Remembering the ‘unbroken’ spirit of veteran Louis Zamperini
Seventy years ago, the world was convinced that Louis Zamperini had died after the Olympic track star’s bomber aircraft crashed in the Pacific Ocean.
However, Zamperini was very much alive, and his epic story of courage is to be the subject of Angelina Jolie’s upcoming film “Unbroken”, from the 2010 best-selling book with the same name.
The Second World War veteran spent 47 days adrift after the crash with two others in shark-infested waters, only to be captured and held as prisoner of war for more than two years by Japanese forces. Almost eight decades since his release, Zamperini died on Thursday after a long battle with pneumonia just six months shy of seeing his life being put on the big screen.
In a family statement, released by the film’s distributor Universal Pictures, they said Zamperini had “never broken down from a challenge”.
It added: “He recently faced the greatest challenge of his life with a life-threatening case of pneumonia. After a 40-day long battle for his life, he peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, leaving behind a legacy that has touched so many lives. His indomitable courage and fighting spirit were never more apparent than in these last days”.
Jolie said that the loss was “impossible to describe”, and that she was “so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known him. We will miss him terribly”.
‘When you’re hungry, you eat anything’
‘When you’re hungry, you eat anything’
Born to immigrant parents on 26 January 1917, in Oleans, New York, Zamperini’s larger-than-life-story began in high school where he began training as a runner. He continued his sports career at the University of Southern California making the US Olympic team.
The Olympian competed in the 5,000-metre run at the Berlin Games finishing eighth place, but caught the attention of all including Adolf Hitler when he ran the final lap in 56 seconds.
But it was Zamperini’s incredible World War II story that captured the hearts of millions back home. Serving in the US Army Air Forces, he survived combat missions before his aircraft went down in the Pacific in May 1943.
“Forty-seven days in a raft, you learn the value of water more than anything in the world,” he told the Associated Press in a 2003 interview. “We prayed for rain to have something to drink. When you’re hungry, you eat anything. We caught a shark. We caught an albatross that tasted like a hot fudge sundae.”
‘Forgiveness’
After surviving years of torture, shuttled back and forth from prison camps in Japan, where he survived beatings, starvation and debilitating diseases, he returned to the US a changed man.
But years later, Zamperini wrote a letter of forgiveness to one of his most cruel tormentors, nicknamed ‘The Bird’. In 1998, he returned to Japan to carry the torch at the Nagano Olympics, running past former camps where he was imprisoned.
On 9 May this year, the Tournament of Roses announced that Zamperini would be named grand marshal of the 2015 New Year’s Day Rose Parade. And while he watched the passing of all of his friends, he noted to the audience: “It’s sad to realise that you’ve lost all your friends. But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend – Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can’t complain.”
His wife Cynthia Applewhite, whom he married in 1946, died in 2001. He is survived by his daughter Cynthia, son Luke and grandchildren.