The Sullivan family in Waterloo received word in January 1943 that the five brothers were missing. The boys all left school early and sought work because of the Depression. By 1940 and 1941, the brothers had grown up to be habitus of saloons and dance halls, drinking and brawling. By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. March 20, 2018 at 3:54 p.m. EDT. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. The citys newspaper, the Courier, reported the continuing honors showered on Tom and Alleta. The dead, the quickly dying, and assorted human carnage floated in a huge oil slick. SLSCO, LTD. All Rights Reserved. After America entered the war the oldest, Edward, and youngest, Frederick, known as Fritz to his friends, joined up in November 1942. Following a fierce, nighttime naval battle their ship was sunk and all five Sullivan brothers were lost. From left to right: Rear Adm. Adolphus Andrews, commandant of the 3rd Naval District, Rear Adm. Harold G. Bowen, Naval Officer in Charge of Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Juneau Mayor Harry I. Lucus, and Mrs. (Ina Priest) Harry I. Lucas, sponsor of the warship. 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. A 25-member chorus of WAVEs would sing, and an orchestra would perform. Sullivan Brothers Family of Companies reserves the right to add, modify or delete any information contained in this website at any time. San Juan, PR Pat Kinney of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reported, on Saturday, that Katherine Sullivan later remarried Dean McFarland, a local World War II veteran and president of the United Auto Workers Local 838, and who proceeded her in death in 1986. When they were on that war bond drive (during World War II) that really kept them busy. Wright says theyll give the code out to all of their visitors. Juneau, and in late 1942 sailed to the Solomon Islands to support the invasion of Guadalcanal. WE DELIVER THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF UNCOMPROMISED DEDICATION AND EXCELLENCE. The light cruiser Juneau off New York, 1 June 1942, with an ammunition barge alongside its starboard quarter. What is the story about the five Sullivan brothers killed? The Sullivan brothers of Iowa were, like the Niland brothers, a family of soldiers. This website has been prepared solely for the purpose of providing general information about the Sullivan Brothers Family of Companies portfolio of companies and the types of services and products they offer. The wall will also go through Bentsen State Park, a ranch on the river formerly owned by the late Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen. Reproduction or distribution of the information contained in this website or linked to this website without written permission is prohibited. The five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo were killed in November 1942 when a torpedo from a Japanese submarine struck the USS Juneau. Since last summer SLSCOhas been building this kind of wall in a replacement project near San Diego stretching from the Pacific Ocean 14 miles inland. The project also involves the installation of cameras, sensors and building of a patrol road along the levee wall. The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces. Pat Kinneys January 2, 2016 article on Katherine McFarlands passing: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/sullivan-brother-s-widow-dies-at-age/article_7b3fa305-0e38-57c1-ad49-a7effe8a4555.html, Only Widow of Five Sullivan Brothers Passes Away at Age 93, North Carolina woman arrested for theft at Iowa banks, Former President Trump to visit Iowa for first time since announcing 2024 bid, State fire officials rule Marengo plant explosion accidental, 14 young leaders under 14 to be honored in Cedar Rapids. The other two (George and Albert) survived the destruction of the ship but died in the water days later. "The five Sullivan brothers 'missing in action' off the Solomons. We should treasure the time we have with our families., Editors note: The Couriers Pat Kinney is in New York through today with Kelly Sullivan and others observing the 75th anniversary of the deat, Editors note: The Couriers Pat Kinney is in New York through Sunday with Kelly Sullivan and others observing the 75th anniversary of the dea. 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. The Sullivan brothers lived an average middle-class life in Waterloo, Iowa, as their parents, Thomas and Alleta Sullivan, were fortunate to have paying jobs during the Great Depression. The Sullivan family parents Thomas and Alleta, brothers George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert, and sister, Genevieve, lived in this house at 98 Adams St. in Waterloo. Pictured in front, from left, are Jim Sullivan, son of Albert Sullivan, youngest of the brothers; and Jims daughter Kelly Sullivan; and back row, from left, Murray and Tom Davidson, sons of Genevieve Sullivan Davidson, the sister of the five brothers. I was about a year and 10 months old when they were killed. He carries his grandparents stories about the Sullivan brothers with him, along with those who knew them in Waterloo and late Juneau survivor Lester Zook, who attended several Sullivan commemorations in the 1980s and '90s. Via/ Flickr The brothers have been remembered in many forms over the years. Kellys great-grandmother Alleta was that ships sponsor, just as Kelly is of the current vessel. Jim Sullivan said he does think about the number of family members siblings, cousins and descendants he and his family could have had if the five brothers had survived the war. 