ROCK ISLAND, Illinois-- Navy Week began Monday, June 24 and goes through Sunday, June 30 in the Quad City area.
The USS The Sullivans is a United States Navy ship named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers (George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert) from Waterloo, IA, aged 20 to 27, who lost their lives when their ship, the USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. This was the greatest military loss by any one American family during World War II. As a result, the US War Department adopted the Sole Survivor Policy that protected members of a family from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service. She was also the first ship commissioned in the Navy that honored more than one person. The ship motto is “We Stick Together.”
Wednesday, June 26, Kelly Sullivan-Loughren, the granddaughter of one of the youngest Sullivan brothers, along with Patrick Eliason from The Sullivans' ship itself, joined me during Good Morning Quad Cities to talk about the history of the ship and what it means for them to have you support the United States Navy.
Wednesday night, there's also a big concert featuring a special song for USS The Sullivans. The event kicks off at 8 p.m. Gates open at 6. The concert's being held at Schwiebert Riverfront Park.
