A Hero's Tale
Louis Zamperini, Olympic distance runner, World War II prisoner of war survivor, and inspirational speaker, died on July 2. He was 97.
Laura Hillenbrand wrote a biography of Zamperini, entitled "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" (2010). It was a #1 New York Times bestseller, which caught Angelina Jolie's attention.
"And now after the book was finished all of my college buddies are dead, all of my war buddies are dead. It's sad to realize that you've lost all your friends," he said. "But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend - Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can't complain."
A son of Italian immigrants, Zamperini excelled in school track events. He set a world interscholastic record in one meet, earning him a place on the 1936 United States Olympic team. He was nineteen back then, the youngest qualifier ever. He entered in the men's 5,000 meter, where he was a long shot; Lauri Lehtinen of Finland, the world record holder during that time, was the favorite. Both Lehtinen and Zamperini ran in Heat three, where the Top 5 fastest runners advanced to the finals. Lehtinen and Zamperini finished fourth and fifth respectively, with Henry Jonsson of Sweden finishing first. Umberto Cerati of Sweden and Gunnar Höckert of Finland topped Heat one and two respectively. The final saw Höckert winning the gold, followed by Lehtinen and Jonsson. Zamperini was eighth, but he was the top American finisher. (Don Lash, the other American who made it to the finals, was in 13th place. ) Zamperini may not have made it to the podium, but his final lap was so fast. Adolf Hitler was among the ones who noticed it.
When the Second World War broke out, Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Force. He was deployed to Funafuti, an atoll that was part of the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu. During a search on April 1943, mechanical difficulties caused the plane to crash west of Oahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Zamperini and his crewmate, pilot Russel Allen Phillips, drifted at sea for nearly two months. (Francis McNamara, their other crewmate, also survived the crash. But he died thirty three days later.) The two reached land in Marshall Islands, only to be captured by the Japanese Navy. Both men were transferred to ÅŒfuna, located outside Yokohama, a prisoner-of-war camp for captives not registered as prisoners of war (POW). The two were severely beaten and mistreated. Zamperini was thought to be killed in action, but upon learning he was alive, received a hero's welcome.
Zamperini's experience during the war caused him post traumatic stress disorder. He turned to religion, becoming a born-again Christian after attending Bill Graham's crusade. It was the evangelist who encouraged him to be an inspirational speaker. He wrote two memoirs based from his POW days, "Devil at My Heels: The Story of Louis Zamperini" and "Devil at My Heels: A World War II Hero's Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness". Hillenbrand's biography was based from the second.
