Louis Zamperini

Louis Zamperinigettyimages.com

Louis Zamperini

Louis when he was a Olympic racergettyimages.comOn May 27, 1943 during a search and rescue mission in the deep blue waters of the  Pacific Ocean, a plane with eleven soldiers were intensely scouting for survivors, and neglected to check their own gas supply. Two engines on the plane stopped working, causing the plane to rocket towards the ocean like a meteorite. Louis Zamperini was one of the only three survivors of the crash, surviving the hostile waters for 47 days.  Louis was a tough kid from the beginning, being born to a family of Italian immigrants in the town of Torrance, California on January 26, 1917. He was a troublemaker, often getting into fights and committing petty crimes. Then his brother helped Louis find something he could excel at, the high school track team, later making it all the way to the United States Olympic team. He got eighth place in the Olympic race he competed in, but got attention for his 56-second pace final lap. The opportunity to compete in the next Olympics never came, as he was drafted by the US Air Force.  Although imprisoned by the Japanese, Louis believed he was saved from his 47 days lost at sea, when he was put in a POW camp in Japan. During his time at the POW camp, he was tortured in various ways. A more noteable and disturbing punishment was when he had to hold a large, wooden beam for 37 minutes and a guard punched him in the stomach, causing him to lose consciousness when the beam came crashing down on his head. Although life was never easy for Zamperini, he never gave up and eventually learned to forgive the wrongs committed against him. Louis Zamperini is a war hero, a survivor, someone admired for his courage and achievements in the face of adversity.  Growing up in poverty, enduring torture by nature or man did not break him. Upon his return to the states, Louis was tested again, but never stopped being a leader, going onto forgive the soldiers who tortured him and starting programs to help troubled youth.

Mutsuhiro Watanabe the person responsible for doing this to Louisreasonabletheology.orgDrawing on his inner strength and physical abilities, Louis taught himself how to survive, thus making him into the leader he is recognized for today.  In the Japanese POW camps, Louis Zamperini, “Endured beatings, other forms of punishment, and, worst of all to him, attempts to destroy his dignity. He survived by drawing on the inner strength and self-discipline that he had developed as an athlete” (Zamperini). Zamperini kept his dignity by carving a picture of himself, in his cell, when he was most proud, as an athlete. This showed his inner strength and how smart he was for thinking of the idea to draw a picture of himself on the wall with his best traits, giving him a reminder of the man he is proud to be and brave because he was willing to put the picture up, knowing  he may get in trouble for it. During the POW camp he was threatened with being shot if he did not hold a wooden beam over his head. He held the: “Large wooden beam over his head for 37 minutes: Watanabe then punched him in the stomach, and the beam fell, knocking Zamperini out. He was moved to another camp only to discover that Watanabe had been posted to this new location, an experience he called the worst moment of his life” (Zamperini). Zamperini had to endure a lot of pain because a wooden beam over a person's head would be heavy but also having stress that you may die if you drop it would be scary. In addition, the same guard, Watanabe, followed Zamperini to the next camp beating Zamperini for being a better person. Watanabe wanted to be an athlete and it bothered him that Zamperini was one.  During his time at the POW camps, he did not crack under pressure from all of the punishments. He never gave up, military secrets or on surviving. Relying on his endurance and enginuity, like carving a picture of himself to remember happier times, Zamperini evolved into a leader.

Louis looking at one of the shell holes in his originally planehistory.comLouis Zamperini shows forgiveness by giving back to the world and forgiving the POW camp guards for what they did because it was what they were forced to do. Zamperini traveled in 1950 to show forgiveness, traveling to, “Japan for the first time since his liberation to address the Japanese war criminals held at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. While there, he shook hands and embraced many of his old camp guards. Mutsuhiro Watanabe had avoided capture, but Zamperini later wrote a letter forgiving his former tormenter and even unsuccessfully tried to meet with him while in Japan for the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano”  (Andrews). He was forgiving to go out of his way to write a letter to show he forgave a person that tortured him for fun. Zamperini wanted to change lives so he was a, “speaker and missionary, founding the Victory Boys Camp for troubled youths. For many years, Zamperini worked as a commercial real estate salesman in addition to his religious activities.” (Zamperini). He organized summer camps for troubled children to help them find things to get involved with, besides trouble. Louis taught the kids sports and other life lessons to get them on the right path. Part of being a leader is leading by example, being someone that others can admire.  When Zamperini forgave his captors and gave back to his community by helping kids make better life choices, he became the leader he is known for. Not just giving up, a broken man, but someone that survived and achieved so much more with his life.

Upon his return to the states, Louis was tested again, but never stopped being a leader, going onto forgive the soldiers who tortured him and starting programs to help troubled youth.  In the POW camps Zamperini was tortured a lot because he would be leder to others and not follow their rules. He would make the guards mad by tapping, using Morse Code, on the walls to pass messages. When he was threatened if he dropped the wooden log they would shoot him. He held it for 37 mins then was knocked out by a punch that the main officer bird throw at him. Later bird was a war criminal for the punishments he would give. Zamperini is a leader for all of the deeds he did to help out to stop the injustices. Louis Zamperini is a inspiration because he shows his forgiveness and his examples of being a leader. He showed forgiveness by going back to Japan and forgive his guards that were in the POW camp also the main guard that did not show up but still sent him a letter. He would not giving up by not dying on the raft for 47 days in the ocean and still exercising his mind when he was in the ocean. Finally he showed that he was leader by standing up to the POW camp guards and telling them they are doing wrong things to the guards then enduring the pain and to make sure no one has to go down his troubled past he started a camp to help kids in need. He later returned to Japan to forgive the soldiers that did this to him. He did not see the main officer Bird but wrote him a letter instead to forgive him. He also setup summer camps for kid that had a hard life to make them good and sports and get them on the right path. Now Zamperini can not be the only one to be leader by showing by example and forgiving by helping others including his enemies but other common people can do this to be the next hero.

Works Cited

Andrews, Evan. “8 Things You May Not Know About Louis Zamperini.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 17 Dec. 2014, www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-louis-zamperini.

Kiell, Paul J. "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption." AMAA Journal, Winter 2011, p. 14. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A252635061/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=37608bab. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.

"Louis Zamperini." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 36, Gale, 2016. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1631010553/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=f8b2bcd2. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.

"Louis Zamperini." Newsmakers, vol. 1, Gale, 2016. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1618006451/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=f6ba111a. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.

"Video: War Hero, Olympian Zamperini Dies at 97." Local Broadcast Video Content, 3 July 2014. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A373588360/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=16121567. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.