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Tragic WWII Story of the Sullivan Brothers

The story of the Sullivan brothers is tragic and I can't imagine how their family dealt with it. Saving Private Ryan was based on the four Niland brothers, and they did actually go find and send what they thought was the lone survivor home.
 
Brians356 said:
My dad (USN 1942-'45, Pacific Theater) told me that, after the tragedy, the Navy disallowed brothers to serve together on a vessel.
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That is basically true, though myself a Plankowner aboard the 3rd Ship named USS Juneau LPD-10 ... we had a pair of twin boys stationed aboard (also Plankowners) and the only sons in their family as well ... so like the government, they tweak the rules, to fit whatever narrative.
 
The book 'Left to Die' is a good reference regarding the SNAFU regarding the sinking of the Juneau. Damaged, unable to keep up with the other ships, when a Japanese sub was spotted, the other ships left it alone ... as a simple target for the sinking. Then left the men / survivors, to the ravages of the sea, hunger, and sharks ... with only 10 men surviving. Upon the 2008 decommissioning of my Ship the USS Juneau LPD-10 ... during the ceremony one of the 10 survivors of the original Juneau ... spoke ... a very emotional time, for an emotional event. Being a plankowner seeing it decommissioned was heartfelt, seeing it recently sunk for war games ... brought all those memories flooding in.
 
OBwan said:
That is basically true, though myself a Plankowner aboard the 3rd Ship named USS Juneau LPD-10 ... we had a pair of twin boys stationed aboard (also Plankowners) and the only sons in their family as well ... so like the government, they tweak the rules, to fit whatever narrative.
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What, wait. Juneau LPD-10 was commissioned in 1969. Obviously the restriction on brothers on the same vessel was a wartime policy. A significant percentage of US vessels (for example, in the Pacific Theater 17% of submarines, 10% of aircraft carriers) were sunk. My dad was at Okinawa in April 1945, where 36 USN ships were sunk, and 5000 sailors were killed.
 
The Juneau SNAFU was much like the Indianapolis, an ongoing disaster for the crews. The fog of war/need for secrecy/bureaucratic bungling made everything worse.
During the Civil War, it wasn't uncommon for units to be enlisted from a town or area...massive losses were then concentrated. It generally doesn't work that way now.
Great read, thanks.
Moon
 
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