Joe Yank #12

When Sergeant McGurk transfers to Company K, he clashes with Major Ambrose's gentler command style—but when both companies face overwhelming enemy forces in Korea, McGurk and his old buddy Joe Yank reunite on the battlefield with explosive results. Their combat prowess inspires the greenhorns of Company K to help drive back the attack, earning McGurk a transfer back to his original outfit, where an old grievance over a pin-up threatens to reignite their legendary rivalry.

Private Joe Yank gets a dream assignment—one that beats latrine duty by a country mile—when Colonel Winters recruits him for a delicate undercover operation: pose as a bumbling aide to a high-ranking officer and get close to Lulu D'Bra, a dangerously charming spy suspected of leaking troop movements to the enemy. It's a mission tailor-made for a smooth talker, which is exactly why the Colonel thinks Joe's talent for stumbling into trouble might be the perfect cover.

A soldier tasked with guarding critical intelligence papers sets an elaborate trap at a seedy nightclub—complete with a whistle signal and hidden MPs—only to find his mission derailed when a brawl erupts and his signal literally goes down the hatch. This 1953 war story delivers the kind of comedic military mishap that reminds us not every operation goes according to plan, even when the colonel's strategy is sound on paper.

PFC Pinhead Perkins gets a shot at glory when he's selected to represent the typical G.I. at a prestigious stage show and movie premiere—but his mud-caked uniform and a case of mistaken identity send him careening through a backstage chaos that turns the whole event upside down. What starts as a simple appearance becomes a wild scramble involving MPs, costume changes, and musical instruments, all witnessed by the brass and press in attendance.

Private Joe Yank finds himself caught in Sergeant Mike McGurk's revenge scheme when McGurk arranges a blind date between Joe and Lieutenant Prunella Beaste, a nurse whose appearance is anything but the "gorgeous" woman McGurk promised. As Joe desperately tries to escape the persistent lieutenant's advances, Communist snipers close in on the rest area, forcing him into a dangerous confrontation where he must choose between his romantic predicament and survival.

When American forces retrain and rearm the South Korean soldiers, a fighting unit gets a second chance to prove itself and shed an unfair reputation born from the war's early struggles. This 1953 war story from Joe Yank #12 shows what determination and proper support can accomplish on the battlefield.