Zamperini

Louis Zamperini, a well-known World War II soldier whose story is told in Laura Hillenbrand’s biography Unbroken, struggled in youth to become the man he is known for today. Struggling with societal rules and thievery, Louie turned his life around by adopting running in his early years of high school. Giving Louie something to strive and live for, running turned into the most important thing in Louie’s life and had a profound effect for years to come. Soon competing in the Olympics, Louie’s life diverged from disobedience to make both him and his family proud. Running, including in high school, the Olympics, and post-war, played a momentous role in Zamperini’s life by molding him into a famous and heroic man that played a quintessential role

When authors write about World War II, most set their stories in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, but few would give a moment of thought to the atrocities perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese Army in East Asia and the Pacific region. However, Laura Hillenbrand has brought us this heavily neglected side of the tragedy. By following the vicissitudes of a USAAF lieutenant named Louis Zamperini in her bestseller “Unbroken”, she pays tribute to all ex-POWs and soldiers that lost their lives on the Asian battlefield.

From the earliest times, war has existed as a painful reality. Stories are passed down from generation to generation about brave men fighting epic battles in ancient civilizations. Occasionally a different type of legend emerges: the homefront hero. Leaders in Ancient Greece and Rome are documented preventing panic and raising supplies for their distant armies. From then on through history, those left behind, from the leaders of countries tested in resolve and commitment by wars to the ordinary citizens who rise above their routines to serve their countries, are powerful forces behind victories. World War II was no exception. While the soldiers abroad were undoubtedly true heroes of the war, the parents, siblings, and children they left behind also assisted in the war effort. No one remained truly unaffected by the war. Without the labors of women, the efforts of schoolchildren, and the institution of rationing, World War II could not have been won.

Hillenbrand tells the life of Zamperini’s humble beginning in Southern California from being a dangerous young kid and becoming an Italian-American Olympic runner, with help and encourage of his brother Pete Zamperini. After the Olympics, Zamperini join the Army Air Forces, where he became a pilot. He went on to fly on several combat missions, until 1943, when Zamperini’s B-24 bomber crashed into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Him and two members survived, the pilot Russell Phillips, the tail gunner, Francis McNamara. McNamara died on their 33rd day at the sea, and on the 47th day Japanese sailors picked up Zamperini and Phillips. Over two-and-a-half years Zamperini was a P.O.W. until he was rescue by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After his rescue he became and alcoholic, until he had the strength to forgive what he had suffer.

Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.

From two different perspectives of the war, the author of this book showed that, depending on location and timing, everyone can be affected differently by warfare. It followed the story of two children who grew up on opposite sides of World War II. When their paths crossed, they developed feelings for one another, disregarding the fact that their historical circumstances placed them on opposing sides of the war. In the book All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr depicted how internal principles were able to overpower external pressures.

I was Born December 21st, 1925 in Cincinnati Ohio. My parents are Nick and Johanna Kamenshek. I was an only child my whole life but I had large dreams. I dreamed of becoming a nurse and I wanted to help everyone, small problem with that. My only way of becoming a nurse was by enlisting but my mother was worried and wouldn't let me

During the second World War, an olympic record holder, Louie Zamperini, was one of the few men that got shot down into the ocean and was stranded for 47 days on a lonely, little raft. The great American hero we all have heard of didn’t start out like you would have thought. He was a young scoundrel who was influenced by his brother to run for something better than away from is problems. After years of running and going to the German Olympics to set the best lap run in the 5,000 meters, Louie had gone into the Air Force and had gotten into trouble at a Japanese POW camp after a crash. The book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, expresses Louie’s life exceptionally well, especially

From the earliest times, war has existed as a painful reality. Stories are passed down from generation to generation about brave men fighting epic battles in ancient civilizations. Occasionally a different type of legend emerges: the homefront hero. In Ancient Greece and Rome, elderly statesmen prevented famine and raised supplies for their distant armies in wartime. From then on through history, those left behind, from the leaders of countries tested in resolve and commitment by wars to the ordinary citizens who rise above their routines to serve their countries, are powerful forces behind victories. World War II was no exception. While the soldiers abroad were undoubtedly true heroes of the war, the parents, siblings, and children they left behind also assisted in the war effort. No one remained truly unaffected by the war. Without the labors of women, the efforts of schoolchildren, and the institution of rationing, World War II could not have been won.

World War II had a lasting impression on not only the countries but on the soldiers and people as well. POWs and internees had to experience things that would make a grown man cringe in fear. In the stories ”Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand, and “Manzanar” by Jenne Houston Wakatsuki, tells the tragic story of how these men are stripped away of their human rights. As they try to struggle their way out of insanity, their stories will forever echo in history to show the outcome of war.

Many people have to go through difficult times, but many do not have to face what Louie Zamperini faced. Louie Zamperini was an Olympic athlete in WWII. While on a bombing run, he crashed in the Pacific Ocean and was stranded for 47 days at sea. He was captured, beaten, and torchered by the Japanese for two years. In Laura Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken, Louie Zamperini showed rebelliousness and resistance while at the harsh POW camps, but uses these traits to survive the Japanese’s mind games and beatings.

While reading the book Unbroken it is easy to become connected to the famous Louie Zamperini. In his early childhood Louie would run very often whether it was from his parents, girls or stealing, he soon gained an amazing became an olympian. Winning 8th place for his 5000m race after he finished training. After his new olympian life WW2 rolled in and ended his stardom of fame. Louie enlisted and became what people call a “bombardier”. His friend Phil and him live a tremendous trial through the war after being stranded in a lifeboat in the ocean for nearly 47 days. They get rescued, but only to become prisoners of war, the story then goes over his new life and the hardships he faced through each day.

The American olympian Gail Devers once said,”Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn’t think we could be that strong.” In Laura Hillenbrand’s biography Unbroken, the determination Louis Zamperini possessed, personifies Gail Devers’ words when, Undoubtedly, Zamperini’s will to survive helped him reunite with his family after World War II, after he fought against the brutal and sadistic beatings he endured in Japanese POW camps.

Well-known nonfiction author Laura Hillenbrand, in her best-selling biography, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, describes the chilling reality faced by those living in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. As the title suggests, this is not the typical World War II tale of hardship that ends in liberation; rather, it follows the main character, Louis “Louie” Zamperini, through his childhood, Olympic performances, and military career leading up to his captivity, as well as his later marriage and many years of healing. Hillenbrand's purpose is to impress upon her readers the scale of this tragedy as well as remind them of the horror that so many nameless soldiers endured. She adopts an emotional yet straightforward tone in order to get readers to sympathize with the characters and truly understand what they went through. To do so, she manages to make the unique story of one man represent the thousands of others going through the same tragedy.