The Story of Dr. Wassell

Cooper plays a real-life hero in this Cecil B. DeMille contribution to the war effort. Cooper is Dr. Corydon M. Wassell, a missionary doctor in China, and, after the outbreak of hostilities, a naval doctor stationed in Java. In the Japanese overrun of that island, he is placed in charge of evacuating the wounded. In the end, as the front is collapsing on all sides, he is told to leave the stretcher cases behind. He disobeys and takes nine badly wounded men across the island by train, fighting most of the way. He then forces his way aboard one of the last ships out, which barely escapes a Japanese blockade that claims a Dutch passenger ship filled with refugees who are also rescued. When he arrives with the wounded in Australia, Cooper fully expects to be court-martialed, but instead he is awarded with the Navy Cross. (official distributor synopsis)