Some military photographs make their importance obvious, while others look ordinary until you learn the story behind the image. Five brothers pose aboard a Navy cruiser. Women sort packages in a crowded warehouse. A pilot stands among children near an airfield. At first glance, photographs could be routine snapshots of military life, but once you learn the story that led up to or followed the camera click, you'll realize they're anything but. Each image carries a story of survival, loss, courage or deception that the photograph alone cannot explain. Once you know these stories, it becomes impossible to see the picture the same way again.
From left, Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George Sullivan pose aboard USS Juneau at the New York Navy Yard on Feb. 14, 1942. All five brothers were lost when the cruiser sank during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal nine months later. (Photo credit: Naval History and Heritage Command, NH 52362).
1. The Five Sullivan Brothers Aboard USS Juneau
George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert Sullivan stand shoulder to shoulder aboard USS Juneau during the cruiser’s commissioning ceremonies in February 1942. They look like any group of young sailors proud to be serving together. Nine months later, all five brothers were lost when a Japanese submarine torpedoed Juneau during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The photograph became inseparable from the tragedy. The Navy later named two destroyers The Sullivans, preserving the brothers as a single unit even after the ship that carried them disappeared beneath the Pacific.
