By Heidi Simmons
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Unbroken
By Laura Hillenbrand
Non-fiction
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We are at the cusp of losing history from those who lived it. The first person narrative and personal experience of the 16.5 million people who served in World War II is fading. Their inside knowledge and stories have been reduced to a politically correct textbook account. But in Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken (Random House, 476 pages), she conjures one man’s harrowing journey of survival.
Louis Zamperini was born in 1917 to Italian immigrants. The family moved to Torrance, California, where Louis was a rambunctious lad who ran wild. He was a thief and troublemaker.
In high school, the principal wanted Louie expelled, but his brother Pete, a first-rate athlete and good student, came to his defense. Pete asked the principal to give Louie something challenging to do. “Let him run,” Pete asked. So the principal put Louie on the track team.
Louie was a state champion and set a world interscholastic record for the mile at 4:21.2 minutes. He became a good student and a hero to the City of Torrance. It was believed that if the mile could be run under four minutes, Louie would be the one to do it.
With the help of his hometown, Louie qualified for the 1936 Olympics. He ran the 5000-meter race. Hitler was in the stands. Louie did not win, but his final lap was so fast Hitler asked to meet him. They shook hands and Hitler commented on his speed.
After high school, Louie went to USC and ran track with his brother. He didn’t finish his final year. Instead he joined the US Air Force where he soon discovered he was susceptible to airsickness. He was discharged. But in 1941, he was drafted. And to his surprise, was sent back to serve in the Air Force. Louie became a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator that he and the crew named Super Man. The pilot was Russell Allen Phillips. Louie called him Phil.
The aircraft was designed for distance. The interior was cramped and dangerous. It was difficult to land. It weighed 71,200 pounds. In training exercises stateside, the Air Force lost 33 planes and nine men per day. Accidents were common. Flying was deadly.
During the war, 35,933 Air Force planes were lost in combat and accidents. Seventy percent of men killed in action died in operational aircraft accidents. Louie, Phil and the crew were close friends and knew the quirks of their plane. The seven-man crew was deployed to the Pacific.
Super Man was the lead plane against the Japanese held island Nauru. Louie dropped bombs and hit the targets. But the Japanese Zeros came at them hard and their plane barely made it back to Funafuti Island. Several men were badly injured. The plane had 594 bullet holes! After many successful missions, Super Man was a total loss.
When another plane didn’t return, a commanding officer ordered Phil and Louie’s crew on a search and recuse mission. They reluctantly agreed. They wanted to help find their friends. But the only available plane called the Green Hornet, had a bad reputation, plus there were new crew members. The plane failed 225 miles into the mission and crashed into the ocean.
Louie, Phil and Frances “Mac” McNamara were the only ones to survive. They drifted with minimal supplies. They fought the elements, thirst, starvation and sharks. Mac died after 33 days. In the Pacific doldrums, Louie experienced a sense of peace. He heard beautiful singing and saw angels in the sky. Phil did not. Louie, who went to church only once in his life, promised God he would serve Him if he survived. After 47 days, a Japanese cargo ship picked up Louie and Phil. Louie, who had weighed 160 pounds, was now only 79 pounds.
Both men were taken to Kwajalein atoll, which was known as “Execution Island.” In captivity, Louie was tormented, beaten and starved. The Japanese in charge knew he was a famous Olympian, which may have saved him from execution. Louie and Phil were transferred to another POW camp that was even worse. Louie and Phil were eventually declared dead by the US war department.
At Naoetsu, a third Japanese POW camp, Louie’s conditions worsened. Prison guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who prisoners nicknamed “The Bird,” set out to destroy the Olympian by torturing, degrading and humiliating him on top of the starvation, slave labor and already abhorrent conditions. Watanabe was a sociopath and sadist. The Japanese were brutal. They kept slaves, had death marches and forced 100,000 Asians into manual labor. They believed they were chosen to rule the world.
In 1929, the Japanese didn’t signed the Geneva Convention that set guidelines for the treatment of POWs. The Japanese held 132,000 POWs. One in four died. For Americans, it was higher. Of the 34,648 American POWs, 37 percent were killed or died. For comparison, only one percent of Americans held by the Nazis and Italians died.
After two and a half years in captivity, the war came to an end and Louie was free. He went back to his family.
Louie met Cynthia Applewhite and after two weeks married her. Soon, he had a new baby, but he couldn’t get over his anger and terror. His wife took him to see evangelist Billy Graham, and Louie remembered the promise he made on the raft. In a moment, he was filled with love and forgiveness.
Watanabe was never captured. In a deal made with the US, the Japanese charged with war crimes were let free. The US needed Japan as an ally against the growing cold war with Russia. The brutal Watanabe become a millionaire businessman.
Author Hillenbrand writes a captivating and thrilling story. In unexpected ways, history comes vividly back to life. Louie Zamperini went through wartime hell and was able to find peace with his captors and redemption for himself. Louie died this past July at age 97. The movie adaptation of Unbroken opens in theaters December 25.
