Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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Patriotism of 5 bro killed in WW2 lives torpedoed wreck is
ON a cold January morning in 1943, Thomas Sullivan was getting ready for work in Waterloo, Iowa, when a black sedan pulled up at his house.
Three men in Navy uniforms walked up to the door. One of the officers said: “I have news for you about your boys.”
Bracing himself, Thomas wanted to know which of his five sons was not returning from the Second World War. “All five,” the officer told him.
The bond between the brothers was so strong they had convinced the US Navy to let them serve on the same ship, despite it not being encouraged.
“When we go in, we want to go in together,” the eldest brother George once said. “If the worst comes to the worst, why, we’ll all have gone down together.”
Tragically for George, 27, Frank, 26, Joe, 24, Matt, 23, and Albert, 20, that is what happened on November 13, 1942 when the light cruiser USS Juneau was hit by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She sunk within 30 seconds, taking with her 687 crew.
Three of the siblings were killed in the blast, but Albert and George made it into rafts only to die waiting to be rescued.
Thomas and Alleta Sullivan went from having six children to one, their only daughter Genevieve, who was then 25.
Alleta’s stoic reaction epitomised her sons’ nickname of The Inseparables: “At least they are still together.”
Now after 76 years the final resting place of the Sullivan brothers and their fellow comrades has been found.
The wreckage was discovered by a team backed by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen 2.6 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean last Saturday – news which has been highly emotional for the family.
“We had mixed emotions, it was very serendipitous,” says Kelly Sullivan, the grandchild of Albert Sullivan, from her home in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
“It was on St Patrick’s
Day – we are Irish- Catholic – and I was coming home from visiting the ship I am sponsor of, USS The Sullivans, which is named after the boys. I was at Chicago O’hare airport when a former captain, Vice Admiral Richard Brown, texted me about it.” Kelly’s grandad Albert was the only one of the brothers to marry, leaving behind his widow Katherine and one-year-old son Jim, who is now 76.
The reality of seeing what was left of Juneau did not set in until Kelly, an elementary school teacher, watched the underwater footage with her class. “One of m see t
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