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Laura Hillenbrand

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Louie Zamperini was a kid who enjoyed being a little rebellious kid. He would steal, smoke, wander, and drink while being in the age group of 5-14 from chapter 1. While being busy doing all of that he was being bullied bad for being from an Italian-American family.

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Louie was still pretty bad of a rebel when he was taken up to his principle and Pete was not going to let the principle take away his abilities to do sports. When Pete finally won the battle in the office it was time for serious training with Louie and it was going to be hard because it was running track. Eventually Louie got really good at running he started winning in races and going to bigger ones to win those too!

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Louie was working his way up on the charts for running and he attended the Southern California Track Championship. As soon as he started he was almost done and won the race with a huge gap in between the other people and himself! Louie was training so hard for the Trials of the Olympics and he got first now heading for the Olympics.

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Louie was off for the Olympics excited as ever because he was about to get the meal of a lifetime. He had eaten 31 1/2 things at that dinner and he was about to figure out that that food went towards his weight, 12 pounds. When he got to the Olympics he didn't win 1st but 8th and he wanted to take a "little" souvenir before he went home so he stole a swastika flag and got permission from Hitler to take it with him.

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When Louie got back from the Olympics he was living life nicely with his friends, family, and of course running. What he didn't realize was that he was going to be ganged up on at the races and so one day he went home with a cracked rib, 2 puncture wounds in his legs and one in his foot. Not only that Japan withdrew from the host for the Olympics but when it was moved to Finland it was unfortunately canceled because of the rising war of WW2.

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Before Louie knew it he was off to flight school and was graduating saying his goodbyes to his family. When he arrived at the base in Ephrata, Washington, he met his crew and one of them happened to be Russell Allen Phillips, the pilot of the Super Man.  When training was over they were packing their bags and heading to Oahu to the war.

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Oahu, Hawaii was still recovering from the Pearl Harbor bombing when the men arrived. When they eventually landed they were straight to the the Kahuku Air Base for patrols until combat was called. When it was the crew of Super Man was called and was sent to Wake for their first combat and when they found out it wasn't going to be easy it came crystal clear to them.

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Louie and the crew were on their way to a small island called Nauru to back the army out of the island and get the hostages freed from them. What they didn't know was that they were prepared and ready for the crews and they were shooting bullets fast and killing so many planes and people. Brooks was first down and injured then it was Douglas and Lambert, next it was Pillsbury.

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Louie and the crew had to get a plane and fast for a rescue mission, and of course the last one left was the Green Hornet, Phil was so uptight about it but it was the only plane they had so he gave in. Phil had his rights to be against the plane because it crashed after Daisy Mae had parted from it. Only 3 had survived the crash, Louie, Phil, and Mac.

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When it came to risky stunts on Super Man Phil was the man to go to for dangerous stunts like landing difficult runways, flying through storms, or just stupid decisions. His decisions were not the greatest when storms came but one time Harry Brooks tracked down a signal from a Hawaii station and guided the crew home. Without Brooks they would have been struck by lightning and all of them would be dead.

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The boys were most defiantly not prepared for the bombing of Funafuti so when they were being bombed they all scattered in search of hiding spots. Patients were carried out on stretchers but Pillsbury, he was forgotten so Phil and Louie got him rescued and out of their and waited it out. Pillsbury was in desperate need of surgery and there was no anesthesia so Louie held him down and his toes got stitched up with a ton of pain. :(

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Luckily Louie had found out that one of the plane members inflated the rafts and swam to it. He got Phil and Mac on board and helped Phil with his head injuries by taking is shirt off and pressing it against his wounds. Some of the stuff found in the raft wasn't useful at all and the situation they were in was not the best one to be in for Phil's wounds.

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Louie laid hopeless in his cell while guards were going around making death threats to everyone in their cells. Desperate Louie begged for water, he got it but also got scolding hot water sprayed in his face. There was a new guard and his name was Kawamura, he was a lifesaver to Louie and Phil and his smile said it all. Louie and Phil almost got sent to death but last minute they were told the opposite.

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Search planes were off to find the crew or what was left of it and what was worse for their situation, Mac had eaten all of the chocolate food supply, but he did it out of panic. Daisy Mae was flying over the raft, so Louie loaded the flare gun and shot it but to their luck the plane went on. Word got out about the crew and how they were lost at sea, but in denial Louie's mom was sure that they were alive.

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Louie and Phil were so happy that they had finally seen the sight of an island that they really didn't notice the sky darkening and it becoming really messy quick, they knew that they were in a typhoon. When they realized the so called island wasn't really an island they saw the figures of people and were hiding, but were welcomed by the captain on board. They were treated to dinners and had lots of help from the Japanese, when they were stable the people who had helped them couldn't assure them about living once they got to the island of Kwajalein (aka the execution island).

