Louis Zamperini

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Louis Zamperini : biography

26 January 1917 –

On April 24, 2011, Zamperini received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters from Azusa Pacific University. The following month, on May 20, 2011, Zamperini delivered Bryant University’s 2011 baccalaureate address and received Bryant’s inaugural Distinguished Character Award. The following day, May 21, Bryant presented Zamperini with an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. The next day he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Red Sox-Cubs game at Fenway Park in Boston.

In late July 2011, Zamperini received the Kappa Sigma Golden Heart Award during the Kappa Sigma 68th Biennial Grand Conclave held at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas., The Caduceus of Kappa Sigma Fall 2011, January 26, 2012, Accessed June 7, 2012. pp. 34.

Zamperini appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on June 7, 2012, speaking of his life in general, the 1936 Olympics and his World War II exploits.

Zamperini currently resides in Hollywood, California. The Torrance airport was renamed Zamperini Field in the 1960s.

Military career and Prisoner of War

Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in September 1941,. Torranceca.gov. Retrieved on 2012-09-03. and earned a commission as a second lieutenant. He was deployed to the Pacific island of Funafuti as a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator bomber. In April 1942, the plane was badly damaged in combat, and the crew were assigned to conduct a search for a lost aircraft and crew. They were given another B-24, The Green Hornet, notorious among the pilots as a defective "lemon plane’. While on the search, mechanical difficulties caused the plane to crash into the ocean 850 miles west of Oahu, killing eight of the eleven men aboard.Clip from 60 Minutes’ documentary on Louis Zamperini. Copyright, 60 Minutes, all rights reserved. Video online, courtesy YouTube,

The three survivors (Zamperini and his crewmates, pilot Russel Allen "Phil" Phillips and Francis "Mac" McNamara), with little food and no water, subsisted on captured rainwater and small fish eaten raw. They caught two albatrosses, which they ate and used to catch fish, all while fending off constant shark attacks and nearly being capsized by a storm. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/24/olympian-runner-hero-wwii-honored-anew/ They were strafed multiple times by a Japanese bomber, puncturing their life raft, but no one was hit. McNamara died after thirty-three days at sea.Clip from 60 Minutes’ documentary on Louis Zamperini. Copyright, 60 Minutes, all rights reserved. Video online, courtesy YouTube,

On their 47th day adrift, Zamperini and Phillips reached land in the Marshall IslandsLaura Hillenbrand (2010). Unbroken. Random House. pp. 171. and were immediately captured by the Japanese Navy. They were held in captivity and severely beaten and mistreated until the end of the war in August, 1945. Zamperini was held in the Japanese Prisoner-of-war camp at Ōfuna for captives who were not registered as prisoners of war (POW). He was especially tormented by sadistic prison guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe (nicknamed "The Bird"), who was later included in General Douglas MacArthur’s list of the 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan. Held at the same camp, was then-Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington, and in his book, Baa Baa Black Sheep, he discusses Zamperini and the Italian recipes he would write to keep the prisoners’ minds off the food and conditions.Clip from 60 Minutes’ documentary on Louis Zamperini. Copyright, 60 Minutes, all rights reserved. Video online, courtesy YouTube,

Zamperini had at first been declared missing at sea, and then, a year and a day after his disappearance, killed in action. When he eventually returned home he received a hero’s welcome.Clip from 60 Minutes’ documentary on Louis Zamperini. Copyright, 60 Minutes, all rights reserved. Video online, courtesy YouTube.

Books

Zamperini wrote two memoirs about his experiences, both of them bearing the same title, Devil at My Heels. The first (written with Helen Itria) was published by Dutton in 1956. The second (with David Rensin) appeared in 2003 from Morrow.