real life), was on and resolve to join the Navy to avenge him. Al decides that he cannot go with his brothers, due to his family responsibilities, but when Katherine Mary sees his despondent face, she tells him to go with the others to the recruiting station. The brothers insist that they serve on the same ship, but the recruiting officer, LCDR Robinson (played by Ward Bond), states that the Navy can make no such guarantees. The brothers leave, but later, George receives his draft notice, and writes to the Navy Department, obtaining official permission for the boys to serve together. Later, Tom, Alleta, and Katherine Mary eagerly await letters from their loved ones, who are serving aboard in the Pacific. A battle rages off the Solomon Islands, and one day, Juneau is hit. Four of the brothers find each other, then realize that George is below in sick bay. They rush down to get him, the ship continuing to be battered by explosions, and when George insists they leave him behind, Al replies, "We can't go swimming without you." There is a large explosion and the screen fades to black, insinuating that Juneau has been sunk and all the brothers killed. Soon after, LCDR Robinson visits the Sullivan home and tells Katherine Mary, Tom, Alleta, and Gen that all five of the brothers were killed in action. Stunned, Tom goes to work and salutes the water tower on which his sons used to stand and wave to him. Sometime later, Tom, Katherine Mary, and Gen, who has joined the WAVES, watch with pride while Alleta christens a new destroyer, . As Tom and Alleta watch the ship sail away, Alleta declares, "Tom, our boys are afloat again." In actuality, only Frank, Joe, and Matt went down with Juneau when it sank. George and Al managed to make it to a life boat, but Al died the next day. George survived before suffering from delirium as a result of hypernatremia, although some sources say he went mad with the grief of losing his brothers, and four or five days later he slipped quietly out of the raft, never to be seen again. Cast Anne Baxter as Katherine Mary Sullivan Thomas Mitchell as Mr. Thomas F. "Tom" Sullivan, the father Selena Royle as Mrs. Alleta Sullivan, the mother Edward Ryan as Albert Leo "Al" Sullivan Trudy Marshall as Genevieve Marie "Gen"