The heroism of Spokane native Sam Grashio unfolds in a new Public Television documentary retitled “Escape in the Pacific: 1943” based on the WWII documentary film 4-4-43. This film chronicles the only successful group escape from a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II. The Gonzaga University Alumni Association with KSPS Public Television will present a special screening of the 4-4-43 film including discussion with filmmaker John D. Lukacs, whose book inspired the documentary, at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 29 in Gonzaga’s Cataldo Hall. The event is free and open to the public; reservations requested.
Gonzaga University's Cataldo Hall
Presented by Gonzaga Alumni Association & KSPS
Thursday, May 29, 2014
6:30 PM Doors Open (light refreshments)
7:10 PM Program starts
7:30 PM Documentary Screening
8:30 PM Q & A with John Lukacs |
Seating is limited and reservations are requested.
Based upon Lukacs’ book, “Escape from Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War” (2010, Simon & Schuster), the film chronicles events leading up to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and tells how 10 American POWs – survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor – and two Filipino convicts planned and carried out the courageous escape from the Davao Penal Colony.
The tale unfolds through the story of its leaders, swashbuckling Texan, Lt. Col. William Edwin Dyess, and Grashio, who becomes the group’s spiritual guide and eventual storyteller. Once returned home, Grashio’s emotional speeches galvanize the American public to greater prosecution of the Pacific war and lead to significant changes in U.S. government wartime censorship policies. The escape of the “Davao Dozen” and the revelations that followed, Lukacs asserts, changed the course of the war.
Grashio graduated from Gonzaga Prep in 1936, retired from the Air Force in 1965, and worked for nearly 20 years as special assistant to the president of Gonzaga University before his death in 1999. Grashio appears throughout the film in wartime newsreels, radio broadcasts and still photographs. His widow Devonia Grashio and squadron hero Jack Donohoe, also a Spokane native, appear in the film and have been invited to the May 29 event.
“We invite the community, especially members of Spokane’s military community and their families, to join us to experience together this powerful documentary and to take the opportunity to hear from the author of the story,” said Drew Rieder with Gonzaga’s Alumni Association. “KSPS and Gonzaga intend this evening to be a salute to all who serve our country.”
The riveting WWII documentary 4-4-43 is now an official selection for the prestigious 2014 GI Film Festival in Washington, D.C., May 19-25.
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