Billy Tucci tells story of “Lost Battalion” with Sgt. Rock
ARLINGTON, Texas – Writer-artist Billy Tucci hopes his newest comic book can be “a bridge across generations.”
“Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion” features DC Comics’ World War II character Sgt. Rock. But this story is based on real-life events.
In October of 1944, 275 Texans of the Alamo Regiment, of the 141st Infantry, were surrounded by German forces. After rescue attempts failed for six days, the general of the 36th division called for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This unit was made up primarily of Japanese Americans.
“They pretty much were sent on a suicide mission,” Tucci said. “It was 1600 men against 7000 German soldiers, in tanks.”
The 442nd succeeded in breaking through the German lines and reaching the 141st.
“By the end of that battle though, of the 1,600 men that went in to save 275, 800 were able to walk out,” Tucci said. “And it’s come down to be the most decorated action in U.S. military history. These guys have become friends of mine, and they want their stories told.”
What’s even more amazing is that so many of these men died defending freedom while their own families were being held in internment camps, Tucci said.
“After Pearl Harbor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt incarcerated 125,000 Japanese American citizens in interment camps. And their only crime was their heritage,” Tucci said. “And something incredible happened during this war … by the hundreds, these boys started to volunteer out of the camps. Because they loved America, and they wanted to prove that they were good Americans.”
Tucci visited the battle sites in France as part of his research for “The Lost Battalion”
“I’ve seen the battlefields, I’ve walked the beaches of Normandy, I’ve seen the foxholes of the Lost Battalion,” Tucci said. “I’ve touched the graves in the cemeteries where 10,000 Americans never came home.”
Tucci said meeting veterans who shared their stories with him has been the most rewarding part of creating “The Lost Battalion.”
“It’s become a really wonderful experience of my life,” he said. “It’s a heartfelt story, it’s not a rah-rah war story. It’s a story that you could say celebrates the American soldier.”
Tucci will tell the story of the Lost Battalion, through the lens of Sgt. Rock, in six comic-books being released through March. The first issue is on sale now.
A version of this story ran in Friday’s Weekend Look in The Oklahoman.
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