Destination Tokyo is one of my favorite double wartime movies, being both about and released during WWII. One of the subplots involves a seaman diagnosed by the pharmacists mate with acute appendicitis, and who will certainly die without surgery. The captain (Cary Grant) convinces the pharmacists mate (William Prince) he can perform the surgery. The tension builds as the operation takes place, but the surgery is a success, and the seaman recovers. The entire film is a morale building vehicle for the folks at home, and this story was part of it.
This story, however, was based on fact. As I learned from This Day in World War II History, on September 11, 1942, a pharmacists mate on board the U.S. submarine Seadragon performed an emergency appendectomy on a fellow crewmember in circumstances essentially like those depicted in the film. More details at the U.S. Naval Institute Naval History Blog.
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