All five Sullivan brother’s enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the Pearl Harbor attack. But they joined on one condition: That the five of them — George, Madison, Albert, Francis and Joseph, who was also known as “Red” — would serve in the same places. All of them died when a Japanese torpedo sank their ship, the USS Juneau, in the southwestern Pacific. Some people called their deaths the “greatest sacrifice of the greatest generation,” writes The Washington Post, while others say the U.S. government exploited their story to get the nation to accept the sacrifices of war. Either way, the country followed the boys’ story for months. But their final resting place was never found, until now. A team funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen recently discovered the wreckage of the USS Juneau 2.6 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, near the Solomon Islands. For years the team searched for ships that sank decades ago, using advanced technology such as side-scan sonar and submersible drones. The Sullivan brothers have been memorialized with a museum wing, a school and two Navy ships. Plus, their deaths led to “sole survivor” policies, which exempt people who have lost a family member from the draft or military service. They were also the subject of The Fighting Sullivans, a 1994 war movie. Finding the USS Juneau reminded the country of history that still reverberates today in both memory and policy, writes The Post.
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