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. Then, in the crowning event, in the spring and summer of that year, the Navy led an effort to make a feature Hollywood film about the brothers. The forward half of Juneau at once disappeared. Hollywood showed Tom and Alleta, honest and hard-working, raising their children in a typical American community. NAVAL STATION MAYPORT The five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, died together at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. Nonetheless, every happy moment in the movie foreshadowed what all Americans knew was in store. And a song, Sullivan, by the group Carolines Spine, climbed high on the music charts in 1997. They also operate a dredging business and have built artificial reefs for wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Benton, AR He had been on board one of the small life rafts and, after three or four days, was weak and hallucinating. The film The Fighting Sullivans was made, with a bit of embellishment, to tell their story in 1944. Having been funded out of a spending bill passed last March, this new wall wont be stopped by the government shutdown. Commemorative festivities supplemented the Waterloo opening. Six miles of all-new steel slats will start going up late February in Hidalgo County. Since passage of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (with support of senators Obama, Clinton, Schumer and Biden), several hundred miles of this kind of fence have been erected. 1 Genevieve Sullivan Joseph Sullivan Genealogy Lester Zook Waterloo Public Library Kelcie Loughren New York Luke Loughren Dean Mcfarland United States Navy Mae Abel Buffalo Thomas Sullivan. The family of five brothers, and one sister (Genevieve), grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. She was intelligent, rational and greatly respected by her family. 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. The resulting explosion tore her apart, and she went down in just 42 seconds. The family of companies include firms engaged in Gulf Coast marine terminal development and operations; marine Albert also left behind a wife, Katherine, and a son, Jim . The Sullivans Series. The Sullivan brothers lived an average middle-class life in Waterloo, Iowa, as their parents, Thomas and Alleta Sullivan, were fortunate to have paying jobs during the Great Depression. Naval History and Heritage Command), In early 1943, gossip circulating through Waterloo compelled Alleta to send a poignant letter to the Department of the Navy: I am writing you in regard to a rumor going around that my five sons have been killed in action in November. Metairie, LA I offer you the condolence and gratitude of our country. In a contract last year with the commonwealth of Virginias office of emergency management,SLSCO grossed $31 million setting up emergency shelters to house 5,000 evacuees that went almost unused. Jim was a year and a half old when his father and uncles died. On Feb. 22, 1943, Alleta christened Tawasa, as she had agreed to do when the brothers came to the Navys attention a year earlier. So please tell me.. The family now regularly made the front pages in Waterloo, and the city knew Tom and Alletas children as the Navys five Sullivans.. Fumes continued to foul the air in the holds; many of the ships original complement of 697 sailors which included five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa were crowded together topside, blistered from the sun. The Sullivan brothers came from a blue-collar Irish Catholic family in Waterloo, Iowa. Additionally, the other ships crew among the convoy presumed because of the quick and violent sinking of USS Juneau that any survivors would have been extremely unlikely and damage reports were delayed. The brothers were George, 28; Francis, 27; Joseph, 24; Madison . The Navy had a policy of separating siblings, but this policy was not always strictly enforced and the 5 brothers were all assigned to the USS Juneau in January of 1942. Folk Figure. All five were lost with the ship on 13 November 1942 following the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Handling sluggishly as she limped through the glassy-calm sea,Juneauwas an easy target for the nearby Japanese submarineI-26. Her great-grandfather Thomas Sullivan, at wife Alletas urging, still reported for work at his job with the Illinois Central Railroad, which was hauling war supplies at the time. THE FIVE SULLIVAN BROTHERS and their sister Genevieve, or "Gen," grew up with little parental guidance, according to interviews conducted soon after the disaster and in the years that followed. Was made, with an ammunition barge alongside its starboard quarter, and. Sensors and building of a spending bill passed last March, this New wall be! 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