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BARNEY BENNETT

Real Name: Barney Bennett

Identity/Class: Normal human (early 1950s era)

Occupation: US Army engineers (Corporal rank)

Group Membership: US Army (210th Engineers)

Affiliations: Fellow US soldiers, notably PFC Charlie Kovalski

Enemies: North Korean military

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: mobile in Korea;
   formerly USA

First Appearance: War Comics#13/3 (November, 1952)

Powers/Abilities: Generally sharp-witted in battle, Barney Bennett received army training and was an excellent driver of heavy machinery, including bulldozers and tanks. However, he was susceptible to panic attacks from claustrophobia, which undermined his self-confidence.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Blond

History:

(War Comics#13/3 (fb)) - Barney Bennett joined the army, proving proficient at driving tanks. While training at the Army's Fort Knox base, he was adept at driving through mud while the driver's hatch was open, but when the battleground test with live ammunition began, he had to stay completely inside the tank. His undiagnosed claustrophobia took over and he panicked, ramming another tank by accident.

(War Comics#13/3 (fb) - BTS) - Because of the tank accident, he was transferred to engineering. It undermined his self-confidence and he was concerned he was a coward at heart. Sent to the Korean War, he was assigned bulldozer duty as the driving was similar (using levers). He was allocated a guard, Private Charlie Kovalski, and tasked with clearing woodland for troop and supply movements. Bennett was nervous as it was his first time near a real battleground.

(War Comics#13/3) - An enemy North Korean sniper shot at Bennett just as the bulldozer hit a landmine. The explosion caused the sniper to miss, but having seen muzzle flare, Kovalski eliminated the sniper. A senior officer arrived by jeep and ordered them to speed up clearing. The officer warned Bennett of potential enemy ambushes, then drove off. Bennett and Kovalski fixed the machine and Bennett told of his personal shame driving tanks. Bennett cleared for hours with much noise. Two North Korean soldiers attacked from behind, but Bennett saw them in his mirror and braked hard. He threw a bayoneted rifle like a spear, killing one soldier, then used his handgun to help Kovalski fighting the other enemy soldier. Four more enemy soldiers appeared and threw grenades, so Bennett raised the bulldozer's blade to deflect them. Having stopped the enemy soldiers, they encountered a North Korean tank, which fired a warning shot. Bennett rammed the tank with the bulldozer, pushing it over until it fell off a cliff. The battle action renewed Bennett's self-confidence as both Americans realized it was claustrophobia that had held him back.

 

Comments: Created by Hank Chapman (writer) and Joe Maneely (pencils & inks).

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Barney Bennett has no known connections to:


Charlie Kovalski

Private (FC) Charlie Kovalski was assigned to protect Barney Bennett while he bulldozed a clearway through Korean woods. Kovalski sat next to Bennett in the bulldozer's open-air seat. An expert marksman, he shot a Communist sniper hiding in a tree, but had trouble against another North Korean soldier in hand-to-hand combat, and had to be rescued by Bennett. He stayed next to Bennett as the driver used the bulldozer to counter Communist soldiers and a tank. Kovalski realized that Bennett wasn't a coward in battle, but was just claustrophobic.

 

 

 

 

 

--War Comics#13/3


images: (without ads)
War Comics#13/3, p2, pan3 (main image)
   p7, pan6 (headshot)
   p2, pan3 (Kovalski)


Appearances:
War Comics#13/3 (November, 1952) - Hank Chapman (writer), Joe Maneely (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)


First posted: 06/18/18

Last updated: 06/18/18

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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