Yesterday we posted about the discovery of the wreckage of the USS Juneau by the Paul Allen’s RV Petrel.  The Juneau was sunk by Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of Guadalcanal in November of 1942. Of the 687 men who died when the ship sank, the best remembered are the five Sullivan brothers, George, Frank, Red, Matt, and Al.

The five brothers all enlisted together and insisted that they should all serve together. Navy policy had been to separate siblings but exceptions were allowed. George, the oldest brother, said “When we go in, we want to go in together. If the worst comes to the worst, why, we’ll all have gone down together.”

On November 13, 1942, the worst came to worst. The Juneau which had already been damaged by one Japanese torpedo was hit by a second. The ship exploded, broke in two, and sank in roughly 20 seconds. Frank, Joe, and Matt died instantly, Al drowned the next day, and George died after drifting four or five days in a raft. The brothers’ parents were finally notified of their sons’ deaths in January 1943.

While thousands were dying on land and sea, the loss of the five brothers on the same ship personalized the tragedy of the conflict. The “Fighting Sullivan Brothers” became national heroes. President Roosevelt sent a letter of condolence to their parents. Pope Pius XII sent a silver religious medal and rosary with his message of regret. The Iowa Senate and House adopted a formal resolution of tribute to the Sullivan brothers.

A Fletcher Class destroyer was named the USS The Sullivans (DD-537), the first US Navy ship named in honor of more than one person. USS The Sullivans was commissioned in September 1943. Al Sullivan’s son served on board the USS The Sullivans. His grandmother christened the ship. The destroyer is now a museum ship in Buffalo, NY.

A second USS The Sullivans  was commissioned in 1997. She is an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer and is still in service.

Hollywood quickly produced a broadly fictional movie about the brothers’ lives, which premiered in February 1944. A New York Times review of the movie, “The Sullivans” commented: One might, if one chose, make the comment that the producers, in fashioning this film, have played rather heavily upon the obvious and have adorned their film freely with cliches. They have presented the Sullivan brothers, from boyhood until their tragic deaths, much in the manner that other youngsters have been presented in so-called “family films.” 

The Sullivan brothers’ story was part of the inspiration for the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.

A myth has grown up that the Congress passed the “Sullivan Act” which bans siblings from serving together on the same ship. The law was proposed but never passed. Today, Navy policy remains the same as in 1942 — while siblings are not encouraged to serve together, exceptions can be made particularly if the ship is not in a hostile firing zone.

A related but different issue is the Sole Survivor Policy, DoD Directive 1315.15 “Special Separation Policies for Survivorship,” which protects members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service.