Louie Zamperini

Louie Zamperini:From Shining Star to Fading Light

Louie Zamperini, track superstar turned US Air Force bombardier held captive in a Japanese POW camp, fighting for his dignity, self pride, and most importantly, his life. Louie as a child,was very undisciplined in the things that he pulled off in his childhood home, Torrance, California, which included going out of his house and stealing food and alcohol from stores and neighbors. He was introduced to track by his brother Pete, which helped Louie put his juvenile past behind him and help him focus solely on track and school. Once Louie put in the work to become a great track runner, he was known as the Torrance Tornado since he ran with elite speed, received a plethora of college scholarships

Even though he finished 8th in the 5,000 meter, he had one of the fastest finishes in that event. Four years later, Louie was planning to run in the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, but the breakout of war across the world forced the Olympics to be canceled. Louie enlisted in the US Air Force as a bombardier and was sent to Funafuti Air Force base in Hawaii to help fight against the Japanese in the Pacific. His characteristics will be tested to the extreme as the story unfolds. Louie Zamperini, from Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken exhibits the characteristics of resilient and optimistic through his actions. Louie shows the characteristic of resilient in many ways like the scene where the plane that Louie is flying is being shot at by the Japanese and the plane they are flying, the B-24 Superman is short on hydraulic brake fluid and is about to crash in the ocean, Louie is confident he can find a way to land the plane. “Breakless, coming in fast, they might need to 10,000 feet to stop. Funafuti’s runway was 6,600 feet long. At its end were rocks and sea. Louie had an idea. What if they tied parachutes to the plane, pitched them out the window at touchdown, and pulled the ripcords? No one had ever tried to stop a bomber