A Medal for Marie

 

cover art by Jerry Grandenetti

Star Spangled War Stories #86 (October 1959) reminds us that sometimes earning medals runs in the family.

This is something that happens in real-life. Arthur MacArthur Jr was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in 1863. His son Douglas was awarded that medal for his leadership in the Phillippines in 1942. Teddy Roosevelt was eventually given a Medal of Honor for his actions at San Juan Hill in 1898 (awarded posthumously about a century later), while his son Teddy Jr. was awarded the medal for his extraordinary leadership on Utah Beach on D-Day.

So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Mademoiselle Marie's family has a history of winning medals. In their case, they seem to win these medals for the EXACT same acts of bravery.

In "Target for Tonight," (written by Bob Kanigher and drawn by Mort Drucker), starts with Marie hiding in a farm house, with a German tank just outside. Above her, a B-17 frantically calls by radio for her to identify the location of the rocket silos they are supposed to bomb. 

Those silos are pretty much right next to the farmhouse, but if Marie radios back, she'll give herself away to the tank. Also, it would mean the American bomber would drop its load right on top of her.

(Why the tank can't hear the bomber's pilot voice coming from Marie's radio is not addressed, but its a minor hiccop in an otherwise good story.)

She thinks back to stories her grandfather and her father had told her about their wartime experiences. During the Franco-Prussian War, her grandpa had called in an artillery strike on his own position to take out a big enemy gun. Then during the First World War, her dad had done pretty much the same thing. Both had survived to be decorated.

Well, if her grandpa could do it and her pa could do it, then by golly SHE could do it! The trouble is the tank finally opens fire on the farmhouse and her radio is smashed.

So she improvises--using the tried-and-true DC war comics tactic of firing through the tank's view slit until she detonates the ammo inside. The burning tank then marks the target for the B-17, which then bombs the silos.

Marie survives and receives her own medal. It's just a rose, but it is a sincere effort by the other members of her Resistance group to honor her bravery and she knows this.

The story does have a few holes in its overall logic and Kanigher's love of melodrama is laid on a little too thickly, but Drucker's art carries it along nicely (I especially like his effective panel compositions) and the main point--that acts of heroism in the past can inspire others later on--is still valid and effective. 

Next week, a lunatic saves humanity.