1st appearance of Sgt. Nick Fury
1st team appearance of the Howling Commandos: Happy Sam Sawyer, Dino Manelli, Dum Dum Dugan, Junior Juniper, Rebel Ralston and Gabe Jones, the first ongoing black character in the mainstream Marvel Universe (post Fantastic Four #1)
In the book, Stan Lee's Amazing Marvel Universe, Stan explains Gabe Jones was intended to be black but due to a printing error, he was the same color as the other soldiers. Gabe's skin tone is noticeably different in the next issue though it doesn't appear to be a natural skin color