Hilton, James The Story of Doctor Wassell.

Hilton's story of real-life American World War 2 hero Dr. Corydon Wassell during the 1942 fall of Java to Imperial Japanese forces is told in simple prose which nevertheless carries quite a wallop even sixty plus years after its original publication. The novel, a brief 158 pages, is closer to "faction" than fiction since Dr. Wassell's exploits - the stuff of American war propagandists' dreams (indeed no less an inspirational orator than Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself sang Wassell's praises in an April 1942 radio broadcast when he spoke to the American public about Wassell's actions) - were based upon solid fact.

Sent to the Dutch East Indies island of Java in early 1942 as a U.S. Navy doctor, the fiftyish Wassell was assigned as liaison officer to a group of U.S. Navy personnel who had been wounded in recent action against Japan and were recuperating upcountry. A Japanese invasion of the island (soon following the fall of Singapore) put American naval forces to flight and Wassell, not once but twice, brought his charges to the southern Javanese port of Tjilatjap in an attempt to evacuate them by sea. The Navy had written off a group of them as being too seriously wounded to travel by sea (being afraid that the men couldn't survive a ship sinking), but Wassell refused to give up. He finally talked his way aboard the last civilian ship - the real-life Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij coastal liner JANSSENS- to make port in Tjilatjap and forced her reluctant shipmaster (again, a real person, veteran K.P.G. Captain G.N. Prass) to allow the wounded Navy men aboard the vessel. The final third of Hilton's novel is set aboard the refugee-packed JANSSENS and, while focusing on Wassell and his men, nonetheless also paints a vivid picture of shipboard life aboard the small steamer as Captain Prass attempts to elude attacking Japanese warplanes and lurking submarines. After 10 nail-biting days at sea the ship eventually reached the safety of Australia. By that point the reader realizes that Hilton's brief novel reads like a slim, but packed, version of "profiles in courage," with heroes including Dr. Wassell himself, his Navy wounded, proud Captain Prass, numerous Dutch and British military men and civilians, and the good ship JANSSENS herself. The novel was later made into a 1944 Hollywood movie which was directed by none other than Cecil B. De Mille. And De Mille's actor counterpart for brave Dr. Wassell? None other than Gary Cooper.