![Three Pacific Fleet airmen who survived the ordeal of thirty-four days in this tiny rubber life-boat are shown shortly after they made safe landfall on a South Pacific Island to which they Three Pacific Fleet airmen who survived the ordeal of thirty-four days in this tiny rubber life-boat are shown shortly after they made safe landfall on a South Pacific Island to which they](https://cdn4.picryl.com/photo/1942/01/01/three-pacific-fleet-airmen-who-survived-the-ordeal-of-thirty-four-days-in-this-5a8247-1024.jpg)
Three Pacific Fleet airmen who survived the ordeal of thirty-four days in this tiny rubber life-boat are shown shortly after they made safe landfall on a South Pacific Island to which they
![Photo] Admiral Chester Nimitz presenting the Navy Cross to Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Harold F. Dixon aboard USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mar 1942. | World War II Database Photo] Admiral Chester Nimitz presenting the Navy Cross to Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Harold F. Dixon aboard USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mar 1942. | World War II Database](http://ww2db.com/images/5ed3edfa22a52.jpg)
Photo] Admiral Chester Nimitz presenting the Navy Cross to Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate Harold F. Dixon aboard USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mar 1942. | World War II Database
Against the Sun - US Navy pilot Harold Dixon, Radioman Gene Aldrich, and Bombardier Tony Pastula lifted off from the USS Enterprise on January 16, 1942 in their Douglas Devastator torpedo bomber.
![File:U.S. Navy sailors Pastula, Aldrich, and Dixon and life raft in which they spent 34 days, 1942 (40691294660).jpg - Wikimedia Commons File:U.S. Navy sailors Pastula, Aldrich, and Dixon and life raft in which they spent 34 days, 1942 (40691294660).jpg - Wikimedia Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/U.S._Navy_sailors_Pastula%2C_Aldrich%2C_and_Dixon_and_life_raft_in_which_they_spent_34_days%2C_1942_%2840691294660%29.jpg)
File:U.S. Navy sailors Pastula, Aldrich, and Dixon and life raft in which they spent 34 days, 1942 (40691294660).jpg - Wikimedia Commons
![Safety equipment. Rubber lifeboats. Aftermath. Safely back at base with their now historic rubber life raft which will be placed on permanent exhibition at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. Anthony J. Pastula, Safety equipment. Rubber lifeboats. Aftermath. Safely back at base with their now historic rubber life raft which will be placed on permanent exhibition at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. Anthony J. Pastula,](http://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/fsa/8b05000/8b05300/8b05395v.jpg)
Safety equipment. Rubber lifeboats. Aftermath. Safely back at base with their now historic rubber life raft which will be placed on permanent exhibition at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. Anthony J. Pastula,
USNA Museum on Twitter: "Ordnanceman Anthony Pastula of Youngstown OH, Radioman Gene Aldrich of Sikeston, OH, and Pilot Chief Machinist Mate Harold Dixon of LaMesa flew their Douglas Devastator until fog haze,
![Local News: Sikeston man's World War II life-raft ordeal told in a new film (2/6/15) | Southeast Missourian newspaper, Cape Girardeau, MO Local News: Sikeston man's World War II life-raft ordeal told in a new film (2/6/15) | Southeast Missourian newspaper, Cape Girardeau, MO](https://www.semissourian.com/photos/22/78/89/2278897-L.jpg)