Figure 1.--Here we see the five Sullivan brothers (Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George) and their no dioubt long-suffering sister Genevieve who served in the WAVES. The photograsph was probably about 1928 at home with their parents and sister in Waterloo, Iowa, about as far from the sea as you can get. [Note: We at first thought this was a family snapshot, but is apperntly a still from the movie.] Mother outfitted them in sailor suits when they dressed up. All five were killed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal when their damaged ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine (November 13, 1942). It exploded and broke in two, going down in 20 seconds. The reagedy caused the Navy to change its policy on assigning siblings.

Nothing more exemplified the Navy's commitment to the Marine asnd Army forces on Gudalcanal than the Sullivan brothers. Too often the Navy is accused of deserting them. Nothing could be further from the tryuth. They were a close-knit Irish family. The boys’ father worked on the railroad. And as they were growing up the boys always waved to him from a railroad bridge as they crossed it. In the patriotic frenzy following Pearl Harbor, the five Sullivsn brothers enlisted in the Navy. Their sister Genevieve was the girlfriend of Bill Ball, whose death while serving on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor was a factor in the brothers joining the Navy to avenge him. They insisted on staying together and were all assigned to the Atlanta-class light cruiser Juneau. Juneau was hit by as torpedo in the night action when Adms. Callighan and Scott's cruiser force took on Japanese battleships planning to bombard Henderson Field (November 12). Juneau was damaged and retired listing, but under power with the surviving cruisers. Japanese submarine I-26 intercepted the surviving cruissers. It fired at the larger target, the battered USS San Francisco, a heavy cruiser. The torpedoes missed San Francisco, but one struck Juneau and in the same place that had been damaged during the earlier battle. It caused a huge explosion, breasking Juneau broke in two. The ship disappeared in only 20 seconds. Some 687 officers and sailors, including the five Sullivan brothers, were killed. 【Kuklick】 Only 10 survivors were rescued after 8 days in the water. Hollywood made a film about them--"Thev fighting Sullivans' (1944). Bobby Driscol played the youngest Sullivan. In the movie Mrs.Sullivan sees a Navy chaplain coming to her door. She answers it and says, "Which one." He replies, "All five”. A reader writes, "I have always had special feelings for the story. In fact,the War Department saw to it that the story was filmed before the war ended as an attempt to sell war bonds. My mother took me to see it and some of the images remain in my mind today. I googled the ages of the five Sullivan brothers and hit on a site from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier--Remembering Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers The early film takes them from small boys to the sinking of the Juneau. One thing that will hit you is the letter Mrs. Sullivan wrote inquiring about her boys when the paper reported them missing. The site contains numerous photos related to their growing up, inclusing all the scrapes the boys got in. I am a retired teacher and deal with the story when I return to the classroom."

Sources

Kuklick, Bruce. "The deaths of these 5 sailors changed how US manned military units," World War II Magazine (November 9, 2019).

Created: 4:17 PM 8/30/2023
Last updated: 4:17 PM 8/30/2023