Thread by @Paperclip_In

On #MothersDay, we recount the inspirational story of Alleta Sullivan who despite losing five sons to war, went on stoically, undeterred to inspire people and serve her country (1/17)

The USS Juneau was a light cruiser of the US Navy in WWII. On November 13, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, Juneau went down after being hit twice by torpedoes from Japanese submarines (2/17)

A total of 587 men perished, only 10 survived. Among the 587, were 5 men: George, Frank, Joe, Matt and Al Sullivan -- five brothers. Against the rule of the Navy, the five brothers had insisted on being assigned to the same ship (3/17)

After the tragedy, it left the authorities in a hard place. Due to security reasons, the Navy could not publicly announce the loss of the Juneau. Meanwhile at the Sullivan home, letters from the boys stopped arriving (4/17)

Alleta and Thomas Sullivan, the unfortunate parents, grew more concerned with every passing day. Rumors had started circulating of the loss of Juneau. Finally, Alleta wrote to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in January, 1943 asking for a confirmation (5/17)

On January 12, three uniformed men arrived at the Sullivan home. As Thomas opened the door, one of them said: “I have some news about your boys.” Sullivan asked him, “Which one?” The officer replied, “I’m sorry. All of them.” (6/17)

Next day, Alleta Sullivan received a letter from president Franklin D. Roosevelt in which he expressed his condolences for their great loss. Later the couple would be received at the White House by the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (7/17)

In February 1943, Aletta was invited to christen a Navy ship in Portland. Despite the great grief she must have been going through, Alleta agreed to the invitation (8/17)

Two months later, accompanied by her husband and daughter, she christened the USS The Sullivans - Navy’s tribute to the fallen brothers and the first USN ship to be named after multiple persons. The ship’s motto was “We Stick Together.” (9/17)

The Navy asked the Sullivan couple to tour the industrial plants across the country to help boost workers' morale. They would speak at 235 bond rallies and defense plants nationwide over the next four months (10/17)

It would turn out to be a masterstroke. The Navy would later inform Alleta Sullivan that everywhere they went, production records went “magically upwards.” (11/17)

When the tour was over, they still continued to do other events during the rest of the war. By the war's end, they had visited more than 200 factories and shipyards in 65 cities and spoken to more than a million workers (12/17)

In April 1943, their only surviving off-spring, daughter Genevieve, enlisted in the Navy. After the war, in 1948 when the first batch of Gold Star Mothers was announced, Alleta Sullivan received the first sheet (13/17)

A reporter once asked Alleta Sullivan how she found the strength to undertake the trips so soon after the tragedy (14/17)

She said "The boys always wrote [to] me to ‘keep my chin up.’ After their ship went down, I remembered what they said and made up my mind to see what I can do to help win the war—to kind of carry on for their sake." (15/17)

Thomas Sullivan passed away in 1955. Alleta lived till 1972. Her later years were spent in more obscurity, marked by occasional visits from the few survivors of the Juneau or sailors who’d known her boys (16/17)

Apparently, she loved talking to the visitors and would insist they had meals with her and would enthusiastically cook for them. This was perhaps her way of celebrating life with her sons (17/17)

Source: thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs…
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