not enough people talk about buckys relationship with the howling commandos.
they weren’t just comrades or friends. they were brothers. they relied on each other like a human relies on oxygen. they fought together through fire and blood and witnessed their own die. people forget that bucky and the commandos were in a unit together and were captured together. not only that but considering the diversity of the commandos they likely had to protect each other from allies and enemies alike, a group of weirdos formally brought together by steve but naturally bonded.
We deserved a Howlies show. A Cap in ww2 mini series brand of brothers style.
things I have thought about it:
after Krausberg the Howlies would've been together for 15 months and 15 days, from mid-November 1943 to March 1945.
Since Frenchy and Monty aren't US Army, and Gabe and Morita are probably from segregated units, the Howlie Bucky could've known longest -- after Steve -- would've been Dum-dum.
If so (taking it from when Bucky was deployed) they would've spent a solid 20 months and 15 days in each other's company.
if Morita was from the all-Nisei 442nd infantry Regiment, that means a) that's the most decorated in US military history, and he's a Ranger to boot! b) composed completely of Japanese-American volunteers who would otherwise have been in internment camps alongside their families.
a lot of black American servicemen were-- well first of all not even allowed to serve initially, that had to be brought in-- second of all were relegated to service roles at first and were the ones responsible for building a lot of the US Army infrastructure (like airfields) in the UK. If Gabe was among them there's a chance he would be the guy who's spent the longest time in England (after Monty of course).
Also: there were a couple occasions of black US troops clashing with white US troops in England, because of, eg. whites (especially from the South) expecting US segregation laws to be applied while they were in the UK.
(This also happened on the continent and in the Pacific. In 1945 the singer Tony Bennett was serving in the US Army of occupation in Germany and was demoted by a bigoted sergeant just for dining with a black high school buddy.)
After August 1944 the 'Red Ball Express' truck convoy system (keeping US soldiers supplied on the continent after D-Day), was driven by black soldiers. So having Gabe on the squad might've proven mighty handy for getting first dibs on supplies.
both Gabe and Morita would've had to fight to actually receive any of the medals they earned during the war, even decades later.
all the Howlies are considerably older than Steve and Bucky -- maybe Bucky picked them specifically with experience in mind, thinking they'd have more to teach Steve.
(Dum-dum and Morita are comfortably above the draft age; maybe they're career soldiers from before the war? or they both enlisted despite being too old? That would suit their fighty personalities.)
If Bucky and Dum-Dum's first experience together was the Allied invasion of Sicily (aka Operation Husky) then there's a chance they could've met Christopher Lee and Alec Guinness there.
If the Howlies were trained in how to handle SSR escapology gadgets while in England then the man who could've been teaching them that is... Naval Intelligence officer John Pertwee (who, as a teenager, was a circus 'wall of death' rider who rode with a live lion in his sidecar. Bucky would have an aneurysm if Steve heard about this.)
other random Howlie headcanons here (they could've been in Paris at the same time as Ernest Hemingway, for example!)
also a lil meta here about some other real-world WWII details that might apply to them (like where might they have been stationed in the UK, where their Hydra missions actually were, etc.)
