Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is the personalized account of Louis Zamperini by author Laura Hillenbrand. She researched and described Zamperini's personalized accounts of his life from birth until his return home from World War II as a Prisoner of War in Japan. Hillenbrand introduces Louis Zamperini as the son of Anthony and Louise, Italian immigrants, born in 1917. They lived in Torrance, California in the midst of immigrant hatred. Louie lived a troubled childhood, constantly fighting or stealing to prove himself. The one person he always looked up to was his brother Pete. Pete recognized the troubled path that Louie was leading and voiced his concern to the school to try and get him on the

Cunningham was known as the greatest mile run in America, and Louie was right behind him. Louie began to break records in races and soon took the title of the fastest mile runner in Southern California. He believed his next big step was the 1936 Olympic Games that were being held in Berlin. Louie became the youngest Olympic distance runner for the United States, but qualified for the 5k race and not the mile. Louie traveled to Germany unready for the Olympics due to being a rookie and younger than most the other athletes. The 5k was a dominate race for Finland runners and made Louie nervous, but not scared. At the start of the race Louie began to fade to the back as racers passed a steady pace. Louie understood that this was his one chance and gave everything he had, finishing seventh and setting a historical record for 1 lap at 56 seconds. Louie stated, “A life time of glory is worth a moment of pain,” (p.35). Adolf Hitler himself was impressed and acknowledges Louie and his feat. Louie acknowledged Hitler, but felt hostility brewing through the military presence of the Nazi party in Germany during the Olympics

They arrived at the Marshall Islands and then transported to Kwajalein, known as Execution Island were their safety was not guaranteed. Louie and Phil were shoved into squalid cells and began a new form of torture. Every day they were beaten, covered in mosquitoes and lice, and received a small ration of food. The Japanese wanted to know the design and make-up of the American bombers, but neither Louie nor Phil would give in. Louie described the torture techniques, “The doctors turned the captives’ hands palm-up and swabbed their arms with alcohol. The needles slid in, the plungers depressed…skin burned, itched, and stung. The porch pitched and turned…The doctors, speaking in sterile tones, continued to question them,” (p.192-193). Louie gave fake information about planes and airfields throughout the Pacific. They knew of the nine marines that were executed prior to them, but even with the fear of execution they both never gave any military intelligence to the Japanese. Louie and Phil were taken out of Kwajalein and sent to Ofuna were their torture continued. The POW’s treatment was described as, “Reputation for intimidation and for torturing their inmates in an attempt to get military information, and was nicknamed the "Torture Farm" by its inmates. As the prisoners sent to Ofuna were primarily officers, who may have inside knowledge of Allied Strategy, or others