On 16 January 1942, US Navy pilot Harold Dixon, radioman Gene Aldrich and bombardier Tony Pastula took off in a bomber for an anti-submarine mission over the Pacific. By the time they realised they had drifted off course, their bomber was nearly out of fuel, and they had to ditch in the ocean.
They lived for 34 days on the open sea in a rubber life raft, with no food but that which they took from the sea and the air with one pocket knife and a pistol. They came at last to the beach of an island they did not know.
In spite of their weakness, they stood like men, with no weapon to protect themselves, and no shoes on their feet, and walked in military file because, they said, "If there were Japs, we didn't want to be crawling."
一九四二年一月十六日，美國海軍飛行員哈羅德．狄克遜、無線電技師吉恩．奧里奇、投彈手托尼．帕斯圖拉三人，駕轟炸機出發，在太平洋執行反潛艇任務。他們飛離了旣定航線，發覺時，飛機燃料幾已耗盡，唯有降落海上。
他們乘着橡皮救生艇，在大海過了三十四天，食物全靠一柄摺合式小刀、一把手槍在海裏、空中獵得。最後，他們漂到一個陌生島嶼的海灘上。
他們都很虛弱，而且沒有武器自衞，腳下連鞋子都沒有，但還是昂然挺立，以軍人形式，列隊前進。他們解釋說：「假如島上有日本鬼子，我們伏地爬行，成何體統。」