The deaths of all five Sullivan Brothers caused a national sensation when word of the tragedy was finally released two months after it happened. The U.S. government created this poster to urge other Americans to support the war effort.
The boys' parents had heard a rumor the Juneau was hit before they were officially notified. A key line, in a letter which their neighbor received from her Navy son (who was also serving in the Pacific, near the Sullivan brothers), had passed the censor's scrutiny:
Isn't it too bad about the Sullivan boys? I heard that their ship was sunk.
Was it true?
On the morning of January 13th - about two months after the Juneau exploded and letters from their sons had stopped arriving at their parents' Iowa home - officials paid a visit to Thomas and Alleta Sullivan. John R. Satterfield recounts what happened in his book, We Band of Brothers - The Sullivans & World War II:
On that cold January morning, as Alleta struggled with her dreams [about the potential meaning of the neighbor's letter]...a black sedan stopped in front of the Sullivans' big, weather-beaten frame house on the narrow corner lot marked 98 Adams. Tom heard the car doors slam outside. He stepped into the front room to peer through the large bay window overlooking the street and saw three men clad head to foot in black walking up the porch steps. As they stepped from the shadows, Tom noticed that their hats and long, heavy outer garments, known as bridge coats, were trimmed with gold buttons and braid.
When he greeted the men, Mr. Sullivan could never have been prepared for what he was about to hear.
"I have some news for you about your boys," the naval officer said. "Which one?" asked Thomas. "I'm sorry," the officer replied. "All five."
All five of the Sullivan brothers have memorial markers at Arlington Cemetery.
Credits
Photo of poster, online courtesy U.S. Navy Historical Center - Photo #: NH 67048-KN.
Quoted passages from John R. Satterfield, We Band of Brothers: The Sullivans & World War II, pages 2, 4-5.
