Unbroken

A book on Louis Zamperini by Laura Hillenbrand.

This book that I got on audio book which I find it was such an amazing and inspiring story about Louis Zamperini. I would not be surprised his story will become a movie. I have been listening to the audio book during my cross-training session at the gym.  Laura Hillenbrand who is also an author of "Seabiscuit" is such a marvelous writer. She did not meet Louis Zamperini in person throughout the writing of this book. Hillenbrand suffers from debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome, and remains largely confined to her home.

Louis Zamperini trains for the Olympics in 1940.

Louie Zamperini, is a young Italian-American from Torrance, Calif., was expected to be the first to run a four-minute mile. After an astonishing but losing race at the 1936 Olympics, Louie was hoping for gold in the 1940 games. But war ended those dreams forever. Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in September 1941, 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. In May 1943 his B-24, The Green Hornet, crashed into the Pacific.

After a record-breaking 47 days adrift on a shark-encircled life raft with his pal and pilot, Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips, they were captured by the Japanese. Louie landed in the cruelest theaters of all: under the control of Corp. Mutsuhiro Watanabe (also known as The Bird), a brutal sadist who never killed his victims outright--his pleasure came from their slow, unending torment. By war's end, Louie was near death. When the war ended in mid-August 1945, a depleted Louie's only thought was "I'm free! I'm free! I'm free!" However, Louie was not yet free. Even as, returning tried to build a life, Louie remained in the Bird's clutches, haunted in his dreams, drinking to forget, and obsessed with vengeance.The book's final section is the story of how, Louie found his path.

The story of Louis Zamperini on CBS Sunday morning on YouTube.

"Life is about experiencing all the things you find interesting and fascinating. Just get out there and experience as much as you can. Participate in life." ~ Louie Zamperini

For his 81st birthday in January 1998, Zamperini ran a leg in the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. While there, he attempted to meet with his chief and most brutal tormentor during the war, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who had evaded prosecution as a war criminal, but the latter refused to see him. In March 2005 he returned to Germany to visit the Berlin Olympic Stadium for the first time since he competed there.

Louis Zamperini's Interview on the Runner's World.