Tom Sullivan

"Out standing, Marines, out fucking standing!"

- Tom Sullivan

Sergeant Tom Sullivan was an American squad leader of the United States Marine Corps in Call of Duty: World at War during World War II.

Tom Sullivan was the leader of the Marine Raiders squad that came to rescue Private C. Miller (the player) at the beginning of the game, on Makin. After Roebuck knifed Miller's assailant in the back, Sullivan strangles the Japanese officer and hands Miller the latter's Nambu pistol and assaults the Japanese base. They rescue their support squad and foil two ingenious ambushes staged by the Japanese and leave the island. Towards the end of their assault Sullivan saves a shell-shocked Miller from a Katana wielding Japanese soldier and drags him to the lifeboats. Two years later Sullivan, Roebuck and Miller are part of the 1st Marine Division along with many new recruits including Pvt. Polonsky. Miller, Roebuck and Sullivan are known as the 'old breed' by the recruits although none of the three were out of their twenty's yet. Sullivan's squad and the 1st Marine Division assault Peleliu Island but their operation goes haywire and they get pinned down on the beach until Miller calls in a rocket strike destroying the Japanese machine guns.They make way for an Allied landing force,in which Sullivan tries to force open a door to get out after hearing a Marine scream, but Sullivan is killed when a Banzai Charger bursts through the door and impales him through the stomach with a Katana. His assailant is quickly gunned down by Roebuck, Polonsky and Miller but Sullivan dies soon after. According to Roebuck, the whole squad was stunned and agonized by Sullivan's death, Roebuck especially. He refers to Sullivan as "the most solid, dependable and courageous Marine we've ever known." Polonsky also mourns Sullivan's death, lamenting, "I thought Sullivan would make it through for sure." At the start of Hard Landing, we learn that Sullivan's body is being sent back to his family and Roebuck is promoted to Sergeant and takes command of the squad.

Quotes

 * "Listen up. I want to get through the rest of this quick - and clean! You hear me? Quick, and clean!"
 * "Grab a rifle. We're gonna tear this place apart!"
 * "fix bayonets, use them if you have to!"
 * "Okay, keep it together, and we'll get through this in three days!"
 * "Roebuck! Signal the strike team!"
 * "Fuckers!"
 * "I got you Miller, you're still in one piece! Plan's gone to shit! Tojo's got a defensive line dug in just beyond the treeline. We got heavy MG fire tearing up the beach!"
 * "Outstanding Marines, Out-fucking-standing!"
 * "Tojo's at home in this shit."
 * "Soon, Polonsky... Soon." (response to Polonsky's question, "When do we rest?", also Sullivan's last words, as seen in Little Resistance)
 * "Don't leave so much as one of those bastards standing!"
 * "Miller! We hit any resistance on the beach, you get on that radio and call for immediate missile support!"
 * "Everyone ready? Up and over!"
 * "So where's the fireworks?"
 * "They better not be." (In response to Roebuck saying: 'Tell me those charges weren't duds'.)

Trivia

 * On Little Resistance, while on the LVT, he is a submachine gunner, but after landing, he is a shotgunner again. It is possible that he lost his Thompson when the boat exploded.
 * Sullivan may be based on Gunnery Sergeant Hjelmstad from the movie Windtalkers. They both use M1897 Trenchguns, they both look relatively alike, and they both died on an island in the Pacific in 1944.
 * No matter how hard you try, you cannot save Sullivan. Even if you anticipate the Japanese soldier's attack on Sullivan and shoot immediately as he comes through the door, the soldier doesn't die until his stabbing animation is finished.
 * On the Wii version, Sullivan doesn't wear a helmet throughout Semper Fi and Little Resistance at all. This goes the same for Roebuck.
 * Sullivan wears camouflage facepaint on Semper Fi and doesn't wear a helmet until Little Resistance.
 * He is the first person in the Call of Duty games to be labeled a Shotgunner, everyone else, such as Leroy Huxley, is labeled as a support gunner.
 * Sullivan was from Dayton, Ohio.
 * Sullivan is aged between 20-29 as it is mentioned "We're known as the old breed and we're not even out of our twenties". Also the term "old breed" might be a reference from the book With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge. The book details Eugene Sledge's experience with the 1st Marine Division fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa.
 * The Number that appears on Sullivan's dog tags during the cutscene after he dies is "39489987T4P"
 * Even if you kill the banzai charger that kills Sullivan before he reaches Sullivan, he will still die.
 * It is strange how he still opened the door because you can here the banzai charger screaming his *banzai* thing and gets killed in action, he was probably unaware of the charger and so he got killed.
 * Sullivan says "outstanding marines, out-fucking standing" which is also said by Roebuck probably as a honor to his former Sergaent.