Louis Zamperini

Louis Zamperini was born in 1917 and grew up in Torrance, California. Louie was a criminal as a child. He was constantly running from the police and store owners. He drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Louis lived with his mother, Louise, his father, Anthony, his two sisters, Sylvia and Virginia, and his brother, Pete. His parents were always upset with Louie and one time his mother sat down and started to cry because she knew Louie could do better. Louie felt sorry, but continued to steal.

This is Louie after a track meet. (https://www.pinterest.com (Random House))

Since Louie was always running from the people he stole from, he was pretty fast. Pete was on the Torrance track team. Pete started to train Louie. Louie then started to like running so much that he stopped drinking, smoking, and stealing. Training was not easy, but Louie was determined to get better. After much hard work, Louie was able to make the Track team as well. Now, Louie was running during practices and on his own time. Louie soon ran a four-minute, twelve-second mile. He was invited to the Olympic trials and made the Olympic team. Sadly Louie did not win his race, but he did set a record. He set a record for the fastest final lap. He ran it in 56 seconds! After the Olympics his running career changed.

Louie got drafted into the United States Air Force. All was well until their beloved plane became inoperable, and they had to take the Green Hornet. The plane was barely able to fly. When they were right over the Pacific Ocean, their engines began to stop working. They then crashed and only Louie and two other men survived. Louie, Phil, and Mack had to share chocolate bars. Well, they did have chocolate bars, but Mack ate them in the middle of the night. Now, they were left with no food at all. The three had salt sores, cuts, and bruises. On the third day, they had no food and barely any water left. That day it started to rain. The men leaned back, opened their mouths and their water containers to try and catch as much as they could. In the life raft there were big hooks, and small hooks, but no bait. About nine or ten days after the crash, a bird landed on the raft. Louie, ever so slowly, reached his hands out and caught the bird. Phil and Mack then killed the bird by snapping its neck. The bird was used as bait. Throughout the course of a few days they caught more fish and they were so grateful. Mack was not doing well at all so Louie and Phil gave Mack the blood of the fish. The raft was breaking down, there was yellow dye leaking from the raft and it was losing a lot of air. As the raft got lower to the ocean, sharks started circling, and a few even jumped up on the raft. They had no more small hooks but they still had the big ones. Louie waited for a small enough shark to come by and then Louie caught it. Phil knew that the only edible part of a shark is its liver, so the three men ate that. They were all skinny but Mack was in the worst shape. On the 32nd day, Mack asked Phil and Louie if he was going to die. Louie said, "Maybe." The next morning Mack died. Phil and Louie wrapped him up and gently put him into the water. On the 47th day, a boat appeared. It was filled with Japanese soldiers. As the two men climbed aboard they were told something that would be difficult to live through. 

Louis and Phil were sent to a POW camp. Louie and Phil were first sent to a camp where the Japanese were trying to get information about the US Air Force. When the two men got sent to another camp they were separated. Louie went to Ofuna, where American soldiers were starved, tortured, and beaten. At first, Louie was faced with an awful man. People called him the Quack. When he hit you he would hit you hard. Soon a new corporal arrived.  His name was Mutsuhiro Watanabe. Just like the Quack, he had a nickname. He was called the Bird. The Bird was even worse than the Quack. He would hit, punch, club, and smack men until they were knocked unconscious. Louis was his number-one victim. The Bird knew that Louie was a famous Olympian. Louie was sometimes accused of stealing, and the Bird would whip him. Louie also got beaten for no apparent reason. The book Unbroken states, "By Wade's estimate each man had been punched in the face some 220 times." Louie was not doing well at all. He was sick, starved and exhausted. The soldiers only got fed rice and rarely some bread. Louie was also scared. Louis knew that if America won the war, the Japanese were going to kill all of the POW's. One day, American bombers flew above the camp. The war was over and everyone thought they were going to die. The next day the Japanese were gone. They had left. All of the POW's were relieved. The day they had been waiting for had come. Americans started dropping down food, water, tobacco, and magazines/newspapers. After a day or two, the planes started to come and take the soldiers back home. Louie had missed his family so much. The minute he stepped off the plane he found his parents and his brother and sisters. Louie celebrated and shared his experiences with his family. Louie was just so happy to be home.

This is a picture of Louie when he got older. (https://www.army.mil (US army))

After the war, Louie had a great life, but there were some bumps in the road. Louie married a woman named Cynthia Applewhite. Louie was also an alcoholic. He kept on having nightmares about the Bird, and he thought that drinking would solve the problem. He kept on drinking until he became addicted. Louis just wanted to kill the Bird. One day Cynthia talked Louie into going to a place where there would be a speaker talking about God. Louie did not want to go. As the speaker talked, Louie was not listening. But then, the speaker started talking about forgiveness and Louie listened. Once the speech was over, Louie no longer wanted to kill the Bird, he wanted to forgive the Bird. After that, Louie stopped drinking and never had a nightmare since. A few years later, he went back to Japan, and met all of the Japanese soldiers who tortured him. Well, he met all of them except for the Bird. Louie was told he was dead, but he really was not. When Louie turned eighty, he ran the Olympic torch that was held in Japan. Louie certainly made up for all of the terrible things that happened to him in the past.