My Thoughts

I liked this book a lot. I think the author told the story of his life very well, talking a lot about his running career. The author drew me into the book with the crash of the airplane.  She knew the whole story and explained what they did to pass the time in such a way that you felt you were on the raft with them.  Her writing style kept me interested and the way she ended each chapter made you want to start reading the next one.

Louie's story was very inspirational because he had to fight to survive through so many different situations.  Life was never easy for Louie from the start.  He had gifts that he had been given that he didn't always recognize.  In the end, when he finds God and forgiveness in his life, you know that God was watching out for him even in his darkest moments.

Epilogue

Louie ended up opening a nonprofit boys came called Victory Boys Camp in 1954.  His vision was to help boys who were troubled like he was at their age and give them a sense of purpose.  Louie remained active and a positive person throughout the rest of his life, learning how to skateboard in his 80's.  Phil who he had lived through such horrors with went on to become a teacher and have two children.  The Bird, who Louie had thought had committed suicide, resurfaced from hiding in Japan when the arrest warrants for war time prison guards were lifted.  The Bird went on to marry, and become a successful businessman in Tokoyo.  When Louie heard that Watanabe was still alive he wanted to see him.  Louie had been asked to carry the Olympic Torch in Japan in 1998 and he wanted to meet with Watanabe to offer forgiveness.  He wrote him a letter in advance.  The meeting never took place, but it is possible the letter reached Watanabe.  Watanabe died in 2003.

Chapter 39: Daybreak

Louie eventually traveled back to Japan to the Sugamo Prison where his old guards were to make peace with himself and them. He couldn't find the Bird, though. He asked some of the officials at the prison where he was, and they said that the government had been looking for him all over Japan, but he apparently he had killed himself. Louie felt some compassion for the guard, as well as The Bird because in the end, The Bird was just another man. "In bewilderment, the men who abused him watched him come to them, his hands extended, a radiant smile on his face."  This trip was filled with forgiveness and a sense that the war was really over for Louie.

Chapter 38: A Beckoning Whistle

Louie's wife Cynthia changed her mind about divorcing Louie after listening to a preacher named Billy Graham. She had a religious awakening and encouraged Louie to come hear Graham speak.  Louie listened to Graham speak one day and what Graham was saying about God started to reach him.  On the second day he went to hear Graham speak, he also had a religious awakening that changed his life.  He no longer had nightmares about The Bird and he threw away all of his alcohol.

Chapter 37:Twisted Ropes

Louie became obsessed with drinking to help him forget the horrors of the war. He also continued to invest money into failed ventures.  His wife and he fought constantly, and once Louie awoke in the middle of the night having a nightmare about The Bird and found himself choking his wife. Cynthia and Louie had a child named Cynthia two weeks after Christmas in 1948. Shortly afterwards, with Louie's drinking continuing, Cynthia filed for divorce.

Chapter 36: The Body on the Mountain

Many of the terrible Japanese guards were taken to prison, but the Japanese government was never able to catch the Bird. He alluded his captors for many years. There were many different reports that The Bird had committed suicide.

Chapter 35: Coming Undone

The more time Louie spent in America, the angrier he got. His memories of the torture and the plane crash haunted him daily. Louie started giving a lot of speeches around the country about his ordeal. He started to run again, but his bad leg gave him trouble. One day, he was getting back to good speed, but he reinjured his leg. He had to stop his training. Louie talked to one of his old friends in the army who said they knew the whereabouts of the Bird. Louie wanted to kill Watanabe and could think of nothing else.

Chapter 34: The Shimmering Girl

Louie finally reached home in October. They had a huge party waiting for him. Louie, even after coming home, still had nightmares about the Bird. Back home, Louie met Cynthia Applewhite. They went out on some dates, and after two weeks, Louie asked her to marry him. They were married on May 25.

Chapter 33: Mother's Day

A train took the POWs to an American base. People thought that Louie had died, only believing he was alive when they actually saw him. POWs continued to eat as much as they could. The doctor told Louie that he would never be able to run again. Louie ended up on Okinawa, waiting to be transported home. Louie was finally transferred to Hawaii and then to San Francisco, where he was cured of his dysentery.

