True Comics #37

Ever wonder why the nursery rhymes you sang as a child actually exist? "How It Began" traces the surprising true history behind beloved verses like "Little Jack Horner" and "Sing a Song of Sixpence," revealing how ordinary people's anger at real injustices—from King Henry VIII's land seizures to Spanish merchants undercutting English wages—sparked jingles that survived centuries as innocent children's songs. Discover how rhymes that once mocked beggars, Puritan protests, and royal greed became the timeless ditties we nearly forgot the meaning of.

An English and American pilot share stories of how National War Fund agencies are delivering aid around the globe—from anti-malaria medicine in Yugoslavia to recreation centers for troops in the Pacific, relief supplies for civilians in occupied Europe, and surgical equipment in China. Through their firsthand accounts, the fliers witness the far-reaching impact of these coordinated relief efforts on soldiers, civilians, and refugees caught in the chaos of world war. It's a portrait of how American contributions, channeled through dozens of organizations, are reaching "our own and our allies" on every front.

In 1944, the construction of the Alaska Highway seemed impossible—a 1,671-mile road through brutal wilderness where temperatures swung from ninety degrees above zero to seventy below, where pilots faced eighty-five-mile-per-hour headwinds over mountains and truck drivers skidded across ice while grizzlies roamed nearby. But American and Canadian workers, supported by air supply runs and driven by the need to move war materials to inland airports, pushed forward through spring thaws that froze laundry solid and autumn freezes that split truck treads. This is the true story of the engineers, drivers, pilots, and support crews who refused to accept that nature itself could stop them.

In late 1943, the aging destroyer USS Borie encounters a surfaced U-boat during North Atlantic convoy duty—and Lieutenant Hutchins makes the bold decision to ram and hold the Nazi vessel in place while his crew unleashes everything they have, from four-inch guns to pistols and even shell casings. What follows is an intense, close-quarters battle that will test both ships and men to their limits as the Borie fights to keep her opponent pinned down long enough to finish the fight.

Five U.S. Marines—Sergeant Brown, Les, Barlo, Trott, and Logan—take a defensive stand on Bougainville Island in November 1943 when word arrives that seventy-five Japanese soldiers are advancing toward their position. Armed with just one machine gun, one rifle, four Garands, and grenades, the outnumbered men dig in and prepare for an overwhelming counterattack. Through fierce jungle combat and unwavering resolve, this unlikely unit faces impossible odds in a desperate fight for survival.