James Connolly, the Edinburgh man calling the military shots from the GPO during Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising, was born on this day in 1868.
James Connolly, the Edinburgh man calling the military shots from the GPO, was the “heart” of the rebellion James Connolly, the Edinburgh man calling the military shots from the GPO, was the “heart” of the rebellion THE IRISH LABOUR PARTY / FLICKR
James Connolly was born on June 5, 1868, in Edinburgh to Irish parents.
“The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars.”
“If Pearse was the soul of the Rising,” wrote Joe Good in ‘Enchanted by Dreams,’ “James Connolly was its heart.”
Connolly was born in Edinburgh on June 5, 1868, to Irish parents. He grew up in the slums and his hardscrabble beginnings turned him into a fervent socialist.
After working in Scotland and a stint in the British Army, in 1896 he came to Dublin to work for the Dublin Socialist Society. It was his first time in Dublin and he was immediately dismayed that the Dublin working class did not have the same fire in their bellies that he had. So, as he had a family to support, he moved to America in 1903.
Seven years later he returned to Ireland to head up the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in Belfast. After the disastrous general strike of 1913 and Jim Larkin’s departure for America, Connolly came to Dublin to head up the local ITGWU—and its Citizen Army.
The Citizen Army became his obsession. Although only 220 in strength, he drilled them until they became, in his words, “a real revolutionary army.”
The boys at the Irish Volunteers kept a wary eye on Connolly and his army. They were drawing up plans for a Rising and were afraid that Connolly might preempt them. In January 1916 they decided to “kidnap” him. For three days he was briefed by members of the Military Council of the IRB—men like Clarke, MacDiarmada, and Plunkett. At first, Connolly was very angry, but as details of the planned Rising were made known to him he became an enthusiastic supporter.
On Easter Monday, he was named Vice-President of the Provisional Government and Commandant-General in the Army of the Irish Republic. He marched at the head of his Citizen Army to the GPO and, finding his inner-Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill, commanded his troops: “Left turn. CHARGE!” After Pearse read the Proclamation Connolly exclaimed, “Thanks be to God, Pearse, that we have lived to see this day.”
Pearse may have been the titular “Commander-in-Chief,” but Connolly was calling the military shots from the GPO. He was fearless, venturing out into the streets to direct his men. It was on one of these sorties to Liffey Street, far away from the GPO near the Ha’penny Bridge, that he was seriously wounded in the leg. He made his way back to the GPO and helped plan the evacuation to Moore Street. After the surrender, he was removed to Dublin Castle for treatment for his wound which had developed gangrene.
His condition was such that his trial was held at Dublin Castle. After he was found guilty and condemned to death he made this statement: “We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire and to establish the Irish Republic. We believe that the call we thus issued to the people of Ireland was a nobler call in a holier cause that [sic] any call issued to them during this war having any connection with the war. We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavoring to win for Ireland their national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium.”
“As long as that remains the case the cause of Irish freedom is safe. Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence in any one generation of even a respectable minority of Ireland ready to die to affirm that truth make sure Government forever a usurpation and a crime against human progress. I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irishmen and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were equally ready to affirm that truth and seal it with their lives if necessary.”
His last hours were spent with his wife Lillie and daughter Nora. “My mother and I . . . were driven to Dublin Castle,” Nora said. “On entering we were directed to a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs were six soldiers with fixed bayonets, and on the floor, about a dozen more were lying on mattresses.
“We passed through the soldiers and entered an enclave where there were two soldiers with fixed bayonets. They stood aside to let us enter the door. When we entered my father was lying in the bed with his head turned to the door.”
“Well,” said Connolly to his wife, “I suppose you know what this means.”
Lillie responded, “Not that James, not that.”
Nora continued: “My father said, ‘Yes, for the first time I dropped off to sleep. And they wakened me to tell me that I was to be shot at dawn.’ ”
Lillie said, “Your life, James, your beautiful life.”
“Well, Lillie,” he answered, “hasn’t it been a full life, and isn’t this a good end?”
Nora informed him of the executions of Pearse, MacDonagh, and the others. “He was silent for a while. I think he thought that he was the first to be executed. Then he said, ‘Well, I am glad that I am going with them.’ ”
He was removed to Kilmainham. There, Father Aloysius asked him to forgive the men of the firing squad. “I do, Father,” said Connolly. “I respect every man who does his duty.”
