Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998), which has been hailed as the most accurate depiction of the D-Day landing in cinematic history, centers around Company C’s landing in France to extract paratrooper Private James Ryan after his three brothers were killed in action. The plot seems[i] far-fetched, but it is based in actual military policy. The policy stemmed from the torpedoing of USS Juneau by a Japanese submarine in 1942.
Among the Juneau’s casualties were five brothers serving on the ship, the Sullivans, all lost in the attack. The Army wanted to prevent further catastrophic losses within families. To reduce chances of reoccurrence, they enacted Directive 1314.15, the ‘sole survivor’ policy. Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on the four Niland Brothers. Two brothers were killed in service, a third believed killed (but later rescued from a Japanese POW camp), with the fourth extracted from France under 1314.15 and sent home.
