LAURIE LIVINGSTON

Real Name: Laura Livingston

Identity/Class: Human (English, World War II era)

Occupation: Soldier

Group Membership: Deadly Dozen

Affiliations: Sam Sawyer

Enemies: Nazis, Sgt. Schoen, Dr. Lola Steimle, Dr. Steinem, Major Strasser, Dr. Sweikert

Known Relatives: Unnamed father

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Able Company base, England
formerly, London, England

First Appearance: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#98 (May, 1972)

Powers/Abilities: Laurie Livingston spoke ten languages (including German), and wielded a rifle in combat.

History: (Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen#5 (fb)) - During World War II, Laurie was at a party in London when she was captured by Nazi spies, and transported to Devil's Island to be held as a prisoner. On the way there, she met Howard Shigeta and Doc Watson, and befriended them. At Devil's Island, she met Major Strasser, the commander, who tried to seduce her. He revealed to her that her father was a prisoner in Nazi Germany, and held important strategic information that they hoped she could help them discover. After Laurie stabbed Strasser with a knife, she was thrown into the cells with the other prisoners, and was reunited with Shigeta and Watson. The others thought she was a collaborator, but Shigeta and Watson were certain of her motives, and they planned an escape. As she seemingly gave in to Strasser and had a romantic dinner with him, Watson and Shigeta broke out of the cells with the other prisoners, and Shigeta brought Laurie a gun. She took Strasser hostage so that they could get off of the island, but Sgt. Schoen refused to let them, and shot Strasser dead so that they couldn't exploit him. Laurie, Watson and Shigeta managed to lead the other prisoners through Devil's Island and to a boat which they commandeered. As they set for England, they found Sgt. Schoen aboard, and Laurie shot him dead. It was the first time she had taken a human life.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#98 (fb) - BTS) - Later, Laurie stole from U.S. army supply depots, and was imprisoned. Captain Sam Sawyer decided to recruit her for the Deadly Dozen squadron.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#98) - Laurie was introduced to Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, who was to be the leader of the Deadly Dozen. Dugan began to train the Deadly Dozen, and Laurie balked at the muddy conditions of the training field. Dugan told her there would be no gender discrimination in his squad, and flung her into the mud.

Laurie joined the Deadly Dozen on their first field mission, which was to capture alive a band of Nazi spies who had landed on English soil. Laurie's gender proved an advantage, if only in that it surprised her foes long enough for her to best them. They succeded in their mission, and Dugan complimented Laurie for not even smearing her make-up.

(Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen#1 (fb)) - Laurie was introduced to Combat Kelly, newly assigned as Dugan's replacement as leader of the Deadly Dozen, and he was just as put-out to be serving with Laurie as Dugan had, but Sawyer refused to remove her from the team. She joined the Deadly Dozen on a mission to Germany to destroy a new German jet plane created by Dr. Steinem. The Deadly Dozen successfully raided the Luftwaffe complex where the jet was stored.

(Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen#1) - Kelly had Laurie and the others destroy the jet plane using grenades. The destruction of the jet threatened to set off all of the jet fuel in the complex, and the Dozen escaped before the explosion destroyed the entire complex. They then met up with their rendezvous plane, and returned to England.

(Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen#5) - After completing an obstacle course run, Laura met up with Shigeta and Watson, and they reminisced about their first meeting over drinks.

(Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen#6 (fb)) - Laurie participated in a USO dance with the off-duty Deadly Dozen, and danced with Combat Kelly. They were interrupted with news of another mission, one which Laurie did not participate in.

(Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen#8) - While preparing for their next mission in an underwater obstacle course using mines, Laurie was snagged on a net, threatening her life. Kelly set her free, and took responsibility for the slip-up. Laurie thanked him by going to see the movie Casablanca with him, and afterwards, they romanced in a park. The next day, the Deadly Dozen were sent on their mission, although Kelly now wanted to shield Laurie from harm. They swam from their boat to the German shore, and captured Dr. Lola Steimle, who was impersonated by Laurie so that they could infiltrate the facility of Dr. Sweikert, a sadistic German surgeon. With Kelly dressed up as her driver, Laurie entered the facility, but when she presented Dr. Steimle's ID, she realized she hadn't changed the photo. Kelly sprang into action to fight off the guards while Laurie maintained her facade. Laurie met Dr. Sweikert, but he had already captured Kelly, and knew what the real Dr. Steimle looked like from his files.

(Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen#9) - Dr. Sweikert intended to operate on Laurie and Kelly so that he could perform medical experiments, and took Laurie first, severing her achilles tendon so that he could replace it with steel wire. By the time Sweikert had severed her achilles tendon, Kelly had broken free, and rescued Laurie from the hospital. He managed to bring her back to England, but she was left crippled from the operation.

Comments: Created by Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers and Mike Esposito.

I can only imagine that Friedrich intended to tell a story about Laurie's father at some point (a rescue mission?) but the series didn't last long enough.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Laurie Livingston should not be confused with:

• Living Shadows, other-dimensionals creatures brought to Earth by Yellow Claw, @ Yellow Claw#4

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