Fictional character biography
An origin story in G.I. Combat #114 reveals that, at the time of the ghost's arrival, Jeb is a sergeant in the United States Army who commands an M3 Stuart tank fighting with the Allies in the North African Campaign. Jeb is a "Northerner" who met his crew at the Fort Nelson Tank Training Center in the South.[4] Initially, the crew is upset that Jeb has the same name as the Confederate General Jeb Stuart and they demand that the Northerner change his name. After showing his quality by fighting all the men individually, the crew decide he has "earned" the name. The original crew consists of Jeb as tank commander; Arch Asher, loader; Rick Rawlins, gunner; and Slim Stryker, driver.
General Stuart's ghost does not initially care for his assignment, but is impressed with the fighting spirit of Jeb and his crew. Jeb flies a Confederate rather than a Union flag on his "haunted" tank. Jeb, however, is the only one who can see or hear the General. His crew thinks he is crazy, but continue to follow his leadership as he has solid tactical expertise (brought about through his consultations with the General, who usually gives him cryptic hints of future events) and rarely fails in his missions.
As the Haunted Tank fights from Africa to the European Theater of Operations, the crew goes through several M3 tanks. When their latest M3 is destroyed, the crew scavenge spare parts and wreckage from a "tank graveyard" to build themselves a new tank, known as the "Jigsaw Tank",[5] which serves them from that point. This tank has a modified Russian T-34 hull, a Christie suspension system and a Russian Y2 12-cylinder diesel engine of 500 H.P. The nearly 15-foot track gives this rolling jigsaw puzzle excellent traction and it is capable of speeds up to 21 m.p.h.[6]
Following a disastrous mission engineered to rescue the son of their commanding officer, General Norton, from a German administrated POW camp (based on the Task Force Baum incident), the crew of the Haunted Tank find themselves stranded behind enemy lines and spend several issues fighting their way back to the front. During this, they pick up Gus Gray, an African American soldier who had escaped from the same POW camp.[7] Days later, Arch dies saving them from an exploding suicidal German tank[8] and Gus takes his place in the crew.
A new M3 tank is eventually replaced by an M4A1 Sherman tank[9] that sees them through to the end of the war. Despite a story that involves the ghost of General William T. Sherman being assigned to the tank after the crew switches to the Sherman,[10] General Stuart's ghost continues to watch over the crew until war's end.
Later in the war, Slim is also killed in action and older veteran, Bill Craig, replaces him.[11] Craig's son Eddie also joins the crew a few issues later,[12] taking over the loader's position and allowing Gus to act as a second gunner.
The feature ended when G.I. Combat was cancelled with issue #288.[13]
