On May 27, 1943 Louis Zamperini and his crew of eleven other soliders we participating in a search for a lost plane over the Pacific when their plane suddenly malfunctioned and crashed into the sea. Zamperini was an Olympic long-distance runner and bombardier who survived a terrible plane crash, spent weeks afloat on a fragile raft in shark infested waters, and spent two years in Japanese prisoner of war camps. In a nonfiction book, Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand writes about Louie Zamperini and his will to survive which is stronger than that of an average person, enabling him to survive several seemingly unsurvivable situations. Hillenbrand is an author of American books and articles. Born in January 1917 to Italian immigrant parents, Louis Zamperini grew up as one of Californias most known troublemakers. He was a smoker by the age of five and a drinker by age 8, and stole anything that he could. One day he left behind his life full of crime in high school and decided to join the track team. Encouraged and trained by his older brother, Pete, he soon became one of Californias best athletes, and broke the high school mile record by running a mile in 4 minutes and 21 seconds. After …show more content…
Hillenbrand writes, "The crash […] had left Louis and Phil in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water or shelter. But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul lies at the heart of humanness." This quote shows readers that humans need to have the sense of self-worth: dignity, and food, water, and shelter are basic human needs which he went days without. In Japan, Zamperini's reputation as a former Olympian may have saved him from execution, but also made him an easy target for