Louis Silvie Zamperini, born on January 26th, 1914; was a prominent figure in American history during World War 2. He competed in the Olympic games in 1936 which were being held in Berlin, Germany. Although he had hopes of competing at the 1940 Olympics, which would have been held in Tokyo, Japan. His dreams came crashing down after World War 2 began on September 1st, 1939; and plummeted the world into global catastrophe. The War in every possible aspect would permanently change the life of Louis Zamperini.
As a result of the outbreak of War in 1939, Zamperini enlisted into the United States Army Air Corps on September 29, 1941. He carried out his basic training at Camp Roberts, near Paso Robles, California and became a bombardier. In April, 1943, after a bombing mission in the Japenease held Island of Nauru, Zamperini’s plane ‘Superman’ was badly damaged. Zamperini and the healthy crew who survived the injuries sustained were relocated to Hawaii. Here, the men were tasked with another flight mission where they had to search for a missing aircraft and its crewmen. Zamperini and his fellow soldiers were given another B-24 called ‘Green Hornet’ which was infamous as been defective but it was the only aircraft available for the task . On May 27, 1943, whilst conducting the search; the plane began suffering from mechanical difficulties and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Zamperini who was trapped underwater managed to free himself in time but, he soon came to realize that he along with two other comrades, Russell Allen Phillips and Irish born Francis P. McNamara were the only sole survivors. Two of the men, Zamperini and Phillips, would go on to survive 47 days lost at sea (McNamara died on the 33rd day, June 30th, 1943, from starvation and dehydration, he was given a burial at sea). Zamperini survived on the occasional rainwater, fish and birds as a means to stay alive. Zamperini prayed to God to keep them alive “Answer my prayers now, and I promise if I get home through all this and whatever is to come, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life”. Zamperini and Phillips were eventually captured by the Japanese and brought to the Wotje, located in the Marshall Islands. Although they were treated considerably well here the men were aware of the horrors that awaited them once they were brought to the prison camps.
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The men were first brought to Kwajalein, an Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Here, they were crammed in two tiny cells, Zamperini recalls the conditions of the cells in his biography of how the toilets were half filled with maggots and that they were fed with the soldiers leftovers. The men were spat at, kicked and even had hot tea thrown on their faces; “I wanted to live and I hoped I'd live but the kind of fate I had on that raft had disappeared”. On the 42nd day, Zamperini and Phillips were told that they would be moved to Yokohama, a Japanese city located south of Tokyo. Here, the men would become official prisoners of war. On September 15, 1943, the men were brought to the prison camp of Ofuna, located in the hills just outside of Yokohama. The prisoners were confined to tiny cells, slept on tatami mats and were given spoiled fish infested with maggots for food. However after a year at this camp, the two men were moved yet again on March 30, 1944. This new prison was home to over 600 POW. Here, Zamperini would meet the Prison Guard, Sergeant Mutsuhiro Watanabe or ‘The Bird’ as Zamperini recollects in his biography of the nickname the prisoners gave him. This man would soon take immense pleasure in inducing physical and mental torture on Zamperini. It seemed as if the guard held a personal grudge against the Olympian. He used a variety of punishments one including having the prisoners line up to punch each other and if he thought they weren’t hitting hard enough then he would take over. His preferred weapon of destruction was a thick webbed belt that Zamperini stated would be cracked over your temple and send you to the floor in agony. ‘The Bird’ would inflict a variety of abuse on all the prisoners at the camp solely for his amusement. His cruelty was so immense that General MacArthur listed him as one of the most wanted War criminals. He frequently bet the prisoners unconscious however, his sadistic abuse went far beyond physical and often he would destroy the family photos the POWS kept on them.
