In WWII, most deaths in the AAF were from non-battle situations such as accidents and disease. One statistic shows that between November 1, 1943, and May 25, 1945, 70 percent of men killed in action actually died from aircraft accidents. Most men did not actually die in a combat situation. Because of these airplane accidents many men did not die in the crash died in a life raft from starvation and dehydration as they drifted aimlessly over the Pacific Ocean. The men that lived through the crash and survived on a raft just to be captured by the Japanese were put in POW camps for the remainder of the war. One of these men is Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and track star from Torrance, California. His plane went down due to a malfunction …show more content…
Louis had it harder than most others as the “Bird”, one of the most erratic and evil men he would ever meet, targeted him because of his strong will and stubbornness. The “Bird” would beat him almost every day for even looking at him wrong. Something that one of the POWs has said about the Bird is, “He was absolutely the most sadistic man I ever met”(Hillenbrand 237). This quote that is talking about the Bird shows that the man that hated Louis the most was also one of the worst people that Louis would ever meet. Louis was so scared of him that when he was transported to another POW camp and saw that the Bird was the commanding officer there he fainted. Another quote to emphasize the pain and suffering that Louis went through is, “But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind”(Hillenbrand 182). This quote shows how after the guards had took everything from Louis the only thing left was his dignity and if they took then there would be nothing left in Louis that would have been able to really be alive. Louis enduring these beating and keeping his dignity through it all is extremely difficult and only adds to the admiration that he has already earned from the previous quotes. Louis’ ability to survive and remain unbroken in his will and spirit is very admirable and is a big part of why his story is so
I agree with the statement that Louie was as much a captive as he’d been when barbed wire had surrounded him after the war. The following quote was taken from chapter 39 of Unbroken. “It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (386). From this quote, we can see that Louie was struggling with vengeance. Although the war was over in 1945, it toke Louie almost five years to say that the war was over for him because of the hatred and thought of revenge Louie undergo after the war. This is one of the reasons why I agree with the author’s choice to include the post-war years and explore this story of obsession for vengeance. Putting Part V into the book not only not take away the theme of survival,
bombers initiated the first bombing of the island. The bombings by the Japanese continued until December 23, when under continuous shelling, the Americans, under U.S. Navy Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham, were finally forced to surrender. Although the Japanese finally took the island, they incurred heavy losses. Three cruisers and one transport sustained heavy damage, two destroyers and one patrol boat were sunk, while 820 Japanese soldiers were killed, with another 333 wounded. In contrast, American military casualties included 120 killed, 49 wounded, with two missing in action.
You would think with everything that Zamperini went through he would be able to get through anything and everything, right? Wrong, even after the war he could not conquer his fight with alcohol or depression (Etheridge). Actually everything got worse for Louis after the war. He struggled with P.T.S.D. which made his depression even worse causing him to hurt many of his personal relationships. To help deal with his problems, depression, and other things in his life he would go out and drink, and drinking then became even more of an obsession and a problem in his life. Louis could not beat this fight, and people thought that he never would until one day his wife forced Louis to go and hear Billy Graham speak. Zamperini wanted none of it, the first time he went he stormed out thinking he would never return, but amazingly he went back one time and that transformed his life forever. Louis hears many verses quoted by Billy that show him of God’s forgiveness that He has for everyone. Hearing this, Zamperini remembers back to the day he promised he would devote his life to God, if God let him live. In that moment Louis decided to give his life to our Savior Jesus Christ. “I knew I was through getting drunk,” Zamperini said. “I knew I was through smoking, and I knew I’d forgiven all of my guards including The Bird. Never dawned on me again that I hated the guy” (Zamperini as qtd. in After
Allen, Thomas B. Remember Pearl Harbor: American and Japanese Survivors Tell Their Stories. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001. Print.
World War II was one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. There were many different battles that took place within this war; some more important than others. World War II began once Germany’s new dictator, Adolf Hitler, decided that he wanted to gain power for Germany and for himself. One of Hitler’s first moves in power was invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Many other countries became involved in this war because of the alliance system. The two sides during this war were the Allies and Axis powers. German, Italy and Japan were on the Axis powers; France, Britain, and the United States were on the Allies. Germany first began with the Blitzkrieg tactic meaning “lightning war”. This tactic is based on speed, surprise and was the most popular tactic. It is set up with military forces based around tanks which are supported by planes and infantry. The Blitzkrieg tactic lead to air wars with airplanes between countries. All of the countries were allowed to participate in the air wars but the four main countries were United States, Japan, Britain, and Germany. During the 1920’s and 1930’s airplanes grew in size and structure giving them more power, and making planes more effective. Planes made it easier to drop bombs, or plan attacks. All of these countries fought over air superiority. Air superiority is the position in which the air force has control over all of the air warfare and air power of the opposing forces. Germany began with air superiority but they lost it when Britain defeated them at the Battle of Britain. Gaining control over the air is a very big advantage because it is easier to plan an attack on an opposing country. All of the countries relied on their aircrafts during this war. The issue about the use of...