It is at this time that Connolly went from martyr to legend. Because his wounds were so severe he could not stand, so they tied him to the chair. Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan and nephew of Peadar Kearney, who wrote the Irish National Anthem, “Amhrán na bhFiann”) remembered Connolly in his popular ballad, “The Patriot Game.”
They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair,
His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare.
His fine body twisted, all battered and lame
They soon made me part of the patriot game.
But it may have been much more gruesome than that. The Sacristan to the Parish of St. James had this description of the execution: “In giving a description of James Connolly’s execution Father McCarthy told me that the prisoner, who was in a bad condition, elected to stand like the rest but failed. He was then tied to a chair but slumped so much that he overbalanced. Finally, he was strapped to a stretcher and placed in a reclining position against the wall…The sight left an indelible impression on Father McCarthy.”
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Connolly came from one of his officers in the GPO during Easter Week, a young Cork rebel named Michael Collins: “Of Pearse and Connolly I admire the latter the most. Connolly was a realist, Pearse the direct opposite. There was an air of earthy directness from Connolly. It impressed me. I would have followed him through hell had such action been necessary.”
* Dermot McEvoy is the author of “The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany” (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. You can check out his website here or follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook.
INFLUENCE: An IRA sign on Belfast’s Falls Road in 2018
UNIONISTS are more likely than nationalists to believe that paramilitaries have a controlling influence in their respective communities, a new report has found. The report also found that fewer people in West Belfast believe that paramilitaries have an influence in their area compared to their counterparts living in Ardoyne and the New Lodge.
The Mitchel Institute at Queen’s University Belfast, supported by Co-operation Ireland, undertook research in each Communities in Transition area last year. The project focuses on areas with a history of paramilitary activity.
The authors of the report state that when respondents in nationalist and republican area were questioned about paramilitaries the term was often contested. Participants often answered: “We don’t have paramilitaries, we just have organised crime gangs.”
In Belfast the areas surveyed were West Belfast, Ardoyne, New Lodge, East Belfast and Shankill. Other areas featured were Carrickfergus, Derry, Larne, Lurgan and North Down.
While many of the findings were similar in all the areas, attitudes also differed significantly in the various Communities in Transition that were surveyed.
In West Belfast the survey found that:
62% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that there was a strong sense of community throughout West Belfast. The average response across all the CIT sites was 66%.
72% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt connected to their local area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 68%. 6% of participants indicated they were involved with a Local Church. 11% were associated with a Sports Club. 5% were involved in a Local School. 1% participated in Neighbourhood Associations.
65% of respondents indicated that they would know who to contact if they had a problem associated with their community. The average response across all the CIT sites was 84%.
30% agreed or strongly agreed that they had the skills to help change their area for the better. The average response across all the CIT sites was 50%.
17% of respondents felt the area would be in better condition in five years time. The average response across all the CIT sites was 29%.
34% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had an influence over decisions that are made about their area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%.
83% of participants indicated that in five years time, the area would be either in the same condition or worse. The average response across all the CIT sites was 71%.
38% of respondents felt that local residents abided by the rule of law. The average response across all the CIT sites was 61%.
36% felt that improved lighting and alleygating would make them feel safer, while 30% said improved relationships with the PSNI would also help. The average response across all the CIT sites was 60% & 59%.
66% felt anti-social behaviour was a problem in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 55%.
78% believed that drug related crime was also a problem in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 57%.
18% of respondents felt that young people living throughout West Belfast were under too much influence from paramilitary groups. The average response across all the CIT sites was 32%.
20% felt that paramilitary groups create fear and intimidation in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 34%.
15% felt that paramilitary groups had a controlling influence in their area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%.
In Ardoyne (which also included unionist Glenbryn) the report found that:
67% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that there was a strong sense of community throughout Ardoyne. On average, across all the other CIT sites, 66% agreed or strongly agreed that there was a strong sense of community throughout their respective area.
74% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt connected to their local area. The average response across all the other CIT sites was 68%.
27% of participants indicated they were involved with a Local Church. 18% were associated with a Sports Club. 16% were involved in a Local School. 8% participated in Neighbourhood Associations.
82% of respondents indicated that they would know who to contact if they had a problem associated with their community. The average across all the CIT sites was 84%
67% agreed or strongly agreed that they had the skills to help change their area for the better. The average across all the CIT sites was 50%.
37% of respondents felt the area would be in better condition in five years time. The average across all the CIT sites was 29%.
Only 15% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had an influence over decisions that are made about their area. The average across all the CIT sites was 27%.