Chapter 32: Cascades of Pink Peaches

Soon, word got to Phil's camp about the ending of the war, and they threw a party. Care packages were sent by American planes flying above POW camps carrying food and cigarettes. Louie was overjoyed about all of the events. The Japanese still executed the kill-all order on some of it's islands that it controlled. The POWs were not freed from the camps until mid-September. The POWs marched out of camp, with some of the nicer guards saluting them.

Chapter 31: The Naked Stampede

The guards and civilians around the camp had gone into a daze. The Bird apparently left camp to go to the designated spot on the mountains for the new camp where they would kill all of the POWs. The date they had set for the killings was the following week. Louie was suffering from bad bowel problems. One of the POWs found out that the war had ended. Some guards at Phil's camp made them go on strange marches through the forest in the freezing cold. An American plane flew over POWs one day when they were allowed to bathe in a river, and it said that the war was over. Louie was sick and tired, but at the same time, he was overjoyed.

Chapter 30: The Boiling City

The Bird still beat Louie ferociously on a daily basis. One night in July, the Bird beat Zamp unconscious. Louie couldn't take it anymore. He and some other officers hatched a plan to kill the Bird. On August 6th, the American army dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.

Chapter 29: Two Hundred and Twenty Punches

At the beginning of May, 400 more POWs entered their camp, which meant less food for everyone. By June, Louie's leg felt better, so the Bird sent him back out to shovel coal. Someone had stolen fish from one of the boats. This resulted in a line where anyone involved in the theft would go down a row of all of the POWs at the camp, and get punched by all of them. Each man in the camp ended up being hit in the face 220 times. The Japanese were considering moving all of the POWs to the mountains where they were going to kill them. Louie worried that all of this would happened before they were rescued.

Chapter 28: Enslaved

For the next two months, Louie was in the worst camp in all of Japan. The prisoners had very little food. Everyday, the POWs were put on ships to shovel coal into the engines of the boats. They breathed in a lot of coal dust. There were no showers, only baths in which the Japanese reused the same water used the day before. Towards the end of a torturous two months, Louie collapsed and felt a stinging sensation in his foot and knee. He was moved to work at the pigsty because he could not work very well.

Chapter 27: Falling Down

Life at the camp got better after Watanabe's departure. B-29s continuously bombed different cities around Japan. On February 17, 1500 American planes flew over the POW camps toward Japanese cities. Seven days later, the Americans bombed Tokyo for the first time. On March 1, Louie and some of his friends were transferred to a camp called 4B. Louie found out that this was the camp the Bird was at, and collapsed in dispair.

Chapter 26:Madness

When asked to do another broadcast, Louie refused, realizing that the Japanese were just using him as a propaganda tool. He was sent back to Omori, where the Bird beat him again and again. One day a swarm of B-29s appeared, and bombed an aircraft factory. Louie was starting to wear down. The Bird was on him every day and night, haunting his dreams. At the end of the chapter, the Bird left the camp for good.

Chapter 25: B-29

Louie now took some un-blindfolded trips into Japan. A new plane called the B-29 passed over Louie and the other POWs. While everyone was happy about the plane, Louie could not enjoy it. "The Bird" still beat him daily. Louie began to wear down from these daily beatings. Louie was forced to be on Radio Tokyo to read a message to Americans and others. Word reached a friend of Louie's from USC, and she typed a letter to his family. Word then reached the Zamperinis, who were overjoyed to know he was alive.

Chapter 24: Hunted

"The Bird" was all that Louie ever thought about. He was the terror of the camp; and while others tried to give him strategies to escape Watanabe. Prisoners at this camp were silently rebellious. They took fish and other food into the camp. Louie got caught up in this.

"The Bird" still made relentless attacks on Louie, and other guards sometimes tried to help Louie.

Chapter 23: Monster

When Louie and Tinker arrived at Omori, they were greeted by "the Bird." He was a mean corporal who had a reputation for beating POWs and then apologizing later, only to, later that day, do it all over again. The food was a little bit better then the food at Ofuna, but not by much. Diseases still spread quickly. "The Bird" or Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who was known for being brutal, took an immediate dislike to Louie.

