Simmonds was captured in the western Sumatran city of Padang, as were Frank and Judy, all coming up short in a desperate lunge for safety ahead of the rampaging Japanese after the fall of Singapore.

Unfortunately, after commandeering a Chinese junk that took them upriver into Sumatra and then hiking 200 miles across the island, the men, with Judy in tow, unknowingly wandered into a Japanese ...

How lopsided was the fight? Hellcat ace Alex Vraciu launched from the Lexington’s wooden deck and downed six Japanese “Judy” dive-bombers in less than eight minutes. (The Hellcat’s meaner ...