Origin
Captain Pat Parker really is a British nurse, but she becomes a superheroine by taking off her white uniform to reveal an outfit consisting of a crop top and blue shorts with a cross on her belt, and by donning a mask also decorated with a red cross. Suddenly, she is known as “War Nurse”!
Creation
Not every patriotic superheroine was American. Even before Pearl Harbor, comic book writers demonstrated America’s partiality to our besieged and blitzkrieged neighbor across the sea by creating several British superheroines. Pat Parker, War Nurse, made her first appearance in Speed Comics #13.
Pat Parker and her Girl Commandos defied comic book tradition not only by including an overweight girl, Ellen, as an action heroine who was just as tough as her “sisters”, but by the realistic, non-racist depiction of Mei-Ling, the Chinese member of the group. Pat Parker and her multinational women fought for the freedom of enslaved nations right through to the end of the war, finally laying down their guns and uniforms when Speed Comics ended its long run in 1947.
Major Story Arcs
In future adventures, she is assisted by Mei-Ling, Tanya, Ellen and Penny, better known as the Girl Commandos. The strip featured a sort of female United Nations, all from battled countries, who fought the Axis in Nazi-occupied lands like Norway and Greece. Ellen, Pat and Penny are British, Tanya is Russian and Mei-Ling is Chinese.
Powers & Abilities
War Nurse has no powers beyond her desire to see the Axis crushed.