Chapter 22: Plots Afoot

Louie befriended a man named Frank Tinker. The two men hatched a plan, that maybe they could fly away on a plane, because Tinker was a pilot. Louie gained a job as a barber for the soldiers. This job earned him more food, which he was desperate for. He also obtained a newspaper, which contained some information about the war. Conditions got worse in the prisons, with leeches crawling all over POWs. Another friend named Harris obtained a book which talked about planes and ships and distances between cities. They decided to escape by boat to China. Then their plans were delayed when a prisoner escaped and guards were told to execute anyone who tried to do something like that. Zamperini and Tinker were then sent to Omori, another POW camp.

Chapter 21: Belief

Louie's family was very worried at home. They somehow knew, when they received the letter, that Louie was not dead. As time passed, though, Phil's family and Louie's family were starting to get worried. The soldiers had not spoken to them, but then again, they had no way of telling them what had happened to them.

Chapter 20: Farting for Hirohito

Louie became friends with an officer named William Harris. At this camp, Louie found out that some POWs were fighting back against the Japanese. All of the prisoners were completely starving. Most of the prisoners were sick with dysentery. Phil and Louie were eventually separated and sent to different camps.

Chapter 19: Two Hundred Silent Men

On their way to Yokohama, guards found the cartoon that Louie had kept in his wallet about the victory on his first mission. The guards beat him up. Yokohama turned out not to be a POW camp but an interrogation camp. Louie heard from the guards one day that most people sent to this camp did not survive.

Chapter 18: A Dead Body Breathing

They were given little food in these cells. Only small biscuits and cups of tea. The cells were in terrible condition, and Louie was very sick. The cells were also infested by rats. The two men had little time to talk to each other, as they were afraid of being punished. About a week after Louie had arrived the Japanese interrogated him. There was also a day when both Louie and Phil were beaten severely by guards. They were soon told that they were being sent to a POW camp called Yokohama.

Chapter 17: Typhoon

While floating at sea, a typhoon struck them one day, and they were tossed all over. When they woke up on the raft after the storm, they found themselves near an island. The island was occupied by the Japanese, who took them  in and gave them food and water. When weighed, each man had lost about half of their body weight, about eighty pounds. They were transported away from this island to Makin-Atoll. The prison cells that they were in were gross and bug infested.

Chapter 16: Singing in the Clouds

The sharks became wild. They started to jump onto the rafts, while the men kept them off with their oars. They eventually thought to catch one of the sharks. After one failure, they pulled one onto the boat, killed it, and ate it's liver. this would be the only shark they would catch. Soon, a 20-foot long Great White Shark came to their raft. They managed to fend it off, and it went away. With little food and water, the men became very weak. Mac, especially was very weak. He finally, one night, died in his sleep.

Chapter 15: Sharks and Bullets

They had been in the water for twenty-seven days, and they were starving and thirsty. They saw a plane, and tried to signal it, but it started firing at them. They had to jump overboard, into the sea of sharks all around them. Phil was very weak, and it was hard for him to jump off, and then get back onto the boat multiple times. The plane belonged to the Japanese, and it was violating a rule to fire on unarmed sailors. Phil's raft was completely broken, and he had to take refuge on Louie's raft, which also had holes in it. They had to pump air into Louie's raft to keep it afloat, but at the same time had to fend off sharks.

Chapter 14: Thirst

They soon ran out of water. They caught a bird called an albatross, which made Louie sick after he ate it. They used the remains of the bird to catch fish. They hadn't had food in a week, so the fish that they caught with the bird was very refreshing. They had been on the boat for two weeks, eating little food, and catching rainwater for drinking. Louie prayed to God every day, hoping that, somehow, God could save him.

Chapter 13: Missing at Sea

A search party began looking for the lost airman the next day. Unknowingly, two planes flew over the lost crew, who had tried to signal them but failed. Mac had eaten all of the food overnight, and they were left with nothing except water.

Chapter 12: Downed

As he comes to his senses, Louie sees Phil, his head bleeding profusely, and a gunner named "Mac." Louie managed to grab two rafts from the crash, and haul Phil onto one. He was badly injured. The provisions were limited, only a couple half liters of water and some chocolate. There was also a flare gun, a mirror, fishing equipment, and air pumps. They didn't have a compass or a radio. The water was not going to be enough. Mac started panicking, but Louie calmed him down. Sharks had surrounded them. At night, Louie and Phil fell asleep, leaving only Mac awake on the rafts.

