King of the Hill

 

cover art by Joe Kubert

The U.S.S. Stevens stories, written and drawn by Sam Glanzman, appeared periodically as back-up stories in most of DC's war comics during the 1970s. Based on Glanzman's experiences aboard the real-life Stevens (a destroyer) during World War II, the stories are fictionalized vignettes of events he saw or heard about.  They are excellent and often heart-felt tales that talk about the boredom, terror, danger and tragidy of war.

"King of the Hill" appeared in Star Spangled War Stories #174 (October 1973) and is a great example of just how good these stories are. It begins with the Stevens finishing up a mission shelling a Japanese facility on a remote island. (I love the the caption here: "We were lying off Borneo shelling an oil refinery or perhaps it was a storage facility... Who knew... few crew members knew or cared about the target.")

Afterwards, they stop at a supply depot to re-stock on ammunition, with a petty officer "volunteering" some of his men to fill out the ammo detail that goes ashore. But once there, someone notices that, aside from ammo, there's quite a few crates of fresh food lying about.

They are told that they can take ONLY the ammo. But somehow, 15 crates of fresh food end up being stored below decks on the Stevens. How did that happen?

At first, the Marine sergeant in charge of the depot is seriously ticked off and uses words such as "#%&!$%" and "*&@!#!$!."  But then a small apes is seen taking a crate. The poor animal effectively frames himself for the crime. 

A Marine climbs to the top of the ammo crate pile to playfully wrestle with the ape. At first, both Marines and sailors enjoy the show, laughing at the antics. But then the situation takes an abrupt and tragic turn when the ape loses his temper.

Enraged, the ape attacks the Marine with tooth and claw. Before it can be shot dead, it has killed the Marine.

And that's it. A man who had survived the campaign on Gaudalcanal dies senseless because he wanted to play with a big monkey. And that's war. However justified a country may be to go to war--however well-led the military may be--people are going to die for stupid reasons. 

That's it for now. Next week, we'll lighten things up a bit as we accompany Casper the Friendly Ghost to school.