63% of participants indicated that in five years time, the area would be either in the same condition or worse. The average across the CIT sites was 71%.
67% of respondents felt that local residents abided by the rule of law. The average across all the CIT sites was 61%.
76% felt that improved lighting and alleygating would make them feel safer, while 55% said improved relationships with the PSNI would also help. The average across all the CIT sites was 60% & 59%.
72% felt anti-social behaviour was a problem in the area. The average across all the CIT sites was 55%.
76% believed that drug related crime was also a problem in the area. The average across all the CIT sites was 57%.
24% of respondents felt that young people living throughout Ardoyne were under too much influence from paramilitary groups. The average across all the CIT areas was 32%.
40% felt that paramilitary groups create fear and intimidation in the area. The average across all the CIT areas was 34%.
26% felt that paramilitary groups had a controlling influence in their area.
In the New Lodge the report found that:
67% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that there was a strong sense of community throughout New Lodge. The average response across all the CIT sties was 66%.
66% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt connected to their local area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 68%.
22% of participants indicated they were involved with a Local Church. 15% were associated with a Sports Club. 12% were involved in a Local School. 2% participated in Neighbourhood Associations.
90% of respondents indicated that they would know who to contact if they had a problem associated with their community. The average response across all the CIT sites was 84%.
70% agreed or strongly agreed that they had the skills to help change their area for the better. The average response across all the CIT sites was 50%.
32% of respondents felt the area would be in better condition in five years time. The average response across all the CIT sites was 29%.
Only 11% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had an influence over decisions that are made about their area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%.
68% of participants indicated that in five years time, the area would be either in the same condition or worse. The average response across all the CIT sites was 71%.
67% of respondents felt that local residents abided by the rule of law. The average response across all the CIT sites was 61%.
76% felt that improved lighting and alley-gating would make them feel safer, while 55% said improved relationships with the PSNI would also help. The average response across all the CIT sites was 60% & 59%
72% felt anti-social behaviour was a problem in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 55%.
76% believed that drug related crime was also a problem in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 57%.
24% of respondents felt that young people living throughout the New Lodge were under too much influence from paramilitary groups. The average response across all the CIT sites was 32%.
34% felt that paramilitary groups contribute to crime, drug dealing and ASB in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 34%.
40% felt that paramilitary groups create fear and intimidation in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%.
26% felt that paramilitary groups had a controlling influence in their area.
The figures for paramilitary influence in unionist areas of Belfast was higher than in nationalist areas.
In East Belfast the report found: 50% of respondents felt that young people living throughout East Belfast were under too much influence from paramilitary groups. The average response across all the CIT sites was 32%
57% felt that paramilitary groups contribute to crime, drug dealing and ASB in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 34%
49% felt that paramilitary groups create fear and intimidation in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%
45% felt that paramilitary groups had a controlling influence in their area.
In the Shankill the report found:
51% of respondents felt that young people living throughout the Shankill were under too much influence from paramilitary groups. The average response across all the CIT sites was 32%.
46% felt that paramilitary groups create fear and intimidation in the area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 34%.
46% felt that paramilitary groups had a controlling influence in their area. The average response across all the CIT sites was 27%.
A Letter from Ireland The British Government – the root cause of the current crisis a Chara, It is summer in Ireland. It doesn’t last long so we have to make the most of it. Ireland is glorious in good weather. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the bees are buzzing. We are a nation of overcooked people and underdone barbecues. The good weather is to run until next week. Meanwhile, I will be back on the road. A Sinn Féin delegation will be heading to Washington for three days of packed meetings and events. This will be an occasion to discuss the outcome of the recent election, the challenges of re-establishing the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, and the opportunities for building a new and united Ireland. We will meet with Congressional Leaders, members of the Administration, and supporters of the Good Friday Agreement. British Prime Minister Sunak will also be in Washington next week to meet with the President. I am sure they have much to discuss. The war in Ukraine, policy towards China, the impact of climate change, the rise of autocratic states, the threat of AI, and the undermining of democracy and international law. The British Government will also want to discuss a potential trade deal. The President, if he is true to form, will want to discuss Ireland, peace, and progress. The visit by Prime Minister Sunak occurs against the backdrop of the Democratic Unionist Party continuing to block the operation of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. The people have been left without a democratic forum, a government, and functioning All Ireland bodies. The British have indulged the DUP and allowed this drift in the process. When the Good Friday Agreement was signed twenty-five years ago, it was opposed by less than 29%. The minority was not allowed to block progress. The British and Irish Governments, as co-equal sponsors of the agreement, moved ahead in partnership. Today the British have broken the partnership with the Irish Government. They have allowed a minority to block the functioning of the Agreement. The self-serving, unilateral approach of the British Government is most evident in their dealing with the past. It is continuing to legislate to ban the families of those killed in the conflict from accessing the courts, inquests, or judicial investigations. Actions that are opposed by victims, all parties, the Irish Government, International Human Rights Bodies, and the US Congress. Their proposals undermine the Good Friday Agreement, ditch the Stormont House Agreement, and are a breach of international law. It is about continuing the covering up of their actions at the cost of truth and reconciliation. The President knows that the unilateral approach by the British Government is the root cause of the current crisis. Speaking in the Dáil about our peace agreement, President Biden said, “I think that the United Kingdom should be working closely with Ireland in this effort — in this endeavor.” Next week is an opportunity to remind the British Government of its responsibility to honor their agreements, abide by international law, and work as partners for peace and progress. Have a great weekend, stay hydrated and I hope to see you along the road. Is mise, Ciarán Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America
On May 31, 1847, 40 ships lay off Grosse Île in Quebec, Canada packed with some 12,500 people fleeing the Irish Famine.