After almost 6 months there, Zamperini was summoned by ‘The Bird’ and told that he would be able to let his parents know he was alive if he did a broadcast for them as Zamperini was a well known Olympian and would have attracted a lot of attention. Zamperini agreed not because he wanted to be part of Axis propaganda but because this would be his only form of communication to everyone back home. He was brought to a radio station and given a clean bed and proper food. He gave his first broadcast on the 18th of November, 1944, on the ‘Japanese Postman’ programme. His parents had been given a presumed dead notice (as followed by standard US protocol after a soldier has been missing for more then a year and a day) but now they would know he was alive. Zamperini was at first allowed to write his own broadcast “Hello Mother and Father, Brothers and Friends, this is your Louis talking..This will be the first time in one and a half years that you will have heard my voice..The Japanease authorities are kind to me and I have no kick coming..”. However, two weeks later, Zamperini was summoned to read another broadcast, this time written for him. It entailed Zamperini condemning the American government as being incompetent for listing him as dead even though he was alive “blame lies with the official who allow such unreliable reports..it’s certainly a sad world we live in when a fellow can’t even be allowed to live”. Zamperini knew what this broadcast would do to America and refused to read it on air. Upon being sent back to the camp, ‘The Bird’ and other prison guards beat him for a week straight.
In 1945, Zamperini believed he was free from torture as ‘The Bird’ was moved to another camp. However, on March 1, 1945, Zamperini found himself moved to camp 4-B in Naoetsu, Japan; the same camp ‘The Bird’ was in. The pain and humiliation Zamperini endured seemed to know no limits. He once was forced to hold a four by four by six foot hardwood timber at arms length over his head. Zamperini described the pain as unbearable. ‘The Bird’ then beat him forcing the beam to drop on his head knocking him out cold, upon waking up, he was informed he held the beam for 37 minutes. “I could take the pain and the blood.. But to have fewer rights and less respect than an animal ? that really stripped me of my dignity”.
Zamperini’s pain soon came to an end on September 2, 1945, when Japan officially surrendered and WW2 was finally over. On September 5, a train pulled into Naoetsu station to bring the men home. “My thoughts were no longer of all the suffering, only of having made it and my new life ahead”. On October 2, 1945, Zamperini was reunited with his older brother, Pete, this was the first contact he had with a family member in over two years. His family cried with joy when they met him at the airport, his Mother told him she had never lost faith that he was alive. He was bombarded with photographers, reporters and friends when he reached his house. Newspapers dug up his old track records, placing a bigger emphasis on them now and theorized about his sporting future.
However, while the physical torturing was over, his pyshological torture continued. To cope, he turned to alcohol. “ I thought if I got drunk enough, I’d sleep like a baby”. His nightmares were neverending “On the surface I looked like I was having the time of my life but the laughs were more and more a cover up for the conflicts and tensions I brought home from the Pacific”. He managed to keep it together long enough to meet his wife, Cynthia Applewhite, but he almost lost everyone he loved due to his own demons. Zamperini says he was saved after hearing the words of the young preacher, Billy Graham, in 1949 at the Canvas Cathedral in Los Angeles. Upon first hearing him, Zamperini stormed out of the tent but later returned; the bible verses Graham preached and his words about how nobody can live a Christian life without help and that whoever reaches out to God will be saved; spoke to Zamperini and he remembered the promise he made to God while on the raft. After that night, he swore no more drinking, no more smoking and no more fighting. He was left so impacted by Graham’s words that he returned to Japan in October, 1950 to share the Gospel with the Japanease soldiers who held him captive. “Hate is destructive..forgiveness is healing”. Zamperini went on to share his faith around the world, even speaking at many Billy Graham crusades which resulted in a long lasting friendship between the two.
Louis Zamperini died on July 2, 2014. He lived an extraordinary life, suffered through the unimaginable but survived and was given the chance to live. From becoming and Olympian athlete at the start of his career to a prisoner of war, who was beaten and used as a propaganda tool. There is no doubt that Zamperini was and is a hero. “For me, Louis’s main ethos is selflessness. Whether his ability to be selfless was beaten into him against his will or was there prior to him joining the Air Force in his experience as a youngster, he was ego-free. I do believe that kept him alive.”
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