MovieChat Forums > The Sullivans (1944) Discussion > Info on the real Sullivan brothers

Info on the real Sullivan brothers

posted 15 years ago by FilioScotia
6 replies | jump to latest

The movie was great, but it included a lot of fiction. For example, the two oldest brothers, Frank and George, both served full four year hitches in the Navy from 1937 through 1941. So they weren't at home in the late 30s to torment their little brother about his girl friend, as shown in the movie. That didn't happen. They didn't even get out of the Navy till the summer of '41, so they weren't at home when their nephew Jimmy was born, as shown in the movie.

Like I said, a lot of fiction.

Here's a link to an official Navy website that has a lot of fascinating information on the Sullivans, including their service records and photographs.

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq72-1.htm

And, it's not true that their deaths prompted Congress to pass a law against putting brothers on the same ship. That's a popular myth. It's also not an official Navy policy. Putting siblings on the same ship is discouraged, but it's not forbidden. If siblings ask for it they can usually get it, the way the Sullivans did. I use the word "siblings" because it's now possible for a man or woman and his or her sister to serve on the same ship. The times they have changed.

Even though their bodies were never found, The Sullivans have grave-stones at Arlington National Cemetery. Here's another great link, that includes photos of their markers.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/sullivan-brothers.htm

[–] poppyviolet 15 years ago

All movies have have fiction, that's pretty typical. It was still a good movie, huh?

Thanks for your extra info, some of it I'd never seen.

[–] jimmy2803 15 years ago

I watched the movie this afternoon with my mother for the very first time. I enjoyed it very much. I have been researching the Sullivans on the internet ever since. I cannot find whatever happened to the real Sullivan family? The real Sullivans, such as Al's wife, mom, dad, sister, and little Jimmy? Not the fictional ones/actors. Can anyone tell me?

[–] poppyviolet 15 years ago

Try the find a grave site and type their names in....www.findagrave.com

[–] TorontoJediMaster 15 years ago

Another fiction -that I suppose could be excused due to lack of information at the time of filming- was that the brothers didn't die all together like that.

When the ship was sunk, Frank, Matt and Joe died in the sinking. Al and George survived the initial sinking however. Al died in the water the next day. George, two days later, seemed to lose his senses (either due to injury, exposure or ingestion of seawater) and swam away from the cluster of survivors. He was believed to have been killed by sharks.

I suppose that if this information was known at the time, the producers might have decided to not show it, as to spare the Sullivan family from further anguish. (i.e. Let them believe the five brothers all died instantly when the ship's magazines exploded).

Tom Sullivan died in 1965, at the age of 83. Aleta Sullivan died in 1972, at age 77.

Jim Sullivan -Al's son, served in the U.S. Navy in the late 1950's, on board the destroyer named after the brothers, USS The Sullivans. His daughter, Al's granddaughter, Kelly Ann Sullivan Loughren, christened the second ship named after them. The first ship is now permanently moored in Buffalo, New York, and is part of the Navy-Marine Museum.

Genevieve got married after the war and had two children, I believe.

[–] MissMellieY 7 years ago

Al's wife Katherine remarried to Dean McFarland and was married to him for almost 40 years until his death in 1986. She passed away last year on, I believe, Jan 1, 2016...over 70 years after Al's death.

Genevieve passed away not long after her mother, in 1975.

"A man's kiss is his signature" -- Mae West

[–] 7 years ago

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