Aliah O’Neill
@IrishCentral
May 31, 2023
On May 31, 1847, forty ships lay off Grosse Île with 12,500 passengers packed as human ballast.On May 31, 1847, forty ships lay off Grosse Île with 12,500 passengers packed as human ballast. GROSSE ÎLE AND THE IRISH MEMORIAL NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
What is the story and history of the Irish who traveled through here to escape the Potato Famine?
Editor’s note: Grosse Île, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Quebec, Canada, acted as a quarantine station for Irish people fleeing the Great Hunger between 1845 and 1849. It is believed that over 3,000 Irish people died on the island and over 5,000 are buried in the cemetery there. On May 31, 1847, 40 ships lay off Grosse Île with 12,500 passengers packed as human ballast. Here Aliah O’Neill writes about the Irish, “The ghosts of Grosse Île.”
When the authorities in Quebec heard the news of ships arriving with sick passengers, they quickly set up Grosse Île as a port of entry and quarantine station at which all ships were required to dock before moving on to the mainland.
The island had dealt with epidemics before. In 1830, about 30,000 immigrants arrived in Quebec, and two-thirds were Irish. These huge waves of immigration were concurrent with cholera epidemics in Great Britain and Europe.
Areas in the west of Ireland – mostly Mayo, Donegal, and Galway – were also experiencing potato crop failure. In fact, the crop failed to various degrees all over the country throughout the 1830s, though no one is sure exactly when the blight that caused the successive crop failures of 1845-49 arrived in Ireland.
In 1847, 100,000 Irish people traveled to Grosse Île to escape starvation, unaware of the hardships they would encounter upon arrival.
The first “Famine ship” arrived on May 17, 1847, the ice still an inch thick on the river. Of that ship’s 241 passengers, 84 were stricken with fever and 9 had died on board. With the hospital only equipped for 150 cases of fever, the situation quickly spun out of control. More and more ships arrived at Grosse Île each day, sometimes lining up for miles down the St. Lawrence River throughout the summer. On these coffin ships – named for their crowded and deadly conditions – the number of passengers stricken by fever increased exponentially.
“The Virginius,” from Liverpool on May 28, had 476 passengers on board but, by the time she reached Grosse Île, “…106 were ill of fever, including nine of the crew, and the large number of 158 had died on the passage, including the first and second officers and seven of the crew, and the master and the steward dying, the few that were able to come on deck were ghastly yellow looking specters, unshaven and hollow-cheeked, and without exception, the worst looking passengers I have ever seen…” wrote Dr. Douglas, Medical Superintendent at Grosse Île, in the 1847 Immigration Report.
The island was ill-equipped, to say the least. Hastily built, the quarantine hospitals lacked proper sanitation, supplies, and space to accommodate all the sick patients. Many of the doctors dispatched to Grosse Île had never even seen the effects of cholera let alone treated it, and all were overworked. Being taken to a quarantine hospital was soon viewed as more of a death sentence than an opportunity to get better.
Between 1832 and 1937, Grosse Île’s term of operation, the official register lists 7,480 burials on the island. In 1847 alone, 5,424 burials took place, the majority were Irish immigrants. In that same year, over 5,000 Irish people on ships bound for Canada are listed as having been buried at sea.
