In January 1970, Taiwanese democracy activist Peng Ming-min, who was under house arrest, escaped from martial law Taiwan. The escape was so well orchestrated that Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek administration believed that the CIA must have been behind it. But in fact, it was a group of amateurs who smuggled Peng out of one of the most tightly-watched countries in the world.

One of the people who helped Dr. Peng was Reverend Milo Thornberry from the United States. Reverend Thornberry arrived in Taiwan in the late 1960s, at the height of the White Terror. While in Taiwan, Reverend Thornberry frequented political dissidents and helped their families, who were ostracized by the regime.

Later on, Reverend Thornberry became the first foreign missionary to have been deported by the Chiang Kai-shek administration. He was also blacklisted by the US government, which had been supporting the anti-communist Chiang government.

Reverend Thornberry recently published a memoir called Fireproof Moth: A Missionary in Taiwan's White Terror. Tune in to Time Traveler on December 21 to learn more about Dr. Peng's escape and the story of Reverend Thornberry.