Journey to Royal

JOURNEY TO ROYAL, a feature documentary, tells the story of Lt. Royal Stratton, a WWII rescue pilot with the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron, who perishes while saving the lives of nine downed airmen in the open ocean of a war-torn South Pacific. Two generations later, armed with little more than his name and type of aircraft, Stratton's grandnephew, filmmaker Christopher Johnson, embarks on an international quest to unlock history and reveal the circumstances of that fateful day seven decades ago. Archival imagery and interviews with Hollywood entertainers and service members from the Greatest Generation paint a portrait of life in the 1940s, setting the stage for events that inspired a nation and forged a unity of purpose. Firsthand accounts of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the escorting of the Enola Gay, and the delivery of surrender documents to the U.S.S. Missouri culminate in Stratton's final heroic mission; a vibrant tapestry is weaved by those who knew ...