Armstrong of the Army

ARMSTRONG OF THE ARMY

Real Name: Lieutenant Armstong

Class: Human

Occupation: Lieutenant, U.S. army intelligence

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile, WWII era

First Appearance: Star Spangled Comics I #1 (October, 1941)

Powers: Armstrong was a trained soldier, a talented hand-to-hand combatant, and was armed with a firearm.

History: (Star Spangled Comics I #1) - Lt. Armstrong was pat of U.S. army intelligence, and was called to inspect the army's new air base Desert Field. He observed an aerial photographer plane documenting the base, but a spy plane appeared, shot down the photographer, and stole the film. Armstrong couldn't have the base's secrets fall into enemy hands, so when the spy plane landed he crashed his car into it. The spies stole his car and fled, but he pursued them to a nearby cave. Armstrong fearlessly battled the spies, capturing one, while the other drowned after falling into a whirlpool.

(Star Spangled Comics I #2) - Armstrong was assigned to guard Doctor Mason, and his time gun until he was ready to present it to the military. Mason had poor eyesight, and nearly caused disasters trying to demonstrate his weapon, which aged anything it hit, to Armstrong. Two men approached the army base, claiming one of them had been in a hunting accident, and Armstrong, against his better instincts, allowed them in. They turned out to be spies in the service of a foreign nation, and stole the ray. Mason told Armstrong that the ray's one weakness was that it didn't affect fire, so Armstrong pursued them, using a flaming bush as a shield. He started a forest fire to pen them in next to a mountain, but park rangers soon responded, and saved one of the spies by hauling him up the mountain. Armstrong shouted a warning, and when the spy pulled the ray one of the rangers grappled with him, and he fell to his death. The ray was smashed, and Armstrong finished the case by arresting the other spy. The rangers complied with his wish to keep the top secret weapon a secret.

(Star Spangled Comics I #3) - Colonal Faltz and Captain Fanning both approached Armstrong about their suspicions of a sy in the army. Armstrong contacted the F.B.I. and began to suspect Faltz, so when the Col. told Armstrong that Fanning was the villain, he decided to set him up. Faltz told Armstrong to tip off Fanning that he had an important military briefcase, and if anything were to happen afterwards it would prove him a traitor. Armstrong never followed through, so when spies assaulted him and grabbed his phony briefcase he knew he had his man. He confronted Faltz, who tried to fly off in an autogyro, but Armstrong shot it down and brought Faltz to justice.

(Star Spangled Comics I #4) - When several planes crashed in Southern swamplands with sand in their engines, Armstrong flew there to investigate. His plane was brought down by a sand gun designed by German scientist Professor Arndt, who tied up Armstrong and intended to feed him to his pet sharks. Armstrong escaped his bondage, and after beating Arndt's henchmen in fisticuffs arrested Arndt and claimed the sand gun for the U.S. military.

(Star Spangled Comics I #5) - Lt. Armstrong took a day off to charter a boat and go fishing in Florida waters. A Nazi u-boat surfaced and boarded, but it turned out they were looking for charter captain Angobar's ship the Seaspray, not the Seasprite, the boat Armstrong was on. Armstrong managed to radio the navy before the Nazi's shot the Seasprite's captain and took Armstrong prisoner. When they spotted the Seaspray Armstrong took one of the Nazis as a human shield, boarded the boat, and began evasive action. The navy planes arrived, and bombed the u-boat. Angobar pulled a gun on Armstrong, and revealed that he'd been helping the Nazis keep track of Navy movements, but Armstrong disarmed him and handed him over to the Navy.

(Star Spangled Comics I #6) - Armstrong received a call from Captain Quinn at the hemisphere defense base in Costa Blanca. Jaguars were killing his laborers, and he asked Armstrong for assistance. Armstrong flew to Costa Blanca with cougar dogs in tow, but soon discovered that one Professor Jung commanded the jaguars. Armstrong pursued him into the jungle only to be caught in a pitfall trap, and Jung pulled a gun on him, and marched him to his subterranean base. Jung couldn’t continue his experiments with the hemisphere base being built nearby, and planned to flee Costa Blance. Armstrong realized he’d taught the jaguars German, so he commanded them in German to attack their master. Jung was mauled to death, and the hemisphere base was safe again.

Comments: Created by Ed Moore.

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe Armstrong lived on Earth-2.