Today, the island is a National Historic Site that serves as a Famine memorial. It was dedicated in 1996 after a four-year-long campaign to protect the mass gravesite.
The Grosse Île Celtic Cross, erected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1909, bears an inscription in Irish commemorating the victims of the epidemic and condemning colonial rule.
In English, it reads: “Children of the Gael died in their thousands on this island having fled from the laws of foreign tyrants and an artificial famine in the years 1847-48. God’s blessing on them. Let this monument be a token and honor from the Gaels of America. God Save Ireland.” Visitors to the island may also see the lazaretto, the only remaining quarantine hospital from 1847.
Those who survived the trip and could not be accommodated in the Grosse Île hospitals were transferred to Windmill Point, another quarantine area where almost 6,000 Irish people died from typhus. The sick were crammed into poorly built quarantine houses called “fever sheds” where the Grey Nuns of Montreal acted as nurses. Many Grey Nuns also contracted illnesses themselves.
Meanwhile, the city of Montreal was in a panic over the epidemic. According to John Loye, his grandmother Margaret Dowling witnessed “a young Irish girl, stricken by the disease…dressed in a nightgown and holding a tin cup in her hand.”
The girl had wandered into the city of Montreal and was apprehended by a policeman to keep citizens away from her for fear of contamination. “A military cordon had to be established around the area of the sheds to contain the infected immigrants,” Loye said.
When workers began construction of the Victoria Bridge in the area in 1859, they uncovered the remains of immigrants who had died of “ship fever” at Windmill Point. Wishing to commemorate the victims, the workers erected a large boulder from the bed of the St. Lawrence River as a natural tribute to the 6,000 Irish people who died in 1847. Officially the “Irish Commemorative Stone,” most Irish and locals know it simply as “Black Rock.”
Though the death tolls were high at Grosse Île and Windmill Point, large numbers of Irish were able to get through the port, arriving in Toronto during 1847 and 1848. Between May and October of 1847, more than 38,000 Irish people arrived at the Toronto waterfront. The city’s population was only 20,000.
Some of the city’s officials and religious leaders were sympathetic to the Irish people, setting up “emigrant sheds” and offering medical care. Typhus and cholera, however, remained a danger as many invalid Irish had been allowed to leave Grosse Île and enter Toronto due to lack of resources. These “healthy” Irish could barely walk when they arrived, and those who could often develop the fever only weeks later.
An entry from Robert Whyte’s 1847 Famine Ship Diary describes starving, homeless Irish families succumbing to the harsh Canadian winter. Just as before, more and more fever sheds were built and ineffectively run, infecting doctors and nurses in the process. By the end of 1847, 1,100 immigrants had died.
Toronto’s Ireland Park now serves as a memorial site for the Famine Irish. The park features Rowan Gillespie’s “The Arrival” sculptures, a response to his “Departure” figures that stand on the Liffey quayside in Dublin and depict Irish men, women and children waiting to leave Ireland on ships. The Ireland Park figures are just west of Reese’s Wharf where the immigrants landed and south of where the fever sheds were built.
The park also includes a limestone memorial engraved with the names of those Irish immigrants who died in Toronto in 1847. Of the 1,100 victims, 675 names have been recovered so far.
While the number of deaths at sea and burials at Grosse Île is vast, and the young ages of many of the victims are heartbreaking, the presence of marriage and baptism records make tangible the sense of hope that immigrants felt upon their arrival in North America.
Ellen Keane was the first person to die in quarantine on Grosse Île in the summer of 1847. She was four years and three months old. She was brought ashore on May 15 from the ship “The Syria” and died the same day.
Within the week 16 others followed Ellen in death: Nancy Riley, 24, Thomas Coner, 40, Edward Ryley, 30, Ellen Murtilly, 50, Ellen Murtilly, 46, John Colville, 84, James Managin, 55, Patrick Fagan, 13, Patrick Jordan, 8, Mary Mark, 2, Eliza Whalen, 3: Ann Hooper, 10, Thers. Hooper, 5, Thomas Bennet, 4, John Whalen, 4, and Brid. Monaghan, 3.
Between 1832 and 1937, Grosse Île’s term of operation, the official register lists 7,480 burials on the island. In 1847 alone, 5,424 burials took place, the majority were Irish immigrants.
USS The Sullivans, named for the five Irish American Sullivan brothers who were all killed aboard the USS Juneau during WWII, became the first multiple-person namesake of a ship in US Naval history.
