From the Editor Emeritus / John F. Fink

The Fighting Sullivans was an inspirational movie during WWII

Two weeks ago, when I wrote about Eddie Doherty, I mentioned that he wrote the screenplay for the movie The Fighting Sullivans (originally released as The Sullivans). It occurs to me that some of my younger readers (if any) might not be aware of this movie—or of the Sullivan brothers.

It was the story of five Irish-American brothers—George, Frank, Joe, Matt and Al—who were all killed together during World War II when the USS Juneau was sunk by the Japanese on Nov. 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. They were the children of Thomas and Alleta Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa. The brothers also had a sister, Genevieve.

The movie released in 1943 introduced the brothers through a series of baptisms between 1914 and 1922. As they grew up, the brothers got into their share of fights—sometimes among themselves (if you can imagine that) but sticking together if someone dared to pick on one of them.

Their father (played in the movie by Thomas Mitchell) was a railroad freight conductor. Each day, the boys climbed a water tower by the tracks and waved to their father as he passed by on the train.

By the time of World War II, only one of the brothers was married—Al, the youngest. He and Katherine Mary (played by Anne Baxter) had a child they named Jimmy.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the brothers were anxious to enlist in the Navy—mainly to avenge the death of their sister Gen’s boyfriend, Bill Ball, who had been on the USS Arizona. When the recruiting officer said that he couldn’t promise that the five could serve together, George wrote to the Department of the Navy and obtained permission.

In the movie, the brothers are doing their jobs on the USS Juneau when it is battered by explosions after it was hit by two torpedoes. Four of them find each other, but realize that George is in the sick bay and rush to him. When he insists that they leave him, Al says, “We can’t go swimming without you.” There’s a large explosion and the screen goes black.

Actually, Frank, Joe and Matt were killed instantly, but George and Al made it to lifeboats. Al died the next day, and George survived for several days before suffering from delirium and slipping out of the boat.

As happened to so many families during World War II, Thomas and Alleta learned of the deaths when three naval officers approached the house. Thomas went to the door and asked, “Which one?” One of them replied, “I’m sorry, sir. All five.”

In the movie, Thomas goes to work. As his train passes the water tower, he salutes.

Later, Thomas, Alleta, Katherine Mary and Gen, who has joined the WAVES (World War II women’s branch of the U.S. Naval Reserve), help christen a new destroyer, the USS The Sullivans. As the ship sails away, Alleta says, “Tom, our boys are afloat again.” Later, Al’s son served on it. Still later, a second destroyer was also named the USS The Sullivans. It was christened by Al’s granddaughter, Kelly Ann Sullivan Loughren. †