The tragic naval oversight that left survivors adrift for eight days
In short: In 1942, the USS Juneau was torn in half by a torpedo. While roughly 100 crew members survived the initial blast, they were abandoned in the water due to a series of bureaucratic failures and tactical hesitations. It took eight days for any of them to be rescued.
The Sullivan brothers—George, Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al—enlisted in the US Navy on January 3, 1942, specifically requesting to serve together. All five siblings were stationed on the light cruiser USS Juneau, notwithstanding a naval rule intended to keep them apart. On November 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the ship was crippled by a Japanese destroyer and subsequently struck by a submarine torpedo. The vessel blew in half and sank rapidly, killing the brothers instantly.
The tragedy deepened for the roughly 100 survivors left in the water. Captain Gilbert C. Hoover, commanding the nearby USS Helena, expressed skepticism that anyone survived and deemed searching for them reckless while Japanese submarines were still active. Furthermore, a B-17 bomber crew spotted the survivors but failed to relay the information because they were ordered not to break radio silence. The report was eventually buried in paperwork, leaving the survivors exposed to hunger, thirst, and shark attacks for nearly a week.
The oversight led to a significant shift in military protocol. The U.S. War Department established the 'Sole Survivor Policy' as a response to the loss of the Sullivans and four Borgstrom brothers. To ensure such disasters did not happen again, the 'Sole Survivor Policy' was implemented by the U.S. War Department after those deaths. The family’s grief became a national symbol; President Roosevelt sent a letter of condolence, and the brothers were memorialized in Waterloo, Iowa, with a dedicated museum wing and a convention center.
Off the Solomon Islands coast, an expedition led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen located the Juneau's remains on 17 March 2018.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Sullivan brothers
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