April 9, 2017: John D. Lukacs / One Man Scourge of the Japanese

Our guest this week, John D. Lukacs, is the producer of the “4-4-43” documentary, which is based on his book “Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War”. Don’t miss this incredible story of bravery and survival.On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners-of-war and two Filipino convicts broke out of the Davao Penal Colony, an escape-proof Imperial Japanese Army prison plantation in the Philippines. Called “the Greatest Story of the War in the Pacific” by the U.S. War Department in 1944, this astonishing, yet true action adventure tale is told through the eyes of Lt. Col. William Edwin Dyess, one of World War II’s most extraordinary, yet little-known heroes.Known as the “One-Man Scourge of the Japanese,” the swashbuckling fighter pilot from Texas dueled with enemy planes in aerial combat, led America’s first amphibious landing of the war, survived the infamous Bataan Death March and nearly a year in enemy captivity to help lead the only large-scale POW escape of the Pacific War and later, a top secret fight against the U.S. Government to break the news of Japanese atrocities to the world — all before his tragic death in a plane crash at the age of 27. Dyess was the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Texas Legislative Medal of Honor.