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"To persevere is important to everybody. Don't give up, don't give in. There is always an answer to everything."

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To persevere is important to everybody. Don’t give up, don’t give in. There is always an answer to everything.

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136724675

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https://swiei.com/louis-zamperini-respond-leadership-challenges/

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Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence

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Louis Zamperini - Optimism and Resiliency - SWIEI Blog

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When I think of optimism and resiliency, I think of our “greatest generation” and Louis Zamperini. Learn more about his story.

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https://orderisda.org/culture/old-school/the-undefeated-louis-zamperini/

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Louis Zamperini set the national record for the fastest mile by a high schooler. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he competed in the 5000-meter race. He finished in 8th place, but his performance in the final lap was particularly remarkable. Despite not medaling, Zamperini sprinted the last lap in an astonishing 56 seconds.
The War Department assigned Louis Zamperini an "official death date" and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a condolence letter, but Sylvia Zamperini refused to believe her son was gone.

"None of us believed it. None of us. Not underneath, even," she later recalled after "Louie" - the inexhaustible Olympian from the 1936 Berlin Olympics - was found alive.

After his bomber crashed in the Pacific in 1943, he and the pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Russell Phillips, survived 47 harrowing days adrift at sea, battling sharks, starvation and enemy fire.

Captured by the Japanese, they endured brutal treatment in POW camps for more than two years.

Despite the severe abuse, Zamperini's spirit and grit carried him to his greatest finish line: the end of the war. His story of resilience and survival became widely known through Laura Hillenbrand's biography Unbroken.

Zamperini was freed in August 1945, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan would officially surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.

President Harry Truman called Zamperini a "credit to our country," General Douglas MacArthur labeled him a "brave and heroic man," fellow Olympian Jesse Owens praised his iron will and the world looked on in awe.

After the war, Zamperini became a motivational speaker, sharing his powerful story of perseverance and faith with audiences around the world.

He also dedicated himself to philanthropy, actively supporting charity work and programs for troubled youth, using his experiences to inspire and uplift others.

In 1946, he married Cynthia Applewhite, with whom he had two children, and together they built a life centered on service and family.

Zamperini passed away in 2014 in Los Angeles at the age of 97.

One of his most enduring quotes was fewer than 10 words: "If you can take it, you can make it."
Make a Pledge and join Italian Sons and Daughters of America today.

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Louis Zamperini set the national record for the fastest mile by a high schooler. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he competed in the 5000-meter race. He finished in 8th place, but his performance in the final lap was particularly remarkable. Despite not medaling, Zamperini sprinted the last lap in an astonishing 56 seconds.

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This book took place during WW2

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Louis Zamperini: In His Own Words (born 1917) - Our American Stories | iHeart

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On this episode of Our American Stories, this story was made into a 2014 motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie based on the 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. While some of the most remarkable parts of Zamperini’s story were left out of the film, you will be hearing them told now by the man himself.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Bert McCoy's "MyTeaching Resources" English 9-12

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Zamp and his crewmates were assigned to a B-24 F which they named "Super Man."

Zamp wanted to be a B-17 crew member, but he didn't get his wish. Instead, he was assigned to a heavy bomber known as the B-24. As far as Louie was concerned, it wasn't a good choice.

Some famous men flew B-24s. Jimmy Stewart, already a popular actor before Pearl Harbor, joined the war as a private, in 1941. By the time the war was over, in 1945, Stewart was a Colonel who had flown many combat missions, piloting B-24s.

The B-24 - which was built in San Diego and various other factories, including (( Ford's plant in Willow Run - wasn't just big and heavy, it was unwieldy. One pilot wrote:

...it was like sitting on the front porch and flying the house. Unbroken, page 59.)

In May of 1943, Popular Science devoted a significant part of its magazine ( Vol. 142, No. 5) to the war effort, focusing - among other things - on the B-24 Liberator. Walking readers through its production process, one of the authors (Andrew R. Boone) notes:

She isn't much to look at... Popular Science, May 1943, page 86.)

Boone continues:

No one, not even her makers at the Consolidated plant in California, where she was born, is proud of her appearance. She looks fat and awkward indeed, and sits squat on an airfield, with husky .50 caliber machine guns sticking like pin-feathers from her nose, belly, back, sides, and tail.

But don't let her seeming clumsiness fool you. She's one of the deadliest and most devastating weapons ever created by the hand of man; with that quality her builders - and, more important, the men who fly her - are tremendously satisfied, for she carries a heavier bomb load than any other ship of her class. ( Popular Science, May 1943, page 86.)

Maybe ... but not all airmen who flew Liberators would have used such glowing comments to describe the B-24. Many of them referred to it as " The Flying Coffin."

Zamp, assigned as a bombardier, was part of a crew of ten. His pilot - Lt. Russell Allen Phillips, whom everyone called "Phil" - was a quiet man from Indiana.

Louie's position, on the plane, was below the nose. It was a vulnerable place to be.

Zamperini and his crew mates called their B-24F " Super Man" (see Devil at My Heels, page 124). It took them on some pretty remarkable journeys.

What was it like to be on board a B-24 during a bomb run? How did Liberators perform when enemy fire tried to force them out of the sky?

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Unbroken - Louis Zamperini Story - ZAMP and HIS SUPER MAN B-24

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Zamp and his crewmates were assigned to a B-24 F which they named "Super Man." Zamp wanted to be a B-17 crew member, but he didn't get his wish. Instead, he was assigned to a heavy bomber known as the B-24. As far as Louie was concerned, it wasn't a good choice.