Captain America Steve Rogers looks back on his life: growing up in New York, he wanted nothing more than to enlist in his father’s WWI regiment (1st Battalion, 26th Infantry a/k/a the Blue Spaders) while being picked on by the local bully Dougie Huggins. His father died of influenza in 1926; his mother struggled to support them in the Depression, eventually dying young herself, leaving Steve with the advice to never forget the people who help him where he’s going. The orphaned teen works as a delivery boy and when another war breaks out, he and Dougie try to enlist in the 26th Infantry; Dougie makes it but Steve is classed 4-F and rejected. A general overhears Steve’s determined arguments and approaches him outside, offering to arrange something. Steve is inducted into the Blue Spaders, promoted to Captain without explanation and whisked to Washington for a secret mission. There, he is admitted to a secret lab where he becomes a test subject for Dr. Erskine’s Super-Soldier Serum. The test is a success: Steve grows into the perfect human specimen instantaneously. Then tragedy strikes as Erskine is gunned down by a Nazi spy in their midst and Steve leaps into action, subduing the killer who is accidentally electrocuted by a piece of equipment. The new Captain America is given rigorous training and also promoted as a symbol of the nation’s ideals of freedom and justice. As a cover, he is stationed as a private at Camp Lehigh, where one day camp mascot Bucky Barnes discovers his secret. Bucky is recruited as Cap’s sidekick and as Steve Rogers, he serves faithfully with his regiment in the War in North Africa, through the invasion of Italy, the discovery of Hitler’s Final Solution, and into Russia. Meanwhile as Captain America he undertakes missions against Nazi villains like the Red Skull. He is proud of the service of his regiment and personally awards medals to the heroes involved including Douglas Huggins. A twist of fate occurs and Bucky is killed on a mission and Cap drops into the icy Atlantic to be frozen for decades, all the while dreaming of his parents, his comrades in arms, and his nation. Awaking to a world he doesn’t recognize, he serves with the Avengers but he does not consider himself a hero. The heroes are those he has served alongside: the men of the 26th Infantry and the modern superheroes. He does not forget those who helped him get where he is. He attends a reunion of his old regiment and there is only one other member still alive: the elderly Doug Huggins. As they sit together at dinner, Steve recalls that he is Captain Americas but first and foremost a Blue Spader, proud to have served with the real heroes, who fought for their country because it was the right thing to do. "…I miss those boys."