Movie Description The wartime forerunner of the story told in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) is this emotionally gripping depiction of the Sullivan boys of Waterloo, Iowa. Amid all the tales of personal tragedy in WW II, this one stands out. The five inseparable brothers enlisted together after Pearl Harbor and were all assigned to a battleship that ended up at Guadalcanal--where all five brothers died in action. A moving tribute to those who gave their lives in the last world war.