Less than two years later at the pivotal battle of Guadalcanal, a torpedo from Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze ripped into the port side of the American light cruiser, taking out its steering and guns and killing 19 men in the forward engine room. Due to the classified nature of their mission, the USS Juneau was keeping radio silence even before she was attacked and it was no different once the ship has sustained damages. Like most whites, the ethnic working class of Waterloo was not at all friendly to the colored and kept its distance. My boys did not die in vain., The circuit had to have been grueling Alleta was reported to have broken down, sobbing, at a stop in San Francisco but she did see one positive in it: The trip has kept me from thinking, she told a reporter. Thomas Sullivan, a first generation American, was a train conductor while his wife, Alleta, was a homemaker. It is certain that all on board perished, an officer on one of the vessels noted. Tributes continued into the 21st century. The five brothers, the sons of Thomas (1883-1965) and Alleta Sullivan (1895-1972) of Waterloo, Iowa, were, George Thomas Sullivan, 27 (born December 14, 1914), Gunner's Mate Second Class (George had been previously discharged in May 1941 as Gunner's Mate Third Class. Denton, TX They warned that patrons might get turned away if they did not put their money down ahead of time. Wright says theyll give the code out to all of their visitors. Cousins Kelcie Loughren of Cedar Falls, left, and Josephine Sullivan of Lenexa, Kan., great-granddaughters and great-grandnieces of Waterloos five Sullivan brothers killed during World War II, each sport the number 5 on their soccer jerseys in honor of the five brothers. Two years later, Iowa and the world would learn about the five brothers who, through tragedy, were forever known as the Five Sullivan Brothers. Please subscribe to keep reading. February 28, 1944 ~ November 22, 2019 (age 75) Nelson Decatur Newman, 75 of Talbott, TN, passed into the arms of Jesus on November 22, 2019. Kelly said she had a similar moment while portraying her late aunt Genevieve during a Grout Museum District Strolling With the Spirits cemetery walk, a guided tour in which individuals portray prominent deceased local residents. They really wanted to be a part of the war effort and more importantly they wanted to do it together. And then theres the National Butterfly Center, a private nature preserve a few miles upriver from McAllen in Mission, Texas. A 25-member chorus of WAVEs would sing, and an orchestra would perform. They also operate a dredging business and have built artificial reefs for wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. The family of five brothers, and one sister (Genevieve), grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. Working closely with the team within the Chief Investment Office, the Financial Analyst - Acquisitions & Planning will support the Sullivan Brothers Family of Companies (SBFC) financial management process, especially with regards to the evaluation and integration of new business ventures, post-transaction monitoring and financial analysis of the various portfolio companies owned and/or . I have a little grandson, Jimmy, who is almost two, and when he gets old enough, I want him to join. The fact that people come to these things and are interested still, it makes me feel a little bit better, Jim Sullivan said. But, with its lightly armored hull and deck, it could be a deathtrap if called upon to attack surface vessels, or if put in their way. In 1995, the three Sullivan brothers founded SLS with the goal to uphold integrity in every job, project and action. Murray Davidson said he frequently received information requests about the brothers through the Waterloo Public Library, where he is a regular patron. Even when I was out in Buffalo (N.Y.) for the Sullivan Association meeting. The first USS The Sullivans is moored there. SLSCO has two contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a total of 35 miles of wall this year in Texas and California, for a payment of as much as $432 million. Reproduction or distribution of the information contained in this website or linked to this website without written permission is prohibited. The brothers were George, 28; Francis, 27; Joseph, 24; Madison . The two eldest, George and Frank,. And the people Ive met along the way, especially me being sponsor of the ship, I call my Navy family, Kelly said. Her sponsor was the brothers' mother, Alleta. THEY did their part." She recounted, through Genevieves eyes, the day the family received official word the brothers were missing in action. (U.S. Genre: Documentary They were known as the Fighting Sullivans, and were by far America s most famous sailors. This is sector number 1 for seizures, says Montemayor, a focal point of U.S. border control.. I dont remember them at all, Jim said of his father and uncles. We have no regrets that our boys joined the Navy, Alleta told one audience, in remarks typical of the tour. Kelly Sullivan, Jim Sullivans daughter, a third-grade teacher in Cedar Falls, has been the public face of the Sullivan family for more than 20 years, christening the current U.S. Navy ship named for the five brothers and serving as its official sponsor and at many public commemorative events. That way butterfly buffs can venture to the other side of the refuge. USS Juneau (CL-52) and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, DANFS - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Permitting Policy and Resource Management, The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: 20 Years Later, "Ex Scientia Tridens": The U.S. During the 10-15 minutes the crew was engaged in battle, sailors vomited and wept; to hide from the barrage, others tried to claw their way into the steel belly of their vessel. Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The ships superstructure retains its original camouflage scheme, but her hull has been repainted to a different pattern. Copyright 2022. This was too much even for white Waterloo, which saw the Sullivan youth as mischief-makers, acting out a malicious streak a few blocks south of their home. At the same time the Japanese had sent a contingent of their navy to resupply their army on the other side of the Island. Alleta Sullivan continued to be a friend to the Navy after the death of her sons, christening the USS Tawasa as promised but also participating in war bonds drives, encouraging ship builders, and volunteering with the USO to . The light cruiser Juneau off New York, 1 June 1942, with an ammunition barge alongside its starboard quarter. Metairie, LA They are going to seize this land and they are going to build this wall and theres nothing we can do to stop them, says Wright, who has been informed by the feds that where the wall crosses the butterflyrefuge, SLSCO will be installing a secure door, accessible via numeric keypad. Juneau initially served in the Atlantic, but was transferred to the Pacific in August 1942. He worked in the dairy industry and as a cowboy, leasing pastures and starting his own herd. Four of the Sullivan brothers, Coxswain Francis Sullivan and Seamen 2nd Class Joseph, Madison, and Abel, failed to make it topside in time to abandon their doomed ship. This website and any references to products or services are provided "as is" without any warranty or implied term of any kind. One of the saddest family stories of WWII was the death of the five Sullivan brothers from the USS Juneau in 1942. Subscribe here! One audience, however, wasnt buying it: that in Waterloo, Iowa. When it comes to that barrier between the U.S. and Mexico,what SLSCO is not going to build are the solid, monolithic slab prototypes that Trump commissioned as a beauty pageant for his vision of a big, beautiful wall. The blasts shot an array of material into the air and fragments of the cruiser struck its sister ships. After receiving initial training at the Naval Training School in Great Lakes, Illinois, all five brothers, at their expressed request, joined the light cruiserJuneau at the New York Navy Yard on 3 February 1942. While the rest of the nation could embrace the family as the symbols that they had become, inside Waterloo the Sullivans remained all-too-real people. Juneau, and in late 1942 sailed to the Solomon Islands to support the invasion of Guadalcanal. Throwing caution to the wind, their one surviving sister, Genevieve, joined the WAVES the same month they died and she went on to live a full life, her enlistment becoming a news story in itself due to her bravery. The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces. SLSCO has rebuilt homes in Haiti, as well as in New York Cityafter Superstorm Sandy (a$290 million contract). Varied authorities with mass media pull would convince Americans of the boys luster as the brothers and their family became cogs in a propaganda machine that would transform them all into heroes individuals unrecognizable to their Waterloo, Iowa, hometown. At Des Moines, Iowa, on 3 January 1942, George and Francis, accompanied by their younger brothers Joseph, Madison, and Albert, reenlisted to avenge the loss of Seaman 1st Class William V. Ball, a friend, who was killed while serving on the battleship USSArizona(BB-39) during the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor. Within a half hour of the sinking, however, an American B-17 bomber flying overhead spotted men in the sea. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. The movie house widely advertised the opening; two regional radio stations featured four to eight spots of advertising for the movie per day. With their prior Navy experience, George became a gunners mate second class and Frank a coxswain; the three younger boys and two friends who enlisted with them were all seaman second class. She was intelligent, rational and greatly respected by her family. The survivors reported that Sullivan brothers Frank, Joe and Matt died instantly, Al drowned the next day, and George survived for four or . The brothers were survived by their parents, their only sister Genevieve, and the youngest brother's wife and son, Katherine Sullivan and Jimmy. In 1940, Katherine married Albert Sullivan, the union of two Waterloo teenagers who grew up on different sides of the city. U.S. You can cancel at any time. The five brothers on board the light cruiser Juneau (left), Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George