Sullivan brothers

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The Sullivan Brothers on the Juneau

The Sullivan Brothers (also known as the Fighting Sullivans ) served aboard the cruiser USS Juneau during World War II . Four of them died on November 13, 1942 when it was sunk off Guadalcanal , the fifth brother a few days later. In response, the US War Department introduced the Sole Survivor Policy , according to which siblings are brought back by fallen soldiers or are not even sent into the combat zone.

Life

The Sullivans came from an Irish Catholic family in Waterloo , Iowa . Her parents Tom and Alleta Sullivan had seven children, five sons and two daughters. One daughter died of pneumonia in childhood. The brothers were called:

  • George Thomas Sullivan (born December 14, 1914)
  • Francis "Frank" Henry Sullivan (born February 18, 1916)
  • Joseph "Joe" Eugene Sullivan (born August 28, 1918)
  • Madison "Matt" Abel Sullivan (born November 8, 1919)
  • Albert "Al" Leo Sullivan (born July 8, 1922)

The two older brothers George and Frank signed up for four years in the Navy on November 5, 1937 . They were honorably dismissed in May 1941 at the end of their service. Her youngest brother Al had meanwhile married and had a son. But then the brothers received news of the death of their friend Bill Ball, who died on the USS Arizona in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. All five brothers decided to volunteer. But with the words "We stick together!" They insisted that they could serve together. It was customary for brothers to be separated when they entered service. The Navy raised concerns but eventually agreed. On January 3, 1942, the Sullivans were sworn in at Des Moines and completed their basic training at Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois . Her famous photo, which shows all five brothers in uniform, was taken on February 14 on board the Juneau when it was put into service in New York .

The Juneau fought in the South Pacific. On the morning of November 13, 1942, she and other US ships collided with the Japanese in a thick fog near Guadalcanal. The Juneau was badly damaged in the short and confused naval battle of Guadalcanal . She tried to drag himself out of danger, but received around 11:01 hit by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-26 . The torpedo detonated the ammunition depot, the ship was torn in two and sank within minutes. Four of the five Sullivan brothers - Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al - died on the ship. The fifth, George, managed to reach a life raft despite being injured.

Because of the rapid sinking of the Juneau and the supposed threat from submarines, the accompanying ships did not look for survivors on express instructions. There were no rescue attempts in the next few days either, as the news of the Juneau's sinking had not reached the responsible land commands. The men suffered from hunger, thirst, the heat and frequent shark attacks. George survived for several days but did not return from a swim around the raft one night. It is not known if he died from exhaustion, his wounds, or from a shark attack.

The death of five sons was the greatest loss to a single US family to combat operations in World War II.

Honors and Consequences

The Sullivans on a War Department poster

As a direct consequence of the loss of all five sons in a family, the War Ministry decided on the so-called Sole Survivor Policy . Thereafter, after the loss of two or more sons (today also daughters) of a family, the surviving siblings are brought back to the United States or continue to be stationed there. A Sullivan Law passed by Congress , according to which brothers are no longer allowed to serve together on a ship or in a unit, never existed despite rumors to the contrary.

The Sullivans, like all other fallen US soldiers, were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart . Her sister Genevieve joined WAVES and worked for a recruiting agency. Together with her parents she visited more than 200 war-essential factories and shipyards. By January 1944, they had reached two million workers in person or over the radio. The performances had the intention to motivate the workers to higher weapon production in order to be able to end the war more quickly. The Navy also took advantage of its popularity in other ways, recruiting with a poster showing the five Sullivan brothers with the slogan "They did their part" (Eng. They did their part). The upside-down V, which happened to be seen on the hatch in the original photo, was flipped over for the poster to resemble a victory sign .

USS The Sullivans , the second ship named after the Sullivan brothers

Two warships are named after the Sullivans. As early as 1943, the destroyer Putnam , which was under construction, was renamed USS The Sullivans and named by her mother Alleta Sullivan. It was decommissioned in 1965. A second destroyer named USS The Sullivans has been in service since 1997. The christening was carried out by Kelly Ann Sullivan, Al Sullivan's granddaughter. The Sullivan's statement “We stick together” is the ship's motto.

In her hometown of Waterloo, a convention center, street and park are also named after the Sullivans.

References in film and music

The story of the Sullivans was made into a film in 1944 with the title The Fighting Sullivans .

The Sullivans were, along with the Niland brothers, an inspiration for the Hollywood film Saving Private Ryan . In the film, a group of soldiers is supposed to find a comrade and bring it back safely after his three brothers have already died. It is therefore an application of the Sole Survivor Policy . In one of the opening scenes there is an explicit reference to the Sullivan brothers. However, the film also gives the false impression that there is a Sullivan Law to explain why the Ryan brothers were sent to different theaters of war.

The song Sullivan from the 1997 album Monsoon is the greatest success of the alternative rock band Caroline's Spine and describes the grief of the mother Sullivan.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Sullivan Brothers: US Navy Policy Regarding Family Members Serving Together at Sea . Naval History and Heritage Command, May 27, 2005, accessed November 13, 2017.
  2. ^ Sullivan Brothers . Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia, as of April 26, 2009, accessed November 13, 2017.