James “Bucky” Barnes was a teenaged ward of the state assigned to Camp Lehigh in Virginia. His mother had died when he was a child; his father had died in an accident while in basic training at Camp Lehigh. Barnes served as the camp mascot and became particularly close to Private Steve Rogers, secretly Captain America. One night, Barnes happened into Rogers’ tent just as he was changing to his masked identity. Sworn to secrecy, Barnes begged his idol to let him train with him and become his partner. For several months, Barnes underwent an intensive training program under Captain America’s tutelage, finally becoming skilled enough that he was given a costume and permitted to undertake missions with his mentor, using the name Bucky.

When America entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Captain America and Bucky abandoned their military identities for most of the war to devote their full energies to serving as costumed freedom fighters. They soon found themselves allied with the Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch and his young partner Toro, and in a team that Winston Churchill dubbed the Invaders. Bucky served Captain America and the Invaders capably and faithfully, leaving the team only temporarily to organize and lead his own team of teenaged soldiers, the Kid Commandos. Once, to rescue the Invaders from the Red Skull, Bucky assembled a team of costumed superhumans who operated on the homefront, a group that would remain together until the end of the war and was known as the Liberty Legion.

In late 1945, toward the end of the war, Captain America and Bucky were in London, England, on the trail of Nazi scientist Baron Heinrich Zemo. They discovered Zemo in the process of stealing an experimental drone plane built by the Allies. In the ensuing battle with Zemo’s powerful humanoid robot, both Captain America and Bucky were rendered unconscious and strapped to the drone plane to be delivered to Hitler in Berlin. Unable to stand the sight of their patriot costumes, Zemo dressed them in their army uniforms. Managing to escape before Zemo activated the plane, the two American champions saw the drone plane begin to move just as they jumped off. Quickly Captain America and Bucky grabbed a motorcycle and tried to catch up with it. Just before it flew out of reach, the two leaped for the plane. Bucky leaped first and managed to get a grip on the plane’s right wing. Captain America missed, and shouted to his partner to let go in case the plane was booby-trapped. Bucky ignored his mentor’s commands, thinking he would be able to defuse the bomb before it went off. The plane exploded, killing Bucky instantly. Captain America plunged into the English Channel, to undergo the process of suspended animation, the last sight he saw being Bucky’s body exploding. Bucky’s remains were never recovered. Captain America was not to get revenge on Zemo for Bucky’s death until he awoke from suspended animation decades later.