Sullivan. The former was the first American navy vessel ever to be named after more than one person. She recalls, in sixth- or seventh-grade, weeping when the "Star-Spangled Banner" played at sporting events and feeling out of place. Sharon is preceded in death by: her parents, Allen and Zella Myrtle (Walters) Elliott and son, Mark Sullivan, brothers: Warren, Melvin, Carl and Duane Elliott. So please tell me.. Because of wartime secrecy, their parents were not informed of the sinking of . All five of the Sullivan brothers from. A friend from here came and told me she got a letter from her son and he heard my five sons were killed., She added, I am to christen the U.S.S. It still affected them., He doubts that, with the public attention foisted upon them, they had much private time to grieve. Minutes into the fight, north of Guadalcanal, a torpedo from Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze ripped into the port side of the American light cruiser Juneau, taking out its steering and guns and killing 19 men in the forward engine room. San Juan, PR (National Archives). The brothers are (from left to right): Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison, and George Sullivan. Id want them to do it again; it made men of them. After America entered the war the oldest, Edward, and youngest, Frederick, known as Fritz to his friends, joined up in November 1942. Jim took her to Cresco to meet the team, and he re-connected with an old comrade he served with during his own Navy service. The only widow of the five Sullivan brothers, a war legacy that touches Eastern Iowa to this day, passed away on Friday at age 93, according to her family. Their father, Thomas, never fully recovered from the shock of losing 5 of his children in one felt swoop and was left with only one surviving grandchild and one daughter by the time World War II was over. had the task of drafting the letter informing the parents of the Sullivan brothers that their five boys had been lost at sea, the . The brothers had recently been working at the Rath Packing Co., a large Waterloo meat concern. Todd Sullivan started his first business in Galveston, TX, at the age of 13. If citizens, at the urging of Mom and Pop Sullivan, rededicated themselves to winning the war, the nation might justify the five deaths. The USS Juneau (CL-52) was a United States Navy Atlanta-class light cruiser that was sunk by enemy action at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942. In strange twist of fate there was another set of brothers on board the ship. Nonetheless, every happy moment in the movie foreshadowed what all Americans knew was in store. Charleston, SC The five Sullivan brothers (Albert, Francis, George, Joseph, and Madison) served together as shipmates aboard the cruiser USS Juneau after requesting special permission from the Secretary of the Navy. Replacement border fence under construction in early January 2019, near San Diego, Calif. President Donald Trump has said he wants a 1,000-mile wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Grace Sullivan (ne Grace Katherine Donovan) - born 24 October 1900 ( Lorraine Bayly) was the Sullivan matriarch. A sudden, furious explosion ripped it apart; underwater blasts followed, likely as its boilers burst. The Sullivans lost five sons, known as the Sullivan Brothers, in naval action in World War II. Each member of the Sullivan Brothers Family of Companies portfolio is an independent legal entity. The Sullivan Brothers were survived by both of their parents. In 1942 five brothers made a sacrifice that showed just how much a family could give to the war effort.PATRIOTIC FERVORJanuary 3, 1942: After ringing in the New Year, the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, enlisted in the Navy. The motto of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is We Stick Together. The ship is still active and is homeported in Mayport, Florida. He had been on board one of the small life rafts and, after three or four days, was weak and hallucinating. Gunners Mate 2nd Class George Sullivan, wounded during the 12 November night action, managed to get over the side and pull himself onto a raft, but died of his wounds a few hours later. Naval Academy During the World War II Era, United States Navy Chief Petty Officer Creed, Chief Petty Officer Recipients of the Medal of Honor, Nurses in the U.S. Navy Bibliography and Sources, The Formative Years of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, 17981871, Comparison of Military and Civilian Equivalent Grades, Military Service Records and Unit Histories: A Guide to Locating Sources, Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, Lieutenant Commander Gerald R. Ford, USNR, William Graham Claytor, Jr. (1977 - 1979), Gordon R. England (2001-2003) (2003-2005), The Sullivan Brothers: U.S. Navy Policy Regarding Family Members Serving Together at Sea, H-Gram 012-1: Guadalcanal 1942The Battle of Friday the 13th. Events and feeling out of place Islands to support the invasion of Guadalcanal point of U.S. border control '' any. In Haiti, as well as in New York, 1 June 1942, with an ammunition barge alongside starboard... 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the sullivan brothers parents