During World War II, my
grandmother's three brothers, brother-in-law, and husband all went and enlisted
at the same time, two with the Navy, one with the Air Force, and one with
the Marines. My grandmother talks about how her and her son (my dad)
moved in with her mother, and then her sister moved back home with them,
and so it was just the women and children living together while the men were
overseas. Miraculously, all five men came back, unharmed, and, with
the exception of one, would go on to produce large, beautiful families, and
continue their blood lines for generations to come.
Sadly, that was not the case for one patriotic
family. “The Fighting Sullivans,” a film made in 1945, tells the
story of the five Sullivan brothers, from America’s heartland. It
was right after the attack on Peal Harbor in 1941 that all five brothers
went down to the recruiting office and joined the Navy. It was their
desire to serve together, and the government granted them that wish. All
five brothers ended up aboard the U.S.S. Juneau, and when the ship was torpedoed
and sank, all five brothers perished. The film is simple, and direct.
It is not “in – your – face” over the top in its
portrayal of such a tragic event. Rather, it allows the viewer to feel,
based on fact. Its’ reserved, dignified telling of the story is
elegant, and powerful, and as the closing credits ran, I found myself sitting
there, silently contemplating what I’d just seen, and fighting back
emotions the film did not have to try very hard to evoke.
The death of an entire family was such a tragic loss, that the government
passed a regulation stating that from that point on, serving members from
the same family were to be split up, and could not serve together. This
single government regulation has no doubt been directly responsible for saving
thousands of American families from having to endure the kind of tragic loss
suffered by the Sullivan family.
“Saving Private Ryan”, a much more recent WWII film, tells the
story of another patriotic American family, the Ryan family. Three
of the Ryan brother’s have died in combat, and the government has decided,
after the tragic loss a few years back of the five Sullivan brothers, that
the remaining Ryan was to be found and sent back home.
Both films, made roughly fifty years apart, telling the story of two different
families. Both films made in two different styles, in two different
generations, one in black and white and one in color. And yet both
films linked by the common theme of patriotism, love of family, and love
for America.
By all means, go out and get these films, and watch them together.
You’ll be glad you did.
Home of Heroes
--- Michael
B. Clark