Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1917 in New York City to Joseph and Sarah Rogers. He grew up frail and sickly, like the poster-child for the "before" pictures in Charles Atlas ads. His father died in 1920, and his mother in 1934. By 1940 Steve was an aspiring artist, subsisting by painting murals on subways for the Works Progress Administration. Steve was horrified by the Nazi attrocities depicted in newreels, and tried to enlist in 1940. He was judged "4F" by the examination board, and rejected. He was then recruited by General Chester Phillips for a special program called Operation Rebirth. Steve underwent months of tests and training, and was finally injected with the Super-Soldier formula, then subjected to an exotic radiation treatment. The experiment worked; the combination of formula and radiation treatment combined to artificially bring and maintain his body at the highest possible peak of human development. Steve became instantly stronger, more agile, and faster than any Olympic athlete. The treatment also increased his endurance, and also removed fatigue-producing poisons from his system, making him virtually tireless. However, a Nazi spy had gained access to the experiment observation gallery. The spy shot Dr. Abraham Erskine, the inventor of the process, and was himself accidentally killed by Rogers. Over the next week, Nazi spys executed and/or interrogated all of the remaining scientists on the project. Steve was given the costume and name of Captain America to serve as a symbol, an embodiment of all of the virtues which make the United States great. he was very specifically designed to counter the terror of the Nazi master-agent, the Red Skull. He was initially based at Camp Lehigh, were he met Bucky Barnes. Bucky discovered his secret, and became his partner. Captain America and Bucky fought the Nazi menace alone and as part of the Invaders, frequently striking behind the lines at secret Nazi bases and military installations. near the end of the war in Europe, during an attempt to prevent Baron Zemo I from sending an experiemntal drone plane to his masters, Bucky was killed in a booby-trap; the blast hurled Captain America into rapidly freezing waters. The Super-soldier formula in his viens prevented him from dying, and he was cast into a state of suspended animation. He would remain in the ice until rescued by the Avengers.