Robert Aldrichs's Too Late the Hero

In the spring of 1942, in the southwest Pacific, Captain John G. Nolan postpones the leave of the volunteer Lieutenant Sam Lawson. Instead, he gives him an assignment in the New Hebrides with British troops, based on the required profile, fluency in Japanese. When Lieutenant Lawson arrives in the base, the Commander explains that the island is divided between the British and Japanese sectors. Lieutenant Lawson asks him to go with a group of soldiers behind Japanese lines to destroy their radio and transmit a false message to the Japanese forces. Captain Hornsby is assigned to lead the group. However, during the tense mission, he has disagreements with the insubordinate Private Tosh Hearne. When things go wrong, the soldiers have to fight to survive while exposing their weakness in character.