America’s 250th: The Sullivans’ sacrifice - ‘We stick together’
In December 1941, with the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor putting an end to America’s peace, five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, made a decision, the end result of which would be felt for generations. The Sullivans – George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert were your typical hard-working Midwesterners, working in a meatpacking plant, who put in the hours and enjoyed the simple things in life with their friends, like sports, hunting and motorcycles. When word came down that Bill Ball, a friend from the neighborhood, had been killed on the Arizona, a fierce sense of loyalty took over. All five went to the recruiting office to put in for the U.S. Navy saying “We stick together.”
The request did not fit the Navy’s usual practice of not having siblings on the same warship. So, George, the eldest, wrote the Navy Department, arguing their case to stay together and pointing out that they were a unit “that can’t be beaten.” The officials were won over by their devotion and made an exception, putting them all on the USS Juneau, a light cruiser built for speed and quick gunfire.
For months in the South Pacific, the brothers stood by one another in some of the harshest naval fighting, a testament to Midwest family values and duty. On the morning of November 13, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Juneau, already damaged by a torpedo the night before, was making its way through calm water when a second torpedo from the Japanese hit the ammunition magazines. The ensuing explosion was instant and violent. The ship was torn apart and went under in forty-two seconds with hundreds of her crew.
Francis, Joseph and Madison were gone in the blast. Albert drowned in the open sea the following day. George held on to a rubber raft for days, his cries of grief for his brothers giving way to hypernatremia from the salt and lack of fresh water before he too was taken by the dark waves. An entire house was emptied in one afternoon.
It was weeks of tormenting rumor in Iowa before the news was made official on January 12, 1943. Three officers in uniform came to the Sullivan door. Thomas Sullivan asked which of his boys was the one lost. “All five,” said the naval commander in a low voice. To this day it is the worst combat loss any one family has endured in the American military.
Thomas and Alleta Sullivan did not let private bitterness consume them. They made their grief a national cause for the war. With their daughter Genevieve, who had joined the WAVES, they appeared at more than two hundred defense plants and shipyards in sixty-five cities. Before shipbuilders and factory hands, they posed a plain question: “What have you given to win this war?” Their composure became a public strength that put production into overdrive and sold millions in war bonds.
The Sullivans’ fate would change military rules. It led to the 1948 Sole Survivor Policy to keep from wiping out a family when brothers are killed in action. The Navy has christened two destroyers, USS The Sullivans, each with the family’s motto, “We Stick Together,” inscribed on them.
The story of the Sullivans is a reminder of the price paid for our freedom. Patriotism is not a matter of empty, loud words, but of unselfishness, love and the willingness to sacrifice for your country. The Sullivans gave “everything” in service of their country.
It behooves us today to conduct ourselves in a manner befitting their sacrifice and to remember the price that has been and is being paid for the freedom that we enjoy today.
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