About the Author: Louis Zamperini

Around two weeks ago, I watched the movie, Unbroken, with my brother.

The movie poster for Unbroken

I had seen the trailer a lot of TV so I was really curious about the movie. When I watched it, I was amazed. I decided to pick up the book after watching the movie. I started the book pretty recently, so I'm not too far along in the book. But, since the book is based around Louis, I thought that I would talk about him.
There are two different books on Louis Zamperini, but the one I am reading is titled, "Don't Give Up, Don't Give In" written by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin.

After watching the movie, I wanted to learn more about Louis Zamperini, a man who had gone through very difficult situations, yet managed to stay strong.

If you aren't familiar with who Louis Zamperini was, he was an Olympic runner. When he was 17, he set the high school interscholastic world record for the mile with a time of 4:21.2. After graduating high school Zamperini made the U.S Olympic Team for the 5000 meter race.

The black and white photo is an actually shot of Louis Zamperini running.
The colored shot is a picture of  Jack O' Connell running, who played as Louis in the film.

Zamperini volunteered to be a solider for the army when WW2 started. Louis worked as a B-24 bombardier. While he was on a rescue mission, his plane went down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Only he and two other members of the plane had survived the crash. They were stranded in the ocean and remained on a small raft for 47 days. After surviving 47 days in the ocean, he was captured by the Japanese. For over 2 years, Louis was tortured and faced psychological abuse in prisoner of war camps.
When he returned to America, Louis suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and alcoholism, but he would go on and eventually return back to Japan to forgive his captors and preach to them as well.

Louis Zamperini passed away last summer on July 2, 2014. He lived to be 97 years old, and will always be remembered for his courage and strength for generations to come.

Louis Zamperini with Angelina Jolie, who was the director of the film.

Pictured above is Louis Zamperini