Eugene John Sullivan
| NAME: Eugene John Sullivan | NICKNAME: — | SERVICE NUMBER: 519263 | |||||
| HOME OF RECORD: 4437 North Rockwell Street, Chicago, IL | NEXT OF KIN: Mother, Mrs. Mary A. Sullivan | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: 6/21/1924 | SERVICE DATES: 12/15/1942 – 4/9/1945 | DATE OF DEATH: 5/29/1988 | |||||
| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| Roi-Namur | Division Scout Company | 745 | PFC | ||||
| Saipan | HQ/1/24 | 636 | PFC | WIA | |||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: Purple Heart | LAST KNOWN RANK: Private First Class | ||||||
Eugene Sullivan was born in Chicago, Illinois on County, Illinois on 21 June 1924. He grew up on Rockwell Avenue with his parents, Hubert James and Mary Corcoran Sullivan, and three younger brothers. After completing high school, Eugene worked for the Aetna Life Insurance Company in Chicago.
Eugene enlisted in the Marine Corps in December 1942, and after boot camp at MCRD San Diego was selected for additional training as a tanker. He wound up as a scout, first for the 4th Tank Battalion, then Headquarters and Service Company, 24th Marines, and finally for the scout company of the 4th Marine Division Headquarters. Eugene was promoted to the rank of Private First Class on January 11, 1944, the day he shipped out for duty overseas. Three weeks later, he experienced combat for the first time in the invasion of the Marshall Islands.
On March 22, 1944, Eugene was transferred to Headquarters Company, First Battalion, 24th Marines. He served with the intelligence section in combat on Saipan for one week before a Japanese machine gun caught him in its sights. Eugene was immediately evacuated from Saipan and shipped off to a hospital in Hawaii. His wounds were serious enough to prevent his return to combat, and he was transferred from treatment to treatment before arriving at the hospital of Naval Station Great Lakes – right in his hometown of Chicago. He was discharged for reasons of disability in mid-1945.
Few details are known of Eugene’s life after the war. He spent decades in Chicago where he married, raised a family, and worked as a machinist. He moved to Bellingham, Washington two months before his death in the summer of 1988.