LOUIS ZAMPERINI

Yesterday was Pearl Harbor day and the book I am currently reading fit right in. I am almost through “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand who also wrote the best seller, “Seabiscuit”. I am not usually an non-fiction reader mainly due to the narrative form most often used. My reading is normally meant for entertainment not information.

War books are rarely on my book shelf for I just don't understand the whole concept. However,this one is the second war book in a matter of weeks including “Fall of Giants”. I do hope this is not a trend in my reading materials.



I probably wouldn't have gotten this book had I not been curious about the main character. Louie Zamperini is the hero and since the book was zooming up the best seller list, I researched him. The information I found on him made me I feel I had to know the whole story of this truly amazing man.

Louie was a real wild child who would drive any parent gray. He was ALWAYS in trouble. Fortunately in high school he focused his abundance of energy when he found the sport of track and field. There he discovered he had a real talent as a runner and became an amazing athlete who set many records. Even as a teen, he was closing in on the 4 minute mile record. He participated in the 1936 Olympics at the tender age of 19 and almost metaled. He actually met Hitler.

Louie joined the Air Force when war became inevitable. He was a bombardier in a B 24 bomber which I guess was an absolute challenge of a plane to keep in the air. I was appalled to learn how many thousands of our men died on American soil while in training and how many planes just disappeared into the sea without the help of any enemy.

Louie's lumbering plane literally fell out of the sky on its own merit and a small bit of human error. It went down in the Pacific and for 47 days he and two of his surviving crew drifted in a small raft, fighting sharks, hunger, heat and thirst, while clinging to their sanity. They were rescued by the Japanese and became prisoners of war. Louie is brutally treated and survives what no one should ever have to survive.

At least 20 times during this book, I would have said, “Ok I give up,please just let me die.” He does survive however and what totally amazed me, he is able to forgive and embrace the very men who were his captors when he meets them in later years.

I so admire those who can truly forgive and that is the greatest message from this book. If countries could only forgive their neighbors for slights that occurred centuries ago, perhaps we wouldn't need a lot of the wars we have. Of course we would still have to breed greed and thirst for power out of mankind to stop the rest of them.

Louie is alive today and had a long career as in inspirational speaker. Thanks to this book, I now have a better understanding of what our veterans go through. Our wars today and while the ways they are fought are somewhat different, the killing is the same. We still paint the deaths of innocent civilians with the sanitized term “collateral damage.” Our vets who return damaged, are too often given a wide berth and can end up sleeping in cardboard boxes as we turn a blind eye.

I have always thought wars are barbaric and stupid. But then, I am a woman, not a warrior, so my mind never goes to violence as a means to solve conflict. I just didn't realize how mind bogglingly frightening and senseless wars are to the men who must fight them. How we were attacked by the Japanese and how we in turn attacked the Japanese, is an absolute horror story. Mankind is such a cruel beast.

That the majority of the veterans can assimilate back into everyday living is a pure miracle. Those who can't need all the help and understanding we can manage. Let us do better----please.