue. It's also important to remember that we're talking about very, very few comic books that dared to tackle the issues of racism and integration in the 1960s. A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1% of the total number of comics produced during the decade. Those books that do address it tend to be well-written, and by authors whose purpose appears to be to make a statement, not just to gain sales by appealing to the African American audience. Maybe the company allowed it because they thought, as an idea, that it would sell, but nobody writes this kind of material to this standard without some deep personal conviction, especially when society was still divided on the issue- it comes across on the page. Kanigher was a big writer and editor, who didn't blow his own trumpet, so you don't hear him mentioned as much as others who did as much or less work than he did for comics. But the more you study his anti-racist comics, and realize just how rare it was to write such material in mainstream comics back then, the more I think you'll recognize that Bob Kanigher was not only a pioneer in this area, but a man of strong and well-considered principles, who abhorred racism and actively sought to do what he could, through his work, to combat the harm it does to so many people, both perpetrators and victims, as well as to our society as a whole.

Social History in Comics: G. I. Combat 141 - "Let Me Live... Let Me Die!"

Joe Kubert's cover of G. I. Combat 141, like many DC covers from the late 60s or very early 70s, is somewhat misleading. Taken at face value, and it's the word balloons that do it, the cover suggests to readers that in the story the Haunted Tank is going to be destroyed, and that somehow it will be the fault of an African American man. Quite why DC would want to create the latter impression is curious, because Robert Kanigher's story reads with an integrationist, anti-racist message. The story begins with the Haunted Tank crew re-stocking with ammunition from a supply depot manned by a segregated African American unit, much as would have often been the case in WWII.

The action takes it's leave of the supply depot, and the crew of the Haunted Tank meet up with Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.! So this is a crossover issue.

On this next page Kanigher highlights not only the hell dished out by a tank with it's machine gun when fully loaded, but the hell experienced by the gunners when that ammo runs out. The point seems to be, without those men supplying the ammo, war is hell for those expected to fight. Rock and Easy will hold the position while the Tank goes back for more ammunition. But what they find when they arrive back at the supply camp is sickening indeed.

At the ammo dump there's one lone survivor. After loading up, and hearing the survivor's story and of his frustration at being in the war but without the opportunity to actually fight, Jeb insists the un-named African American soldier ride with them. Just as well, because when the Tank is attacked by a fighter plane their new crew member saves the day (note the contrast between what actually happens in the story and the impression given by the cover).

Back on the front line, the un-named African American soldier mans the machine gun in a fierce fight with the Nazis, and just as victory is achieved, he takes what turns out to be a fatal bullet. This one had some signs that it was going to end tragically, and sure enough it does.

Superb art by Russ Heath really compliments Kanigher's script. We're left at the end with another Kanigher message of transcending those racial categorizations that divide us as human beings. His anti-racism messages were rare but clearly important to him, as over the years he didn't let up. He wasn't a lone voice in the comic industry, but he said the most out of the few who wrote in this way. Just like the African American heroes of WWII to whom he was drawing attention in this story, Kanigher's status as a great comic book writer, one with possibly the most important message ever delivered by the medium,  is not fully recognized. Huge numbers of African Americans fought in WWII but few had direct, front line combat roles. Those that did often distinguished themselves but didn't receive the recognition they deserved. Nor was the importance of those vast numbers relegated to supplying the combat troops fully recognized. Gradually, and while it's still possible to do so, people here and there work to correct the tale history tells of those events, like in an article I came across recently. But here in this 1970 DC comic, Kanigher and Heath were doing that 40 years ago, probably almost un-noticed at the time, except by regular readers of The Haunted Tank! And certainly the more I read of Kanigher's work, the more I feel I want to highlight his contribution not only to my favorite art form, but also to eradicating racism.

Nurses at War: Our Army At War 131 - "One Pair of Dogtags... For Sale!"

This (June 1963, Our Army At War 131) is one of my favorite Sgt. Rock covers by Joe Kubert. Rock's karmic bullet-dodging ability is very much in evidence as usual, and those companions near him seem to imbibe the same characteristic. I like the way the nurse is driving, ducking, and tending to her patient simultaneously. Women are such multi-taskers! As is fairly typical with these Robert Kanigher/Joe Kubert stories, the first half of the tale sets the reader up for the main idea. The story begins with Rock wounded and being brought to the field hospital. His men then recount the circumstances that led to Rock's condition.

Rock needs a blood transfusion (one of Kanigher's favorite strategies?) and he's AB-, a rare blood type. Nobody amongst the Doc and Easy have a compatible blood type, but a wounded army nurse lying on a stretcher next to Rock does. She insists the Doc use her blood to help Rock, and the Sergeant pulls through. Rock gets separated from her before he can summon sufficient strength to speak, to thank her, and to find out her name. Once fully fit, Rock embarks upon a quest to find his nurse savior, but it isn't proving easy even for Easy.

Then Fate intervenes again. There's an enemy breakthrough and Easy are threatened by a group of Nazi tanks. To give the rest of the men time to escape, Rock and his bazooka man, Zack, slow down the tanks, but eventually are caught in the blast of a shell that explodes close by, and Zack is hurt. Rock won't leave his man to die, and hauls him off in an attempt to reach safety. It's then that he comes across the same nurse, this time in a stalled jeep carrying wounded men, and she can't get it re-started. Rock uses the bazooka to try to keep the tanks at bay. However, it's the U.S. Air Force that arrives in the nick of time to scatter the Nazis, but not before the nurse is hit and wounded. Rock gets the jeep going and races frantically to the medical station, where he's able to repay the favor granted him previously, by donating his blood to save the nurse.

With so many of the great comic book writers and artists being vets, it maybe isn't surprising that nurses appear frequently, certainly in war comics and in romance comics with war connections. And there are true stories of brave nurses close to or on the battlefield. The image of nurses provided by this story is again that of the self-sacrificing angel, refusing to seek her own safety if it meant abandoning her patients.