Louis Zamperini Analysis

The story of Louis Zamperini is one of my favorites. It is an amazing story about an American hero. The obstacles Louis has faced in his lifetime are unthinkable. He has endured a crazy amount of pain but has never given up. He is a great role model for kids because he can teach people to keep pushing forward. Louis Zamperini was born in Olean, N.Y. on Jan. 26, 1916. His parents, Louisse and Anthony were Itialian immigrants. His siblings were Pete, Virginia, and Sylvia. His family moved to Torrance, California when he was a young boy. He attended school but was always getting in trouble. He would drink, smoke, and many other innapropriate things. His brother Pete always encouraged getting him to join track. He wanted him

They only supplies they had were a liter of water and some chocolate bars. On the first night he tailgunner panicked and ate all the chocolate. Now they were left with the task of finding food and help. They killed small fish for food and used containers to collect rain water. One morning they were startled by the sound of a plane engine. They all awoke from their sleep to look for the plane. The plane ended up being a japanese plane. As soon as they realized it was a Japanese plane, the plane began shooting at them. They jumped overboard for safety coming back up to a half sunken life raft. They quickly patched the holes to stop the water from coming

camp. They were stripped and put in a cell. Inside of Louis wallet they found a newspaper clipping that was stained purple from the dye in his wallet.(Hillenbrand 190) The only food they were given was a ball of rice thrown in the dirt. Louis was separated from his crew members and sent to a camp in Tokyo. Once he was there he was a guinea pig for experiments. He went from 125 pounds to 75 pounds. After that he was shipped to Naoetsu, Japan. At that camp he was always beaten by “The Bird”. “The Bird” hated Louis because Louis never listened to him. He would make Louis hold a 4x4x6 foot beam and if he dropped it he would get shot. The longest he ever held the beam was 37 minutes until “The Bird” punched him in the stomach causing him to fall on the the ground. On November 18, 1944, he was ordered to speak on Radio Japan. It was broadcasted to Torrance so everyone would know he was okay. Louis was still always beaten but he was never broken. At the end of the war a U.S. plane flew over the camp signaling that the war was over. When Louis returned home he was greeted by his mom, dad, and siblings. After the war he got married to Cynthia Applewhite. They had two kids Luke, and Cissy. They got married on May 25, 1946. Cynthia died in 2001 of