Chapter 11: "Nobody's Going to Live Through This"

In May of 1943, the crew of the Green Hornet was ordered to look for a missing B-24.  Louie and Phil gathered the crew and they set off to look for the lost plane. Not too long into the flight, the Green Hornet began to malfunction, just as Phil had expected it would. The Green Hornet was going to crash. Louie thought to himself, "nobody's going to live through this." He was entangled in wires when the plane crashed, and eventually passed out. He woke up while underwater, but broke free and got to the surface. He was still alive!

Chapter 10: The Stinking Six

The Superman would probably never fly again. Most of the men from the flight were in the hospital, but everyone else was trying to sleep in their tents. Then came the Japanese. They bombed the island of Funafuti, and sent the startled crewmen into a panic. Louie took cover under a house with Phil and about two dozen others. When the bombing finally stopped, there were hundreds of crewman dead and injured. Pillsburry, a gunner on Louie's plane, was still in the infirmary, his leg dangling off the bed. Louie was deeply troubled about all of the things that had happened to him so fast. He inspected the Superman, which would never be able to fly again. Louie and the remaining members of his crew were transported back to Hawaii. They were assigned a new plane called Green Hornet. They also were given their own private cottage to live in.

Chapter 9:Five-Hundred and Ninety-four Holes

The Superman crew went on many more missions, including one over Makin, in which Louie blew up outhouses. They soon were ordered to attack Nauru, a phosphate filled island which the Japanese had seized. Louie's attack began late at night. Both planes either side of him were lost. Then, after dropping some bombs, all of the planes were pursued by Japanese Zeros. They gave them a lot of trouble, and injured and killed a lot of crewman on all of the ships. The damage was so bad to Louie's crew that they needed the co-pilot to come help them. The plane seemed like it was going to crash, still being shot by Zeros. The plane was going so fast, and it looked as though it would crash upon landing. They landed safely, but there were a lot of injured men inside. 594 bullet holes were in the plane after the flight. There was only one death on the plane, which was 22 year old Harold Brooks.

Chapter 8:"Only The Laundry Knew How Scared I Was"

Louie's crew was lucky that they had not yet lost a member. There were many deaths in the crews that they lived with, many due not to the enemy, but to the weather and the ship failing. There was a lot of fear in the hearts of the airmen, and many of them drank alcohol to release this fear.

Chapter 7: " This Is It, Boys"

Louie and his crew got to Oahu, which was pretty torn up from a Japanese attack. They did not see much action. Instead, they listened to lectures, and did training exercises. They played tricks on each other, such as getting each other sick on the plane. They finally were told to fly to Midway, where they learned that they were going to burn down a Japanese base on Wake-Atoll. They were going to carry out the mission that night when the Japanese were all asleep.

Louie's crew bombed Wake that night, along with dozens of other B-24s, and barely made the trip back to Midway without running out of fuel. They were greeted very warmly when they reached home, and were said to be heroes.

Chapter 6: The Flying Coffin

While joining the Air Corps was difficult, Louie got used to it.  He had a lot of training, and started to get pretty good at dropping bombs. Louie became a second lieutenant. When Louie reached Ephrata, Washington, he was met by a man named Russell Allen Phillips or "Phil." This was Louie's pilot. Phil called Louie, "Zamp." Soon Louie and Phil met the rest of their crew.

Their crew was assigned to their own plane. It was a "brick" shaped B-24 that they called "Superman."  When the crew first saw it, they called it a "flying coffin."  Although they did many practice runs, they were all scared of dying on a mission. There were many malfunctions in these planes. They had a good crew, though, and Phil was a great pilot. They headed for Hawaii.

Chapter 5: Into War

Louie decided to go to USC. He continued his track experience there becoming a legend at USC as well. In one particular race, though, the other runners slashed him with spikes, and cracked one of his ribs. He still won the race easily, though, setting the NCAA record for fastest mile at 4:08.3. He glided through college, winning almost all of his races.