May 29, 2023
Sullivan brothers on USS Juneau (Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George Sullivan: from left to right) NAVY.MIL
USS The Sullivans (DD-537), the ship named for the five Irish American brothers who were all killed on November 13, 1942, while serving together in the US Navy during World War II, was commissioned on September 30, 1943.
The Irish American Sullivan brothers – George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert – were the first multiple-person namesake of a ship in US Naval history.
Many families have sacrificed their loved ones in the fight for freedom over the centuries, but few have lost so much in so short a space of time as the Sullivan family from Waterloo, Iowa.
The five brothers died on November 13, 1942, when the ship they were stationed on, the USS Juneau, was struck during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
In the tumultuous days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, young men (who are part of what is now considered “America’s Greatest Generation”), streamed into recruiting offices across the country, eager to defend their country.
Even amongst the hundreds of new recruits streaming in, one must suspect that the recruiting officer at the Des Moines Naval Recruiting Station would have been taken aback on January 3, 1942, when before him stood five brothers who had come to enlist in the Navy. Their one stipulation was that they would not be split up, but would “stick together.”
The five Sullivan brothers enlisted after Pearl Harbor
George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert Sullivan were born into an Irish American family of seven children (one sister died in infancy) in Waterloo, Iowa.
News of their friend William Ball’s death aboard the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor in 1941 prompted them to enlist in the Navy. George and Francis Sullivan had only been discharged from the Navy less than a year before, having served together on the USS Hovey.
The Navy discouraged siblings from serving together, but George wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, citing his own and Francis’ recent service and asking if he and his brothers could “stick together.” George Sullivan closed with the phrase, “We will make a team together that can’t be beaten.” The Secretary of the Navy granted the request.
After training, the Sullivans were assigned to the newly christened light cruiser, USS Juneau.
Tragedy struck and the five Sullivan brothers were all lost on the same day
In November of 1942, the US and Japanese forces were locked in the deadly struggle for Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Shortly after midnight on November 13, one of the most dramatic naval engagements of the war occurred in the strait between Guadalcanal and Florida Island. American and Japanese naval task forces engaged each other at point-blank range.
The Juneau was an early casualty, hit by a Japanese torpedo that buckled her deck, destroying her fire control systems and knocking out power. She limped away from the battle but was able to rejoin the task force at dawn when a Japanese torpedo intended for the USS San Francisco struck the Juneau in her magazine and blew the ship in half.
Because of the risk of further enemy action, the remaining US ships did not search for survivors as the commander of the task force believed that no one could have survived the blast. He did ask that a reconnaissance mission in the area report the ship’s location, which it did, but the message was lost and rescue efforts did not begin for several days.
Francis, Joseph, and Madison were killed in the initial attack and Albert drowned during the second attack. George was one of 80 men who made it to life rafts, but who would die a few days later from shock, exposure, or sharks. Subsequently, only 10 men from the Juneau were rescued.
The sacrifice and devotion of the Sullivan Brothers touched the hearts of the American people with an outpouring of grief and sympathy. US President Franklin Roosevelt sent a personal letter of condolence to their parents. Pope Pius XII sent a silver religious medal and rosary with his message of regret and the Iowa Senate and House adopted a formal resolution of tribute to the Sullivan brothers.
In continuing the family tradition of duty and devotion, their parents made speaking trips across the nation despite their grief and advancing years. Their sole surviving sibling Genevieve later enlisted in the Waves. Hollywood later remembered them with “The Fighting Sullivans” and they were one of the inspirations for “Saving Private Ryan.”
Sacrifice commemorated with the Navy Destroyer USS The Sullivans (DD-537)
The Sullivan brothers were remembered by the US Navy through the commissioning of USS The Sullivans (DD-537), a Fletcher-class destroyer, in September 1943. This was the first time a US Navy ship was named after more than one individual.
Albert’s son James later served aboard the ship named after his father and uncles. The ship would earn nine battle stars in WWII and in Korea before she was decommissioned in 1965.
USS The Sullivans (DD-537) is now an exhibit at The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in upstate New York.
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS The Sullivans (DD-537) pictured here on October 29, 1962. (Public Domain / US Navy)
Later, on April 19, 1997, a seoncd Navy ship was commissioned in honor of the brothers – USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight I) Aegis-guided missile destroyer. This ship is still in active service.
February 13, 2009: The guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) flies the ship’s battle flags during exercises at sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker/ Public Domain)
Both of the USS The Sullivans ships adopted the Sullivan brothers’ own motto ”We Stick Together.”