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The boys were out of food (Mac ate it all) and water, and you cant drink ocean water because it could kill you it's so salty, but luckily a storm was rolling through and the water tins had to catch it or they were all going to die. Louie caught an Albatross to eat but ended up just using it as bait it stank so bad, but it didn't work at first because of the sharks. They prayed and prayed for something good to happen, then an idea went off in Louie's head, wasn't smart but it got them some food.

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Louie, Phil, and Mac were still out in the middle of the pacific ocean when 2 sharks came especially close to the raft and tried to bite the boys. Mac to the rescue but at night when everyone went to sleep Louie woke to the sound of a "deep outrushing of air" slow and final, and he knew it that Mac had died a few hours after he had redeemed himself of saving Louie. Louie and Phil were drifting away when they saw something truly amazing and relieving, an island.

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It was the 27th day when another plane had come and it was worth a shot to load a flare in the flare gun and shoot it. When the plane went on and came back they were saved until they saw the Japanese pilot sitting there, then the shooting came. The Japanese wouldn't stop shooting and Louie was underwater until they officially left for good and it turns out that Phil and Mac had both played dead because they were both still alive when Louie got back on the raft.

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Louie's entire family was worried for the boy and Sylvia was a wreck. Although Louie was still missing and lots of people thought he was dead, everyone held their chins up high and were determined to see Louie again. That was until they had received a letter from the US Army Air Corps stating he was dead, nobody believed it.

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When the veterans of Ofuna came to Omori they had to tell a corporal their name and when Louie stepped up to do so he got punched in the head because he didn't look into his eyes but Louie didn't know he had to. The Bird was a psychopath and everyone knew it. The camp forced you to work basically all day and gave out little to no food which made everyone feel just great.

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The radio Louie had written a message for wanted him to do another but they had already taken care of it, saying things that would make the US army feel discouraged. One night "The Bird" ordered a fire drill in the middle of a sleet storm and made all of the POWS stand outside for 2 hours being punched for no good reason. Cecy, Phil's fiancée, got news that Phil was still alive so she got on a plane to Indiana and was going to wait for her fiancée to come home.

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Louie and Phil were transported to a different camp called Ofuna (It was a secret interrogation camp) and nobody was allowed to talk there. Louie and Phil were led to their cell and it wasn't the most comfortable cell out there but it was something at least. Beatings were basically an ordinary thing and the food was broth, with a little vegetable, and a bowl or bowl 1/2 of tainted rice (little gross).

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There was usually silence, nobody spoke at night (you would get beat if you did), and 1 guard just making his way down the cells farting for as long as he can go(nasty). The prisoners were told preposterous stories of Allied losses, even  announcing that their army had shot Abraham Lincoln and torpedoed Washington D.C. Louie had to distract himself from the cold so he just trained his legs to do so.

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Louie had asked Tinker if he could fly a Japanese plane and he said, " If it has wings," and Louie thought of an idea that would help them escape. One day "The Quack" had seen Louie throw up because of a fish with maggots on it and as punishment "The Quack" made him eat it. Harris had drawn a map of the island and was caught by "The Quack" and was beaten really bad to the point Harris had gone unconscious.

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Louie was at the camp when he met Tom Wade and Bob Martindale who told them all about the camp and how "The Bird" would beat everyone even if they did something small like not looking into his eyes. Some of the guards actually had the heart to help the prisoners and whoever caught them doing so that guard would get beaten repeatedly. Louie and the other POWs hear air raid alarms and are all praying and keeping their heads up for what's next.

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Work on the coal barges ends and there aren’t enough ships left in Japan, while so Louie is on starvation rations, sick, and hungry and the Bird beats him still. One day he forces Louie to hoist up a heavy, wooden beam about six feet long, and if Louie lowers his arms, the Bird says, Louie will be shot and weak and ill, Louie is determined to last the time to the Bird, surprisingly he holds the beam overhead for 37 minutes until the Bird finally gives him a furious beating that knocks him unconscious.

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The Bird shares his time between Naoetsu and Mitsushima, another POW camp, and at Mitsushima, the POW officers conspire to poison The Bird but only manage to make him ill. At Naoetsu, as collective punishment for the theft of a fish, The Bird punishes Louie, Tinker, and three other officers to receive 220 punches to the face from other prisoners, which do not want to do so. When that happens Louie learns something horrifying, August 22, 1945 is set as the date for all the Naoetsu POWs to be killed.

