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HE MOJAVE DESERT, LYING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, IS ONE OF MAINLAND T AMERICA’S HARSHEST TERRAINS. IN THE SPRING OF 1943 IT BECAME A VITAL TRAINING GROUND FOR TROOPS DESTINED FOR NORTH AFRICA, INCLUDING ELEMENTS OF A RECENTLY REFORMED INFANTRY DIVISION.

STORY FERG HANDLEY ART OLIVERA COVER JANEK MATYSIAK

THOSE SMOKE ROUNDS ARE WAY OFF TARGET. DROP FIVE DEGREES.

YOU GOT IT, LIEUTENANT.

4 SERGEANT GENE MALONE, FROM LOS ANGELES, HAD YET TO SEE COMBAT. BUT HE’D BEEN IN THE ARMY FOR TEN YEARS AND WAS COUNTED AS ONE OF HIS UNIT’S MOST EXPERIENCED N.C.O.s.

OKAY, THAT WAS BATTALION H.Q. ON THE BLOWER. WE’RE TO ADVANCE AND DIG IN ON THAT RIDGE OVER YONDER.

DIG IN? SARGE, IT AIN’T GONNA BE NOTHING BUT ROCK UP THERE.

GENE’S SQUAD WERE ALL RAW RECRUITS AND HE WAS DETERMINED TO PUSH THEM TO THEIR LIMITS. MAN, I’M DYING HERE. CAN’T WE HOLE UP IN THE SHADE FOR A WHILE, SARGE?

QUIT GRIPING, BARRETT. THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. YOU’LL THANK ME FOR IT SOME DAY.

5 THE PREVIOUS YEAR GENE HAD INJURED HIS ARM IN A MINOR ROAD ACCIDENT. HE WAS SENT FOR TREATMENT AT AN ARMY HOSPITAL WHERE HE ENCOUNTERED SOME VETERANS WHO HAD BEEN WOUNDED DURING THE JAPANESE CAPTURE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. YEAH, THOSE NIPS ARE EVIL, ALL RIGHT. I EVEN SAW THEM EXECUTE A WOUNDED CORPORAL BACK ON LUZON.

AND IT WASN’T JUST US G.I.s. THE CIVILIANS GOT IT TOO, POOR DEVILS.

GENE WAS GLAD THAT HE’D BE FACING GERMANS, WHO SEEMED MORE HUMANE IN HIS EYES. THEN A SERGEANT SPOKE TO HIM, TELLING OF HOW HE’D LOST HIS ENTIRE SQUAD IN A SUDDEN AMBUSH. SORRY TO HEAR THAT, BUDDY.

YEAH, SO DO YOUR BEST TO KEEP YOUR MEN ALIVE. WHAT HAPPENED TO MINE WILL HAUNT ME FOREVER.

A FEW MONTHS LATER, GENE’S UNIT BECAME PART OF THE NEWLY REFORMED DIVISION. HIS PLATOON COMMANDER — LIEUTENANT STEVE REYNOLDS — CAME STRAIGHT FROM OFFICER TRAINING. I FIGURE WE’LL BE IN ACTION SOON ENOUGH, MALONE. SO I’LL BE RELYING ON YOU TO BRING YOUR MEN UP TO SCRATCH.

DARNED RIGHT I WILL, ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT THAT SERGEANT TOLD ME AT THE HOSPITAL.

6 THE TRAINING WAS NOW AT AN ADVANCED STAGE. GENE KNEW THAT THE GERMANS WOULD BE TOUGH OPPONENTS. HIS SQUAD HAD BEEN DESIGNATED A SCOUTING ROLE, WHICH WOULD EXPOSE THEM TO PLENTY OF DANGER.

SORRY, SARGE. I DON’T CARE HOW HOT IT IS, MANCINI. KEEP YOUR HELMET ON OR I’LL GLUE IT TO THAT DUMB HEAD OF YOURS!

HOWEVER, AS WELL AS BEING TOUGH ON THE RECRUITS, GENE ALSO CARED ABOUT THEM. HE HELPED THEM WRITE LETTERS TO THEIR FAMILIES AND WAS ALWAYS ON HAND TO TALK WHEN THEY WERE FEELING HOMESICK. LOOK, I KNOW YOU’RE MISSING THAT FARM, KEEGAN. BUT I’LL BET YOU WERE BORED STUPID HALF THE TIME.

