Sullivan Brothers clan sets sail for world record
Posted
on Thursday, March 5, 2026
Kelly Sullivan, a third-grade Cedar Falls teacher and granddaughter and grandniece of Waterloo’s five Sullivan Brothers killed during World War II, is the first woman to be named head of the entire Sullivan/O’Sullivan clan by her kinfolk in Ireland. She is show here wearing the ceremonial chain of chieftainship she received from clan members in Boston in 2023 (Courtesy photo)
WATERLOO — You might say Kelly Sullivan is hoping to use a “home Cork advantage” in having her extended family make the Guinness Book of World Records.
She’s mounting that effort as the first woman chieftain of the Sullivan/O’Sullivan clan it its 1,000-plus year history. And the first American.
Kelly Sullivan, granddaughter and grandniece of Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers who were killed during World War II, is heading up an effort instigated by her kinfolk in Ireland to amass a record gathering of Sullivans and O’Sullivans from around the world in their home county of Cork in Ireland the last weekend of May.
It’ll be the “flash mob” to end all flash mobs.
“It’s a huge honor,” Kelly Sullivan said. “This is a big deal, and I’m actually hosting this! I think it’s exciting so many Sullivans are going to come together for this common goal and make it happen. I love to see people inspired with an idea. Just like my third graders, when they get excited about something they want to make their dream come true.
“It’s a huge, huge honor to be the first woman to do this,” she added. She’s already done a promotional video with other clan relatives for the event, seen by clicking on the link here. Information about the event can be found online at osullivanclan.org
“I’ll probably be doing some speeches, I’m sure they’ll have a ceremony,” Kelly Sullivan said, and she will bring all the accoutrements of her chieftainship. They were bestowed on her by the mayors of Counties Cork and Kerry in Ireland in the fall of 2023. It’s been in the works at least since then.
The organizational details are being headed up by Jim O’Sullivan (pictured below-courtesy photo), one of the Sullivan clan in Ireland who has maintained ties to their American kin and to Kelly’s family specifically — and to the U.S. Navy destroyer USS The Sullivans, hull number DDG-68, of which Kelly Sullivan is the official Navy sponsor.
Members of the O’Sullivan clan have maintained ties to Kelly Sullivan and her grandfather and great uncles’ namesake Navy vessel for a quarter century.
Clan members, including Jim O’Sullivan’s father, attended commissioning ceremonies for the USS The Sullivans in April 1997 at Stapleton Pier, Staten Island, in New York harbor in New York City.
The ship also visited County Cork in Ireland in 2003, and members of the O’Sullivan clan also traveled to Waterloo in 2008 for the dedication of the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum, part of the Grout Museum District.
A promotional poster for the Sullivan/O’Sullivan gathering (Courtesy illustration)
According to promotional materials, another Irish clan, the Gallaghers, currently hold the record the Sullivan/O’Sullivan clan is trying to surpass.
Kelly Sullivan said it will make for some good-natured ribbing between her and Waterloo attorney E.J. Gallagher III, who is board chairman of the Grout Museum District of which the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum is part.
His father Ed Gallagher Jr., a World War II Navy veteran, was one of the driving forces behind construction of the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans museum — named for the Sullvians but dedicated to all Iowa veterans.
George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert Sullivan, the sons of Thomas and Alleta Sullivan of Waterloo, died when their ship, the USS Juneau, was torpedoed and sunk on Nov. 13, 1942 following the naval Battle of Guadalcanal. All but 14 of the Juneau’s crew of nearly 700 perished in the actual sinking or at sea on the days the followed. The five brothers’ deaths are considered the greatest combat-related loss of life by one family at one time in American military history.
Kelly Sullivan is the granddaughter of Albert Sullivan, the youngest of the brothers and the only one who married. His widow, and Kelly's grandmother, Katherine Rooff Sullivan McFarland, passed away in 2016 at age 93. Their son and Kelly’s father, Jim Sullivan, also a Navy veteran, is retired and lives in Waterloo. Kelly’s brother John Sullivan, lives and works in the publishing business in the Kansas City area.
The current USS The Sullivans, hull number DDG-68, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer based in Mayport, Fla. is the successor vessel to the USS The Sullivans DD-537, which Kelly Sullivan’s great grandmother Alleta Sullivan of Waterloo sponsored after her five sons’ deaths. That ship saw service in World War II and Korea, was decommissioned in 1977 and is now at the Buffalo Naval and Military Park in Buffalo, N.Y.
Both ships sport a shamrock above deck in honor of the brothers’ Irish heritage, as does the official crest of the USS Iowa submarine, (SSN-797). commissioned in April 2025.
“I know that my great grandpa and grandparents would be really proud of this trip to Ireland,” Kelly Sulivan said. “They were very proud and into the fact that they were Irish. I love that I can continue the Irish legacy of my family.”