In the scene of a strafing mission against the Japanese-held island of Truk, one of the figures seen running for cover is an American POW. According to his autobiography, that prisoner was Maj. Gregory H. 'Pappy' Boyington, the highest-scoring U.S. Marine pilot of the war, who had been shot down a few months before in the Solomon Islands.
During the movie, Lt. Elisha T. "Smokey" Stover is introduced after he had been wounded in action and was recovering. He was allowed to return to flying duties with Fighter Squadron 5 (VF-5), USS Yorktown's Hellcat squadron, in time for the Battle of Truk. During the air action, Smokey was shot down. He survived the crash landing into the sea and managed to get into his rubber dinghy. Sadly, the wind and tide blew Smokey onto the Island of Truk, and he was taken prisoner.
Along with six other United States aviators captured, Smokey Stover was tortured and beaten by his captors. The day after the American attacks on Truk ceased, the Japanese marched the seven U.S. aviators to a beach on Truk, where they were beheaded by sword and their bodies were thrown into the sea.
The U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-10) is now a museum ship at Patriot's Point, near Charleston, South Carolina. The theater aboard ship is named in honor of Lt. E.T. "Smokey" Stover, one of the Naval Aviators featured in this film. He was lost in the attack on Truk on February 16, 1944.
The USS Yorktown (CV-10), the aircraft carrier featured in the film, was originally in service from 1943 to 1947. It was recommissioned in 1953 and remained in service until 1970. The ship was in active service in both World War II and the Vietnam War. It was used as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission in 1968. It was also used for the shooting of two well-known films: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970) and "The Philadelphia Experiment" (1984).
The USS Yorktown (CV-10) was an Essex-class aircraft carrier, one of 24 ships of this class which were completed. There were plans for an additional 8 ships , but they were canceled. Several aircraft carriers of this class were damaged in World War II, but none was ever sunk. They remained among the most advanced ships of the United States Navy, until they were phased out in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were replaced by more advanced "supercarriers".