YEAH, I GUESS, SARGE. ESPECIALLY IN THE WINTER TIME WHEN THERE WASN’T MUCH TO DO.

7 REYNOLDS CONSTANTLY MONITORED PROGRESS AND WAS DELIGHTED WITH GENE’S EFFORTS. YEP, YOU’VE BROUGHT THOSE BOYS ON WELL, MALONE. I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU.

THANKS, SIR. BUT IT’S JUST TRAINING. THE REAL TESTS WILL COME WHEN WE SEE PROPER ACTION.

AT THE END OF APRIL THE PLATOON COMMANDERS AND N.C.O.s WERE CALLED TO A BRIEFING. AN HOUR LATER, GENE RETURNED TO THE SQUAD. OKAY, LISTEN UP. WE’VE GOT OUR EMBARKATION ORDERS. WE PULL OUT IN THREE DAYS TIME.

HERE THAT, BOYS? NORTH AFRICA, HERE WE COME!

8 THE DIVISION BOARDED THEIR TROOPSHIPS THE FOLLOWING WEEK. ONCE THEY WERE UNDER WAY GENE LEARNED THAT INSTEAD OF TUNISIA THEY WOULD BE HEADING TO THE FAR NORTH. THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, SIR? DARN, I NEVER SEEN THAT ONE COMING.

ME NEITHER, MALONE. ALL THAT DESERT TRAINING AND THIS HAPPENS.

THE ALEUTIANS WERE A STRING OF BARREN ISLANDS, LYING OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA. JAPANESE FORCES HAD EASILY OVERRUN THE TINY LOCAL GARRISON IN THE SUMMER OF 1942.

HOWEVER, THE ISLANDS WERE PART OF THE UNITED STATES. SEIZING THEM BACK BECAME A MATTER OF HONOUR FOR AMERICAN MILITARY PLANNERS.

9 GENE PASSED THE NEWS ON TO HIS MEN, WHO WERE JUST AS SHOCKED AS HE WAS. THE FOLLOWING DAY, REYNOLDS TRACKED DOWN GENE AND INTRODUCED HIM TO ANOTHER SERGEANT NAMED JEFF CLANCY.

NO OFFENCE, CLANCY, BUT YOU DON’T LOOK LIKE A REGULAR SOLDIER TO ME.

NOPE, THAT’S BECAUSE I AIN’T.

CLANCY WAS A FORMER TRAPPER FROM ALASKA, WHO HAD SPENT MANY YEARS ON THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. WHEN WAR BROKE OUT HE JOINED A NEW UNIT CALLED THE FIRST ALASKAN COMBAT INTELLIGENCE PLATOON.

NICKNAMED “CASTNER’S CUT-THROATS”, THE UNIT WAS A MIXTURE OF HUNTERS, FISHERMEN AND PROSPECTORS. THEY HAD ALREADY CARRIED OUT PLENTY OF RECCE WORK ON THE ISLANDS.

10 CLANCY HAD BEEN PULLED IN TO ADVISE THE DIVISION’S BRASS ON LOCAL CONDITIONS. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE SENIOR OFFICERS HADN’T TAKEN HIM SERIOUSLY WHEN HE WARNED OF THE DIFFICULTIES THEY’D BE FACING. YEP, I TOLD THEM THE MEN WOULD NEED WINTER CLOTHING, EVEN AT THIS TIME OF YEAR. BUT THEY JUST WOULDN’T LISTEN.

YEAH, THAT FIGURES.

SO FAR THE MEETING HAD GONE SMOOTHLY. THEN REYNOLDS ANNOUNCED THAT CLANCY WAS TO BE ATTACHED TO GENE’S SQUAD. YOU WHAT, SIR? BUT HE’S JUST A CIVILIAN IN UNIFORM, NOT A REAL SOLDIER!

YEAH? SO HOW MUCH COMBAT EXPERIENCE YOU GOT, MALONE?

OKAY, NONE. BUT I KNOW HOW TO SOLDIER, CLANCY, AND THAT’S WHAT COUNTS.

NOT ON THOSE ISLANDS, MALONE. SERIOUSLY, TRUST ME ON THAT.