Do their names ring a bell?
Does the fact that they are all brothers with the last name Sullivan have any significance?
I was in their hometown of Waterloo, Iowa yesterday and here is their story...
The Sullivans enlisted in the US Navy on January 3, 1942 with the stipulation that they serve together. The Navy had a policy of separating siblings, but this was not strictly enforced. George and Frank had served in the Navy before, but their brothers had not. All five were assigned to the light cruiser USS Juneau.
The Juneau participated in a number of naval engagements during the months-long Guadalcanal Campaign beginning in August 1942. Early in the morning of November 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the Juneau was struck by a Japanese torpedo and forced to withdraw. Later that day, as it was leaving the Solomon Islands' area for the Allied rear-area base at Espiritu Santo with other surviving US warships from battle, the Juneau was struck again, this time by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-26. The torpedo likely hit the thinly armored cruiser at or near the ammunition magazines and the ship exploded and quickly sank.
Some two months later on January 12, 1943 the Sullivan brothers' father Thomas, was preparing to go to work when three men in uniform - a lieutenant commander, a doctor and a chief petty officer - approached his front door. "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."
My iWitness...
I've been to Waterloo, Iowa many times. This was the first time I had noticed that a museum and a convention center was named after the Sullivan brothers.
I had no idea the town of Waterloo had
this kind of tragedy...
this kind of allegiance to our country...
this kind of legacy...
this kind of American history that shaped how the Armed Services of the United States would treat siblings in battle.
How much more with the people I meet everyday.
Most of the time, most of the people I meet on an everyday basis are pleasant, nice, friendly folks.
Underneath the pleasant smile,
Behind the warm eyes,
Somewhere below the firm handshake...
There is a history, a story, a pain, a tragedy, a festering wound, an open sore that is not visible upon the first meeting or the second or maybe even the 100th.
These "histories" shape who we are, who we have become and who we will be.
May the challenge of the day be to be with people in such a way that we accept them, honor them, see them through the lenses of understanding, with the knowledge that all of us have had a painful moment in our world where someone has uttered the life altering words, "All five..."
And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!
"Dear Madam:
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln."
(A letter to Mrs. Bixby of Boston, Massachusetts)
"Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5. 4)
No comments:
Post a Comment