History
On Earth-7918, a world where the human race would reach the stars in the early 1900's, Samuel Sawyer would have a vastly different history than his Earth-616 counterpart. In this reality, Sawyer would be part of the Earth military that up until December of 1941, would not be involved in the interplanetary conflict between Alpha and Beta sectors of space.
Early on in his career, he was a Lieutenant in the Alpha Civilian Fighters, a group of Earth men who participated in the war effort before Earth joined the conflict. There he would command over Nick Fury and Red Hargrove. During this time, Fury would come to refer to Sawyer as "Happy Sam", much to Sam's chagrin.
When preparations were being made for the inevitable inclusion of Earth in the conflict, Sawyer would be sent to Space Station Pearl to recruit Nick Fury and Red Hargrove into the new commando unit he was forming called the Howling Commandos. This would be on the same day that the Betans (the primary aggressors in the conflict) would launch an attack on Space Station Pearl.
In the firefight, Sawyer would save both Fury and Hargrove from danger, but would take a laser blast to the back. Sawyer would tell Fury of his intentions before dying. Fury and Hargrove would go on to join the Howlers and lead them to a victory against the Betans during an invasion of Space Station Midway.
During their mission, the Howlers would be commanded by a robot computer with the rank of Captains. Fury would come to suspect that the computer was somehow connected to Sawyer and would call it by the nickname Sawyer hated most. The possibility that this computer could possibly house the mind or be programmed to act like Sawyer remains unconfirmed.