The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 9, Number 3, Winter 2020 | Page 71

They Gave Their All : The Sullivan Brothers and Tragic Sinking of the USS Juneau
livans ’ tragedy into an inspiring national call to arms .” 64 As a result , the Industrial Incentives Division received dozens of letters from factory managers attesting to the increased worker productivity after the family ’ s visit . Consequently , the Navy “ credited [ the Sullivans ] with increasing the output of war materials during the tour .” 65
While in Connecticut , Chicago , and San Diego , the Sullivans met with Juneau survivors . They also met with the Rodgers family to offer their condolences and repeat their message of hope that the boys were just missing in action . In Los Angeles , the Sullivans were guests of Paramount Motion Pictures who were casting a film tribute to their sons . While in Chicago , Genevieve announced that she would follow in her brothers ’ footsteps and enlist in the Navy as a WAVE , a Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service , taking the oath at tour ’ s end .
The Navy further honored George , Francis , Joseph , Madison , and Albert by renaming a Fletcher-class destroyer hull just then coming off the builder ’ s ways . The USS The Sullivans ( DD-537 ) was the first instance where the Navy gave a ship a plural name . 66 Alleta Sullivan christened the vessel in a ceremony on San Francisco Bay on April 4 .
The Sullivans would survive the war after participating in the bombardment of Truk , the Saipan and Iwo Jima campaigns , and dangerous Kamikaze picket duty off Okinawa in 1945 . During the latter battle , she rescued 118 sailors from the torpedoed cruiser Houston and 166 from the carrier Bunker Hill after it was struck by a suicide plane , 67 earning a total of nine battle stars .
DD-537 The Sullivans also served in both the Korean Conflict and the Cold War under its green and white shamrock flag . The ship whose motto , like that of the brothers ’, was “ We stick together ,” earned three more battle stars and never lost a single man . Decommissioned in 1965 , after twenty-two years of active duty , it still serves the American people as a Sullivan Memorial and World War II museum ship in Buffalo , New York .
The Navy once again honored the memory of the brothers in 1995 . On August 12 , Kelly Sullivan Loughren , granddaughter of Albert , christened the second USS The Sullivans ( DDG-68 ) then under construction by the Bath Iron Works in Bath , Maine . This ship is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that will serve the US Navy well into the twenty-first century .
At the conclusion of the April 4 , 1943 commissioning ceremony , which everyone knew would be the climax of the tour , Alleta caved in emotionally . Unable to put off her grief any longer , sobbing and on the verge of collapse , doctors accompanying the family forbade her from attending any further christening functions . The family returned to Waterloo to care for their grandson and daughter-in-law , hospitalized with pneumonia .
In early August , Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox , sent a personal letter to the Sullivans . Given the eight-month lapse since the sinking of the Juneau
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