In 1940, Louis enlisted in the Army Air Corps and the Olympics for that year were cancelled. He became a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator and went on a mission to find a pilot whose plane had gone down.(Andrews) While over the Pacific Ocean, Louis’s plane had a mechanical failure in two of its engines and crashed. Of the eleven men who were on the plane, only three including Louis Zamperini survived.(editors) Louis and the other two airmen became stranded on two rafts for 47 days, surviving only on catching bird and fish and drinking rain water.(Jacobs) Finally after drifting over 2000 miles Louis and the pilot washed ashore, though the other airman died before they found land. Louis and the pilot were soon taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese on the island they washed up on. Louis was subjected to torture and was beaten during his time as a prisoner, and probably the only thing that kept him from being executed was that the Japanese found out he was a famous Olympic runner and used him as a propaganda tool.(Zamperini) Louis was in captivity for more than two years and pronounced dead by the U.S. military.(Andrews) After the war ended, Louis Zamperini was released in 1945 and returned to the United
While they were over the Pacific ocean their plane suffered from mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. Out of eleven men on board, only Zamperini and two others survived. No one came to rescue them, so they were stranded in the ocean on a raft for 47 days. While they were stranded on the ocean, they were bleached by the sun. They had to live off little drinking water. They survived attempted shark attacks on just a blow up raft. They were also shot at by Japanese bombers. To survive they caught fish, collected rainwater to drink, and killed birds that landed on their raft. One of the survivors died at sea before they reached land. Zamperini and Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips survived long enough to wash ashore on a Pacific Island two thousand miles from the crash site in enemy territory. They were finally out of the ocean, but taken prisoners of war by the Japanese. Zamperini and Phillips were separated and subject to torture. They were tortured both physically and mentally. They were both beaten, abused, and starved, and Zamperini was singled out and abused by a camp sargent called Bird. Since Zamperini was a former Olympic Athlete, he was seen as a propaganda tool by the Japanese, which was probably the reason he didn’t get executed. He was held captive for two years, and during that time he was pronounced dead by the U.S. military. He was finally released after the war ended in 1945, and reunited with his family in the United
Concluding Statement: In conclusion, Louis Zamperini was able to survive his long treacherous journey with his ability to keep his head held high but once he faces PTSD, Louis also struggled.
320 airplanes storm over like a bundle of bees bombing pearl harbor with no warning. Nearly 2,500 deaths with many injuries and a giant step back in our naval forces. The U.S. wanted revenge according to Kennedy Hickman the President at the time Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive to attack Japan as quick as possible (Hickman 1). The attack ended up being a success but with some obstacles in the way.
One of the most renowned camp guards named Mutsuhiro Watanabe-more commonly known as "The Bird," by his captors-was infamous for senselessly beating prisoners and was so bad that some of the prisoners strategized a plan to kill him. How does everyone know this much about him? Simple, he had tortured Louie Zamperini every single day, making him the biggest part in Louie's World War II experiences. Upon meeting Zamperini, Watanabe had already despised Louie due to him being an Olympic athlete and he was absolutely ruthless with him. Louie had to hide himself from Watanabe to find a sense of safety. "'After the first few days in camp." Louie said, 'I looked for him like I was looking for a lion loose in the jungle.'" (247) But when The Bird found him, there was no turning back. On came the kendo sticks, baseball bats, and his own fists. But he was only one of many other savage guards. Sueharu Kitamura, "The Quack," or, "The Butcher," was next, but the way he got his nickname, "The Butcher," is very morbid. "Fascinated by suffering, he forced sick and injured captives to come to him for "treatment," then
A major victory for Allied forces occurred during the battle of Iwo Jima where United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the Island from the Japanese empire11. Iwo Jima is the only battle in World War Two by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the overall American Casualties exceeded those of the Japanese. During the Battle of Singapore, Allied forces in Singapore attempted to resist the Japanese during the invasion, unfortunately they surrendered to the Japanese on February 1942 and about one hundred thirty thousand Indian, British, Australian, American and Dutch Personnel became Prisoners of war and remained in the Philippines, captured by Japanese soldiers1. Prisoners of war often suffered and died during capture because of the abuse they received. They often starved and cached diseases and illnesses during captivity. Prisoners felt they had been abandoned by the country they once fought for. With the aid of Philippine Guerillas, Allied forces managed to raid a camp in Cabanatuan on January, 1945. More than five hundred prisoners of war received their liberty once again1. Bec...
America was not the only one who suffered casualties during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan lost five midget submarines and nine of the men who piloted the small, war submersibles. The tenth man, Ensign Sakamaki, became our first Japanese WWII prisoner of war. Jap...
It was a sunny beautiful day on the December 7, 1941, when citizens of the society were waking up to do their regular chores. This is the day that everyone will remember in the history of the world. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan happened in the early morning. The Americans were caught off guard by the Japanese fleet. The attack resulted in an outburst of horrifying deaths among Americans, including the loss of war fleets from the naval base. Resulting in Americans entering World War II, although they did not want to engage in World War II. “The “day that will live in infamy” ended with the deaths of over 2,400 sailors, Marines, and soldiers, along with the heavy damage and destruction of eight battleships.”1 After the devastating destruction on
Japanese-Americans lives were hard during World War II, when Japanese-Americans were being relocated. Japanese- Americans were treated cruelly. “...although Mine and Toku were American citizens, they were considered the enemy because of their Japanese heritage” (The Life of Mine Okubo). Even if Mine and Toku were American citizens, they were seen as Japanese. Thoughts about Japanese-Americans changed fast, first they were seen as the friends and then the enemy. Louie Zamperini was treated in a similar way. Louie Zamperini, one of the POWs, was sent to an internment camp. In the internment camp, Louie was treated cruelly by the Japanese, he did not get enough to eat, and also was beaten terribly by the Japanese.
After the Olympics,Louis joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, which is ironic because as a boy he wanted nothing to do with flying.He became a bombardier and flew many missions. However, on one such mission, the bomber he flew in was shot down. He was stranded in the middle of the ocean for 47 days surrounded by sharks and living on raw fish and occasionally bird.