Sikeston man's World War II life-raft ordeal told in a new film

An area man's true story of being stranded on a life raft with two other men in the South Pacific during World War II finally has been made into a film -- 73 years later.

"Against the Sun," officially released last month in most of the U.S., is based on a 1942 book by Robert Trumbull titled "The Raft."

The movie, directed, produced and cowritten by Brian Falk, tells the story of torpedo bomber pilot Harold Dixon and his two crew members, Tony Pastula, a 24-year-old bombardier, and Gene Aldrich, a 22-year-old tail gunner and radio operator born and raised in Sikeston, Missouri.

On Jan. 16, 1942, the three U.S. Navy airmen left the flight deck of the USS Enterprise in their Douglas TBD Devastator aircraft on a long-rage patrol for Japanese submarines in the Pacific Ocean.

Radio silence was required during the mission to keep from revealing the aircraft carrier's location. After drifting off course with not enough fuel to make it back to the Enterprise, they were forced to ditch the plane.

Bombardier Tony Pastula, left, pilot Harold Dixon and Sikeston native Gene Aldrich, tailgunner and radio operator, are shown after surviving 34 days on a 4-by-9-foot raft. (National Naval Aviation Museum)

Aldrich's surviving sister, Audrey Beck of Sikeston, remembers when her family got the bad news about Gene.

"Oh, goodness, I was just a young girl. I'm 80-something years old now," Beck said. "They sent a telegram to mother that he was lost at sea. She kept writing him every day -- and he [later] got every one of those letters.

"She just couldn't believe he was gone. And he wasn't; he was on that raft for 34 days with those two other men. She never did give up on him."

All three men survived the emergency landing into the water with no injuries, but the plane sank so suddenly, it took nearly all of their gear with it to the ocean floor before the raft was fully inflated.

Their struggle for survival started with righting their overturned raft in the dark once they got it inflated. The ordeal continued for the next month, with the men facing everything from shark bites and storms to starvation and the sun beating down on them.

The rubber raft was only 40 by 80 inches on the inside -- not big enough for even one of them to stretch out and sleep. They constantly were battered by waves through the bottom of the boat and drenched by water splashing in over the sides.

Beck said she also remembers when they finally got the good news.

"My brother, Hugh, was working and came running home and said, 'They found Gene!'" Beck said. "He heard it I think on the radio or something."

After drifting for 1,000 miles with nothing but a .45 caliber pistol, a knife and a small navigating wheel, the men landed on the island of Pukapuka in the Cook Islands in February 1942.

News articles from that time saved by local residents reported the story "lifted the spirits of Americans" and "served as an inspiration to the world."

Beck said her brother was honored by the entire town when he returned home.

"They gave a parade for him and he sat on a car in the back, and my mother sat by him and they rode through the town," she said.

After the war, Alrich married Pastula's sister, Frances, while one of Pastula's brothers married one of Aldrich's sisters.

"My sister Lois married Walter Pastula," Beck recalled. "My mother had nine children. Gene was the fourth boy born."

Aldrich and Tony Pastula went to work for the U.S. Navy after the war and moved to California, where Aldrich lived out his days, although he returned regularly to Sikeston for visits.

"He passed away when he was 57 years old," Beck said.

A review in the Los Angeles Times by Michael Rechtshaffen predicted "Against the Sun" will be overshadowed by Angelina Jolie's film "Unbroken," in which characters also struggled to survive in the open ocean, and other big-budget films with similar themes and imagery. But Rechtshaffen credited the film with "doing an admirable job" with its small budget.

"I got to see it, and it's really wonderful," Beck said. "I enjoyed it so much. They had some good actors in it."

The pilot, Dixon, is played by Garret Dillahunt, who is featured in a key role in the final season of the FX series "Justified."

Tom Felton, whom Harry Potter fans will recognize as the actor who played Draco Malfoy, is cast as Pastula.

And in the role of Sikeston's hero, Aldrich, is Jake Abel, whose film credits include a part as one of the close friends of the main hero in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" film franchise.

To learn more, visit againstthesun.com. The film is available for online rental or streaming via Amazon.com, iTunes and Google Play.