Rock's complex family tree comes by way of creator Robert Kanigher, who added new (and often conflicting) branches throughout the character's original 29 year run.

Rock's father was variously described as having died in a mine cave-in (OAAW #231), in World War I (#275 and 419) or in a Pittsburgh steel mill (#347).

Robin Snyder (in a letter mistakenly attributed in #353 to Mike Tiefenbacher) suggested that one of the deaths occurred to Rock's stepfather and his existence was confirmed in #400.

Rock told his fellow soldiers about a weird combat incident that his brother had taken part in on a Pacific island, shown in the comic in a "flashback" style.

Larry Rock became an aide to general Douglas Mac Arthur and was kidnapped by the Nazis and tortured for information on the planned re-taking of the Philippines.

The story places Rock and Easy Company with the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, which was surrounded by German forces in the Vosges Mountains on October 24, 1944, and eventually rescued by the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

[5][6] The Lost Battalion also revives other World War II–era DC characters, such as the Haunted Tank, and "Navajo Ace" Johnny Cloud, and the story itself is mainly narrated by combat journalist William J. Kilroy, and German General Friedrich Wiese.

Rock fought in the infantry branch of the U.S. Army in the European Theatre and eventually rose to authority within his unit, Easy Company.

Robert Kanigher mused in letters columns in the 1970s and 1980s that Rock probably belonged to "The Big Red One" (First US Infantry Division) given his appearance on battlefields in North Africa, Italy, and Northwest Europe.

Rock's backstory was fleshed out in different comics over the years; generally he is considered to have come from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked in a steel mill.

Rock also usually wears the chevrons and rockers of a Master Sergeant on his uniform and also applied, oversize, to the front of his helmet.

It is likely Rock's official position in Easy Company was of senior platoon sergeant though dialogue and scripts are usually vague on his actual responsibilities and duties.

[8] The classic Rock was usually dressed in olive drab fatigues, with a .45-caliber M1A1 Thompson submachine gun (although sometimes he is shown using an M50 Reising instead) and .45-caliber Colt M1911A1 semi-automatic pistol as his armament.

Artists John Severin and Russ Heath sometimes attempted a more realistic portrayal of Rock's equipment, but the .50-caliber ammunition remained a personal trademark.

In stories told after the demise of his own comic book, Rock's character was revived, explained to have survived the war, and went on to perform covert missions for the United States government.

According to John Wells:Kanigher had established Frank's post-war survival in OAAW #168, wherein he had Rock visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Bob Haney picked up on that fact in The Brave and the Bold.

In issue #84, he'd had Rock and Easy cross paths with Bruce Wayne during the war (in an episode obviously set on Earth-Two) and followed up with a present-day sequel in Brave & the Bold #96.

Two subsequent present-day episodes found Rock tracking a Satanic figure that he believed was Adolf Hitler (B&B #108) and an Easy Company "ghost" that he'd been ordered to execute at the Battle of the Bulge (B&B #117).

In the bizarre Brave & the Bold #124, Bob Haney and Jim Aparo actually guest-starred as Rock and Batman trailed a terrorist organization called the 1000.

He and Easy Company live only, and will eventually die, to the last man, in World War II.The first use of the Rock character after the demise of the series was an issue of Swamp Thing, six months after the release of Sgt.

In a conversation with Strange Visitor, he states that he would prefer to be dead rather than live for so long after the war and seeing so many other good men die while he survived.

Following the victory against Imperiex, Amanda Waller oversees his symbolic funeral in Arlington with other World War II heroes, informing Luthor over the phone that Rock had no interest in being remembered and would simply want to rest in peace with his peers.

In keeping with Robert Kanigher's often-mentioned (in letter columns and interviews) but never-scripted conclusion to Rock's wartime adventures (Kanigher did not get the chance to write this tale himself before he died in 2002), Len Wein and Joe Kubert's 2010 back-up story "Snapshot: Remembrance" from the retrospective miniseries DC Universe: Legacies #4 (depicting a July 4, 1976 DC war heroes' reunion) reveals that Sgt.

Flashbacks illustrate Rock being killed on the last day of the war in Europe, while using his body to shield a small child who had wandered into crossfire.

Rock) are Jeb Stuart of the Haunted Tank, all four Losers, Ulysses Hazard/Gravedigger, Mademoiselle Marie (who introduces her unnamed son, a soldier almost identical in appearance to Sgt.

Rock—who is strongly implied to be his father) and the Unknown Soldier disguised (with one of his signature latex masks) as Bob the bartender.