I've seen a few internet stories, and caught ABC evening news.
Where are the Japanese holding them captive? Where are the Japanese navy ships? This photo is more like that of a trading harbor with no military presence at all. If the person behind the camera was trying to get a picture of rescued aviators, then the photo is a total failure.
With film you did not just randomly snap pictures. Film was expensive, could be hard to buy away from major civilization, cost to develop, and you wouldn't see the results for weeks. I'm just trying to figure out from the composition of the picture what the photographer was trying to capture and why. If the sailboat and the people next to it was the purpose, why not take a few steps forward and frame just those parts. Seems to me he/she was trying to capture a harbor where he/she just arrived with a group of people in a sailboat compared to a ship like he/she would soon depart in as a step of a journey.
If this is Fred and Amelia, then they are only a few yards from finding a custom agent, port authority, shipping company desk, harbor radio station, or somewhere else to send a message or telegram saying they've been rescued, wire money for a ticket. It is not time for sitting on the pier watching the tide come in.