         Europe  and Asia were complete war zones. They were both being ravaged by German and Japanese armies, slowly advancing through the land. The Olympics were cancelled. Louie joined the Army Air Corps in 1941. He dropped out when he realized how hard it was to fly a plane. Then he was drafted and he became a bombardier. The chapter ends when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. Louie had to go back to his base.

Chapter 4: Plundering Germany

Louie and the rest of the USA Olympic team set out for Germany on a boat called the Manhattan. Louie gained twelve pounds in nine days on the boat. They all settled down in the Olympic Village. When Louie and the other Americans went to the opening ceremonies, they saw Nazi flags everywhere. It seemed as though the whole town was taken over, very clean and prestigious. Louie made the final, but he stated that he was feeling tired and sluggish. Louie fell behind in the finals race, finishing 8th. As Louie climbed into the stands, Hitler called his attention, and told him in German, "Ah, you're the boy with the fast finish." Louie had made his last lap around the track in the 5,000 in 56 seconds. After the race, Louie was walking around Berlin, and he spotted a small Nazi flag, which he thought would be a nice souvenir. He grabbed it, but the guards saw him, and he fell to the ground. They eventually let him have it. When he got home, Louie immediately started to think about the next Olympics, in Tokyo, Japan.

Chapter 3: The Torrance Tornado

Louie became a local legend. He broke a 4:21.3 mile! Some newspapers called him the "Torrance Tornado."  He set a huge, but reachable goal; the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Louie graduated high school in 1935, and looked forward to 1936. Louie started to look at colleges, especially USC. He knew that he wasn't going to be fast enough to make the Olympics, and this saddened him. But there was still hope. He found out about a race in Los Angeles, which would help him towards his dream. He finished third, but was still invited to the Olympic Qualifying Final. He finished second, and gained entrance to the games.

Chapter 2: Run Like Mad

At the beginning of this chapter, the author tells the story of another incident when Louie was in trouble. He snuck into his high school, Torrance High, and let other high schoolers into a basketball game. Pete thought that maybe a sport would help Louie. Louie took up track. Pete became a sort of coach for Louie, pushing him to become great. Louie soon could not take all of the things that were happening to him so fast. He and his friend ran away, sleeping in cars, climbing on trains, and running through forests and orchards. He finally returned home, where his family joyfully greeted him. He then devoted his life to running. He ran his paper route and gave up drinking and smoking, which he started at a very young age.  Louie's role model was a runner named Glenn Cunningham, who recovered from bad injuries to become one of America's greatest milers. As Louie's career developed, Pete decided that he should become a miler. He became a local legend, running a four minute, forty- two second mile! He even won a UCLA race by fifty yards!

Chapter 1: The One Boy Insurgency

Louis Zamperini was what some might call a "troubled child." He was born in Olean, New York in 1917. As a small child, he walked around aimlessly, sometimes to places his parents could not find him. He moved to Torrance, California. Louie stole everything he could get his hands on. He stole cakes, and he even stole change from a pay phone. Louie praised his brother, Pete, who helped him with anything he needed help with. Pete also helped Louie in some of his heists and pranks, like ringing the church bell in the middle of town. He started to get into fights at school, and his mother, Louise became very worried. Louie finally realized that he was behaving badly and he tried to correct all his wrongdoings by doing good things.  The trouble was that people had lost trust in him.

The beginning

The book starts off very simple with a small boy sitting in his backyard watching a huge blimp fly over his house. This blimp was called the Zeppelin.                                             The Zeppelin on the ground.Google Images

It was on a voyage around the world. The author is doing a lot of foreshadowing in this part of the book. This boy, Louis Zamperini, would never dream of flying a plane, but he would spend a lot of time in one during the middle part of his life. This machine would also make him look death straight in the eye.

I have decided to do my inspirational book project on the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It tells the story of a boy named Louis Zamperini. This book starts with a small bit of his amazing life, but mostly speaks of his days in the army. He was sent out across the sea to Japan, and, one day trying to get from one island to another, his plane went down. With little food and little water, could he ever survive? I have made this blog to explain his amazing story.
  
                                                                         -John Gartland