Louis Zamperini was born in New York but moved to Torrence in California. It was in Torrence that he found his gift of running. He competed for his school's track team and set the national high school record of 4:21 (2 seconds slower than me) which held for for over 20 years. He received a scholarship to the University of Southern California and continued running there. He then went on to compete at the Olympic Trials against world-record holder Don Lash and qualified for the 1936 Olympics.
The Olympics in 1936 were held in Berlin where Hitler was in power and aimed to prove to the world that Germans were superior athletes. Louis Zamperini even met with Hitler and requested a picture because he did not know much about Hitler at that time. He came 8th but he was only 19 so he was favored to improve upon that result the next Olympics. He improved upon his mile and ran a 4:08 so was in medal contention for the 1940 Olympics. Unfortunately, Zamperini never got the chance to compete as the 1940 games were canceled due to the war.
Louis Zamperini enlisted and became a B-24 bomber. However, on one of his missions, his plane the liberator had a malfunction and it crashed in the middle of the Pacific. 9 of the crewman died but Louis and the pilot Russel Phillips managed to survive 47 days at sea until they were picked up by a Japanese boat and taken to a Prisoner of War camp.
Louis Zamperini was tortured and interrogated for information but he never gave up any secrets. He was recognized as being an Olympic athlete but he refused to let himself be used as propaganda, and he faced severe beatings from the guards who tried to break his spirit. After 2 years the war finally ended in 1945 and Louis Zamperini was released.
Louis Zamperini was an American hero.
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/people/louis-zamperini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini
Unbroken
Cool post, Owen! I read the book "Unbroken" a couple of years ago, and it is one of the best novels I have ever read. The movie is also pretty awesome. In the 1936 Olympics, Hitler referred to Zamperini as the "boy with the fast finish", as he finished his final lap of the 5 kilometer race in 59 seconds. As you said, Zamperini was held as war propaganda in Japan. One of his tormentors, Matsuhiro Watanabe, or "The Bird", was one of the most infamous war criminals, as even General MacArthur put him on the "list of the forty most wanted war criminals in Japan." Louis Zamperini, after everything, came back to Japan to carry the Olympic torch in the 1998 winter Olympics. They interviewed "The Bird" in a 60 minutes interview, where he refused to meet up with Zamperini, even though Louis had openly said that he had forgiven Watanabe. On another note, the 1936 Berlin Olympics was a significant moment in terms of all time, changing race relations. Jesse Owens was an African American long jumper and sprinter, who shocked the world after winning 4 gold medals in the long jump, 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Hitler actually left the stadium during Owens' events, because he was annoyed that the "racially inferior" Owens was beating the Aryans.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutsuhiro_Watanabe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini