Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

World War II left the world with the worst horrors in history. These horrors include the Holocaust, in which millions of innocent Jews and civilians were used for labor and killed, and the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, the more unknown horror of World War II is the way the POWs of the Japanese were treated during war, which violated war laws. POWs, prisoners of war, of the Japanese were starved, forced into labor for the military, tortured, humiliated, received little to no medical treatment and worst of all killed; Louie S. Zamperini experienced this horror. Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction novel Unbroken tells the story of Louie Zamperini’s life before, during, and after the war. Although the book starts boring

From his excesive running, Louie joined his highschool track team and began to break and set records for the mile. At the Unversity of South Carolina, Louie blew through the school, state and national records and went undefeated. The U.S.A. Olympics Team caught notice of Louie’s outstanding talent and he began competing among the fastest and most elite runners in America to secure a position in the Olympics. Louie went on to secure a position and competed in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. He placed 8th in the 5,000 meter run, but he ran the fastest final lap in American history: 56 seconds. After the Olympics, Louie was drafted in to the Army Air Corps. Furthermore, Louie was sent on a rescue mission accompanied by pilot and friend, Russell Allen Phillips, and other enlisted soldiers. Their plane malfuncitoned and crashed into the ocean. The only surivivors were Louie, Phillips and an enlistee known as Mac. Tragically, Mac died weeks after the crash, but Louie and Phillips survived on the life raft for forty-seven days at sea before being captured by the Japanese. Once captured by the Japanese, they were

Louie and Phillips were spared from death, but were sent to another POW camp, Ofuna. At Ofuna, their food rations were cut, they were beaten for no reason and faced one of the most violent and sadistic Japanese guards, known as the Quack. The Quack beat the POW’s unconcious and gave them impossible tasks that resulted in more beatings. From Ofuna, Louie was sent to another POW camp, Omori. While at Omori, Louie was forced to work and faced the most brutal and sadistic POW guard. Refferd to as the Bird, Mutsuhiro Watanbe hunted Louie, beating him constantly everyday for no reason. For intstace, “No sooner has Louie stepped outside than the Bird found him, accused him of an imanginary infraction, and attacked him in a wild fury. The next day came another beating, and the next, another” (Hillenbrand 246). Reading of the way the POW’s were treated, especially Louie, creates a sad,