Savage Tales unpublished #9 (1986), story page 5 by Glanzman

"Cry My Son My Son," or perhaps "Cry My Son," by Sam Glanzman. He probably wrote and drew the story in 1986 for his "Of War and Peace: Tales of Mas" series in Savage Tales, which may have been scheduled for issue #9, cover date February 1987, before Marvel cancelled the book. "Mas" is Sam spelled backwards. (thanks to Dewey Cassell for solving the mystery for me. Occam's razor!)

Sam's war stories and recollections ran in Savage Tales #6, #7, and #8.

He wrote "Mas" on this page to identify the series. I have no idea what Sam meant by "Mas" when he came up with the title of the series. I have had no luck finding the term among those used by sailors during the war.

Sam's note to editor Larry Hama, partially covered by his signature to fan Doug Rose, reads:

"Larry - If this is not too much trouble, the DD's numbers (I feel) should be lettered with the same thickness pen as names - as is readers may feel numbers represent the size of the crew." (DD is a destroyer.)

"Marvel Graphic Novel: A Sailor's Story" (1987), page 45 by Sam covers the same ground, albeit with new art and revised text to include how his ship USS Stevens fared (see additional image).

Historical note: Destroyers Hull, Monaghan, and Spence sank because they had dumped ballast for underway refueling, making them vulnerable to swamping and not being able to right themselves.

The ships were veterans of many Pacific actions: Pearl Harbor (Hull and Monaghan), the Aleutian Islands (Monaghan), Midway (Hull), naval surface battles off Papua New Guinea (Spence), to name a few.

Officers of the Hull nearly mutinied to put the ship on a safer course during the typhoon. The incident inspired a scene in Herman Wouk's bestselling novel "The Caine Mutiny." Hollywood turned the novel into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart. I give the movie a big thumbs up.