They Gave Their All : The Sullivan Brothers and Tragic Sinking of the USS Juneau
and an armada of circling sharks while awaiting rescue . After eight desperate days , only ten men lived . None were named Sullivan .
The loss of the Juneau near Guadalcanal in the British Solomon Islands on Friday the Thirteenth ( November 1942 ) was a seminal event in America ’ s World War II experience . The death of the five brothers in the most ferocious naval battle of the Pacific War created a windfall of patriotism , which the US government leveraged to boost war bond sales and increase war materiel production . The siblings ’ deaths had both immediate and far-reaching consequences on the military ’ s prosecution of the Second World War and the deployment of its troops in the nation ’ s future conflicts . Finally , this tragedy left an imprint on American popular culture , renewed by the discovery of the Juneau ’ s wreck on St . Patrick ’ s Day 2018 .
With the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 , the United States — and the entire world , for that matter — were on the precipice of the most dramatic and all-encompassing conflict in world history . No corner of the globe was untouched , and no family was exempt from harm . Not even the Sullivans of Waterloo , Iowa . “ Farm families were close because they have to be ,” explains Sullivan biographer John R . Satterfield , “ in the Sullivan house , these bonds especially were strong , forging a sense of loyalty that bridged generations .” 1
Father , Thomas F . “ Tom ” Sullivan ( 1883 – 1965 ), was a union man who worked hard for the Illinois Central
Railroad to provide for a stable home for his family . Starting as a yard laborer , he was steadily promoted into jobs with increasing responsibility , security , and commensurate wages , until his promotion to freight train conductor . Family friends described Tom ’ s wife , Alleta May ( Abel ) Sullivan ( 1895 – 1972 ), as a pleasant woman with an energetic personality who enjoyed socializing within the rural community . Still others described her as “ high-strung and prone to bouts of nervous exhaustion that kept her bedridden for days .” 2
On February 4 , 1914 , Tom married Miss Abel , then nineteen years old , and twelve years his junior . It was Alleta ’ s widowed mother , Mary , however , who anchored the Sullivan family . Mrs . Abel instilled the values of family and loyalty in the children , the first of which , George Thomas , arrived in 1914 ( 1914 – 1942 ). Sullivan children came steadily over the next two decades until there were five more : Francis Henry “ Frank ” ( 1916 – 1942 ), Genevieve Marie ( 1917 – 1975 ), Joseph Eugene “ Red ” ( 1918 – 1942 ), Madison Abel “ Matt ” ( 1919 – 1942 ), and Albert Leo “ Al ” ( 1922 – 1942 ).
Tom ’ s gainful employment freed his children from the need to work to contribute to the household income , as was the case with many local families . Never studious or driven to any particular profession , the boys were free to follow their frivolous pursuits . These usually involved fishing and hunting , but always outdoors , and they were always together .
“ Nearly everybody who knew them agreed they were happy-go-lucky ,
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