Combat Casey #11
Combat Casey
Combat Casey and Penny Pennington are on patrol when they come across Chinese troops about to execute their old foe Kaesong Katie - by tying her to the barrel of an artillery cannon - for her failure to capture Combat Casey. Knowing that she has secret plans that she has stolen from their base, Combat and Penny come to her rescue in order to recover them. They slay all her would-be executioners and free Katie from her bonds, but she quickly turns on them when she grabs hold of a gun and gets the drop on them. Katie decides to take them back to her commanders in order to redeem herself in their eyes.
Brought to an enemy base, the commanding officer forces them into a pit and gives them a pair of pick axes and tells them to dig, informing them that if they don't succeed in digging five feet per day they will not be given food or water. However, the two Americans learn that this is a cruel trick as the bottom of the pit is lined with hard rock that cannot be broken. Penny comes up with a solution to get themselves out of their predicament: He has Combat use the pick axes as make-shift ladder rungs to climb out of the pit. Free, Combat takes care of their guard and pulls Penny up by rope.
Taking the guard's gun, they storm the enemy cabin just as the superior officers are going over the plans that were stolen by Katie. They catch them off guard but Katie arrives with a gun in hand. Using a pick axe, Combat pins her to a wall and disarms her and locks the commanding officers in a closet, and the two flee with the plans. When Katie gets free she unlocks her commanding officers, who seemingly execute her by firing squad.
Recurring Characters
Combat Casey
Penny Pennington
Kaesong Katie
Continuity Notes
Although Kaesong Katie appears to be executed by a firing squad here, she survives and appears again next issue. How she cheated death here is not explained until Combat Casey #14.
So That We May Live!
Penny is on combat detail with Sargent Pulaski and other troops and are horrified when Chinese forces send an army of dogs with grenades tied to their tails at them. The group duck for cover and the dogs are killed in the resulting explosions, the soldiers are horrified by the senseless slaughter of innocent animals that Pulaski decides to send a troop out to find out if any other such attacks are being planned. Penny volunteers and sneaks into enemy lines to spy on them.
There he watches as Chinese forces are rounding up more dogs for another attack. When one of the soldiers brings a cat, his commanding officer tosses it away because it is useless. Rescuing the kitten, Penny rushes back to American lines to warn them of the impending attack.
When the next wave of explosive rigged dogs is sent charging their way, Penny is shocked when the kitten suddenly jumps out of the trench and runs at the herd of dogs. Seeing the cat, the dogs begin to chase the kitten, who leads the dogs back toward the enemy. The resulting explosion wipes out the Chinese troops.
Saddened by this sacrifice, Penny and the other troops put up a sign commending the animals for their sacrifice in the war.
Recurring Characters
Penny Pennington
Sargent Pulaski
Combat Casey
Trying to locate a prisoner of war camp, Combat and Penny cross a chasm by rope and are caught in the middle when Chinese soldiers appear on either side. The pair manage to slay their attackers, but the rope is cut and they are sent falling into an enemy truck loaded with enemy troops. Combat and Penny fight them off, but are horrified to find that the truck is driving into the very POW camp that they were ordered to locate.
Outnumbered on all sides, Combat and Penny put up a good fight but the pair are soon overpowered and find themselves put in a pen along with other captured American soldiers. While incarcerated, Penny notes that the guard circles around their pen five times before checking out a nearby ammunition depot and comes up with a plan.
He reveals to the other soldiers that he still has a grenade that he recovered in the fight that he hid in his shoe before capture. Cutting into the grenade, Penny then pours the gunpowder inside into a rag and then puts it on the end of the guard's rifle as he passes by. With holes poked in the bottom of the rag, the gun powder slowly spills out leaving a trail that leads right into the ammo depot.
Penny then lights the gunpowder causing an explosion that destroys the ammo depot and kills all the Chinese soldiers inside. With no enemies left to stop them, the American soldiers break free of their pen and return to base, cheering Combat and Penny as heroes.
Recurring Characters
Combat Casey
Penny Pennington
