09/26/2022
My grandpa helped build the memorial destroyer named after the Sullivan sons. The USS Sullivan was built by Bethlehem Steel and now resides in New York as a museum. Very cool piece of history.
🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Gold Star Mother's Day: The Five Sullivan Brothers and the Mother They Left Behind
On this Gold Star Mother's Day please join us in honoring Mrs. Alleta M. Sullivan. Being a Gold Star Mother is a title of loss and remembrance. Possibly no mother felt this loss more than Mrs. Alleta M. Sullivan of Waterloo Iowa.
Alleta's five sons: George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert enlisted in the US Navy on January 3, 1942. The young men enlisted under the stipulation that they all served together. The brothers served on the USS Juneau which was stationed in the Pacific.
According to Naval History and Heritage Command: "Early in the morning of November 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 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 the Japanese submarine I-26. The torpedo likely hit the thinly armored light cruiser at or near the ammunition magazines and the ship exploded and quickly sank."
Due to security reasons the fate of the USS Juneau was kept confidential. With all communications stopped from her sons as of November 8, 1942, Alleta Sullivan wrote to Navy personnel inquiring a confirmation to a rumor that she heard that her sons had all been lost at sea.
On January 13, 1943 President Franklin D Roosevelt returned correspondence notifying the Sullivan family that indeed the five brothers did not survive:
"The knowledge that your five gallant sons missing in action against the enemy inspires me to write you this personal message. I realize full well there is little I can say to assuage your grief."
"As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I want you to know that the entire nation shares in your sorrow. I offer you the condolences and gratitude of our country. We who remain to carry on the fight must maintain spirit, in the knowledge that such sacrifice is not in vain."
"The Navy Department has informed me of the expressed desire of your sons, George Thomas, Francis Henry, Joseph Eugene, Madison Abel, and Albert Leo, to serve in the same ship. I am sure that we all take heart in the knowledge that they fought side by side. As one of your sons wrote, "We will make a team together that can't be beat." It is this spirit which in the end must triumph." - Franklin D Roosevelt in a letter to Mr and Mrs Thomas Francis Sullivan dated January 13, 1943 (US National Archives)
The whole nation shared in the sorrow of the loss of the five Sullivan Brothers. In February 1943 Alleta was invited to christen a Navy ship, USS Tawasa, in Portland, Oregon. She traveled to Oregon with her husband and daughter and christened the vessel in honor of her son's memory. Two months later, Alleta christened another ship, a new destroyer named, USS The Sullivans (DD-537). The ship’s motto was “We Stick Together.” It was the first U.S. ship ever named for more than one person.
Tom and Alleta Sullivan continued to honor the memory of their sons by traveling the nation in support of the US Navy and the overall war effort. By war's end, they had visited more than 200 factories and shipyards in 65 cities and spoken to more than a million workers all in efforts to boost morale and promote unity.
In April 1943, Genevieve Sullivan became a WAVE to carry on her family's service with the US Navy.
Alleta Sullivan would go on to be remembered as one of the most revered Gold Star Mothers of World War II. Alleta passed away on April 22, 1972 at the age of 77 years old. She lies in rest at Calvary Cemetery in Waterloo Iowa.
Please join us in remembering the Sullivan Brothers of Waterloo Iowa and Mrs Alleta Sullivan - a dedicated mother whose debt can never be repaid. Lest We Forget.
Original WWII uncovered©️ description sourced by Naval History and Heritage Command, US National Archive, Ancestry Database and Find a Grave Database. (Fair Use Photos)
