 Based on the eight men captured by the Japanese after the Doolittle  raid: Lt. Robert Hite, Lt. William G. Farrow, Lt. George Barr, Sgt.  Harold A. Spatz, Cpl. Jacob De Shazer, Dean Hallmark, Robert Meder,  and Chase Nielsen. The trial, as depicted in the film, was held at  Police Headquarters in Shanghai, China on 14 October 1942. The eight  men were condemned to death. Hallmark, Farrow, and Spatz were  executed by a firing squad of the Imperial Japanese Army at sunset  the next day. The remainder were given an Imperial commutation to  life in prison. In 1943, Meder died of mistreatment and various  diseases. The remaining four survived until they were freed upon  Japans surrender in August, 1945.