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The POW's threw a party to celebrate the end of all parties and for that the US fighters flew over and delivered pallets full of food one of those foods were peaches. Of the 34,648 Americans held by the Japanese 12,935 of them died :( . Fitzergald had received a message saying to wait until Sep. 4th for evacuation and when the day came the crews never came, but on Sep. 5th most of the men were taken out of the barracks.

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At Naoetsu, Louie and the POWs are put to hard slave labor in support of Japan’s foundering war effort.  In April 1945, The Bird takes special pleasure in announcing the death of President Franklin Roosevelt to his prisoners. During slave labor on one coal barge, Louie injures his ankle and can’t work, so the Bird forces him to clean out pig stalls with his bare hands instead.

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When "The Bird" left for another camp life became so much easier, all of his absurd rules were banned, all of the letters kept hostage by him were distributed to the prisoners. When Louie had seen Harris coming from Ofuna his heart fell because he was a complete wreck and Louie had a flashback to when " The Quack" clubbed him twice and knocked him unconscious. It was the last day of February and 15 POW officers were called out 1 of them being Louie, and were told that they were being taken to a different camp, but when they got there they heard a voice they never thought they'd hear again, "The Bird's".

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When Louie had arrived home there were gifts waiting for him from Christmas, lots of food set to be eating, and a cake with "Welcome Home Louie" written on it. Louie was granted a 2 week vacation for being a serviceman he spent it nicely and even met a girl, Cynthia Applewhite, and had asked her to marry her. Cynthia was not supposed to get married so quickly but she did anyway and her mother was a-n-g-r-y with her.

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When a journalist, Robert Trumbull, asked Tinker had said to go ask Louie Zamperini for a good story Trumbull didn't buy it so he asked Louie to prove his identity, he pulled out his wallet and showed him his USC pass. When Louie arrived on the Okinawa Airfield he was taken to a doctor and was examined after the examination a reporter asked Louie about his running a career, Louie was not going to run again. When the news about Louie reached his family his mother, Louise Zamperini, had made Mother's Day officially on Sep. 9th because that was the day she knew her boy was coming home.

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When Louie was pushing a wheelbarrow one day, he passes a building that has a message on it "B-29" but at that time he had no idea what that meant. Louie then discovered that a B-29 was an American plane and when the Bird saw one fly above the camp he was enraged and beat Louie which made him deaf in one ear. When Louie was doing his work a Japanese news radio was wanting him to do a statement on the radio for the station and someone that knew Louie had heard it.

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The POWs at Naoetsu concern that something catastrophic has happened in Japan but don’t know what it is and on August 15, unexpectedly, the Japanese guards disappear for about an hour and then reappear. Finally, one of the guards admits that the war is over, on August 20, two days before the “kill-all” order is to be happening, the POWs are assembled outside and told, officially, that the war has ended. The Japanese guards withdrew, leaving the prisoners to celebrate their freedom.

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Louie and Phil were finally reunited after the war and they had to call another POW, Fred Garrett after he had seen white rice on his plate and had gotten furious at the waiter. Louie was trying to cope with his anxiety and came back to an old pull, running, but when he ran his ankle got worse and worse until the point where his running career was officially over. One day Louie had enough and decided he was going to be the one to end "The Bird's" life.

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Louie, if you could not tell, was a major alcoholic and it was getting to the point where he could not tell if he was drunk or not and hit a tree in the middle of the night. When Cynthia got pregnant Louie was really excited to have a child around but the "prospect of more responsibility" pressured more despair and guilt. When Cissy Zamperini was born, Louie still could not let go of the alcohol, so when Cynthia came home to Louie shaking Cissy she packed up her stuff, got the baby, and left.

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After the war the police were on a mission to find "The Bird" and had a massive group of 9000 police officers out for him. "The Bird" had come home to his family and they thought there was nothing better in the world to see him but when detectives had shown up for inspection to make sure he was not hiding out there the family panicked. "The Bird" had enough of the running and hiding so he had hiked up to the Asama volcano, and killed himself.

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2 years after the bird was found dead, Shizuka Watanabe, had seen her son in a Tokyo restaurant, and thought of it as a sign of hope. Louie had heard of a man named Billy Graham and he was a preacher, but Louie didn't want anything to do with him, but Cynthia begged and begged to go until he finally agreed. After Louie and Cynthia had gone to see him Louie was a different man and when he was different he was different. He got rid of all his liquor, he had woken up to feeling cleansed and "The Bird" was not in his dreams and he would never had a flashback again.

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With the help of Cynthia and his new Christian faith, Louie begins get more stabilized in his life. He is also determined to forgive the brutal guards who tortured him as a POW. In 1950, he returns to Japan, specifically to Sugamo Prison, where many war criminals are being kept and he meets personally with his former tormentors, extending a hand of forgiveness to each one but, "the Bird" is not present.