How Does Louis Zamperini Survive

Forgive to Live On January 26th, 1917, an American wild-child was born who, unbeknownst to the world, would later become a hero and role model for millions. His name is Louis “Louie” Zamperini, and he is noted by many to be one of today’s most inspirational individuals. Eager to share this American legend’s story, Laura Hillenbrand spent countless hours researching and interviewing Zamperini, along with those who knew him well. As a result she published the best-selling novel Unbroken. In the book she descriptively describes the challenges Zamperini endures from his delinquent childhood to the challenges and horrors he faces as a prisoner of war (POW) in World War II (WWII) and beyond. More so, she highlights how he overcomes each of these

Throughout the novel Hillenbrand clearly illustrates how Zamperini’s incredible battle to survive leads him to his greatest victory of all, his postwar power to forgive and live. Survival is a basic human instinct. However, as a bombardier in WWII, Louis Zamperini endured endless combat missions where he was forced to go beyond “basic instincts” and fight hard simply to survive. His real fight, however, began on May 37, 1943, when his B-24D plane, Green Hornet, plummeted into the Pacific Ocean. Trapped inside the fuselage, Zamperini plunged into the bone-chilling water and rapidly began to sink. His attempts to escape were futile, and he quickly lost consciousness. Miraculously, however, he awoke from his stupor and swam to the water’s surface where he “burst into dazzling daylight. He gasped in a breath and immediately vomited...he had survived” (Hillenbrand 127). He, along with two other crew members, spent several weeks in inadequately-supplied, inflatable rafts, drifting to wherever the ocean’s currents desired. Forty-seven excruciating days passed before they, now only Zamperini and one

For Zamperini, the former was not enough, and the latter was unachievable unless he was able to forgive. Therefore, as the war began to draw to a close, Zamperini began the process of forgiving the guards at the POW camps. American planes were dropping supplies over the camps, thereby replenishing the prisoners both physically and mentally, and the guards often demonstrated remorse for the brutal acts that they had committed. “Though [Zamperini] was still sick, wasted, and weak, he glowed with euphoria such as he had never experienced. His rage against his captors was gone. Like all the men around him, he felt flush with love for everyone and everything” (Hillenbrand 322). Furthermore, in 1950, Zamperini returned to Japan on a mission to meet and share his forgiveness with 850 of his old captors. Specifically, he wished to meet with the Japanese guard that had forced him to stand holding the board aloft. What Zamperini learned, however, was that the guard had been found dead in the local mountains. It was assumed suicide. “As [Zamperini] was told of [the guard’s] fate...He felt something that he had never felt for his captor before...compassion. At that moment, something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (Hillenbrand 386). This was the defining moment for Zamperini. At last, his ability to sincerely forgive