Louis Zamperini And Japanese Pow Camp Survivor

Louis Zamperini, was an Olympic athlete, WWII veteran, and Japanese POW camp survivor, he was treated horribly, but through God he was able to push through and prevail. Louis Zamperini was born to Italian immigrant parents. In his early childhood, Louis Zamperini smoked and drank. Because he was a star high school runner, Zamperini made the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and finished eight in the 5000- meter race. Later, Zamperini was drafted into the army as a B-24 bombardier in WWII. After his plane went down over the Pacific, Zamperini was captured by the Japanese and taken to several POW camps were beating and cruelty were regular. From being a star Olympic athlete, to WWII veteran, to Japanese POW camp survivor, Louis Zamperini’s story is a story

Louis Zamperini was born the second of four children on January 26, 1917 in Olean New York, and later moved to Torrance California. In his childhood, Zamperini smoked and drank. Zamperini wean to Torrance High School in California. There, Zamperini set the national high school record of 4 min 21.2 seconds, and the record stood for 20 years. In 1936, Zamperini went to New York for Olympic trials, and made the 5000- meter race. At the Olympics in Berin, Zamperini finished eighth. After the Olympics, Louis Zamperini was enlisted into the Army Air Corps as a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator. In May 1943, Zamperini, with his crew, went out on a search and rescue mission for a pilot of a B–25 that had gone down. On the search and rescue mission, the plane had mechanical failure, and crashed while they were over the Pacific Ocean. Zamperini and two other crewmembers, Russell Phillips, and Francis McNamara survived. After drifting for 47 days, Phillips and Zamperini landed on the Marshall Islands, a Japanese controlled

Zamperini was awarded the, Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with 3 oak leaf clusters, Philippine Liberation Medal, Asiatic- Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign, Medal with battle stars. Zamperini could not continue his running career because of the harsh labor and malnutrition that he had endured. The horrors that he witnessed in the Japanese POW camps were to much for Zamperini to handle. He turned to drugs and alcohol for help, but his addiction stopped after hearing a sermon by Billy Graham in Los Angeles. In 1950, Zamperini forgave his captors when he visited a Tokyo prison where they were serving war-crime sentences. His life story became the inspiration for the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Louis Zamperini died July 26,