Louis Silvie Zamperini's Life

How long could you survive in the middle of the deep blue of the ocean? How much weight could you hold above your head? How many times could you take punch after punch until you fell to the cold hard floor? These are just a few of the things that Louis Silvie Zamperini had to endure as a POW in a Japanese camp, but he didn’t spend his entire life in POW camp. He had a life before and after the famous World War II. He survived a lot. He went through hell after a delinquent childhood, to a star runner, to a brutally tortured POW in Japan, and even after he was freed from the demeaning camps, it still took him several years to come out of the rocky ditch that the war had left him in.

First off, Louis Zamperini was not your average child

Russel Allen “Phil” Phillips and Francis McNamara. They were stuck out at sea with only two life rafts, and the first night, McNamara ate all the survival chocolate in a panic. This left them with no food, no water, and no way for anyone to find out they were lost on the vast ocean. Sharks constantly circled in hopes of a good meal and in order to get food they had to figure out how to catch birds and then use them as fish bait for the birds smelt and tasted to ransom to get past their lips. In order to attain water they had to catch the falling rain when the world decided to show some sympathy towards the stranded survivors. Over time in the hot yellow sun they had to fight off sharks with oars and their hands, they lost almost half their body weight due to malnutrition, their bodies became dry and swollen, they had to patch bulletholes in their rafts after a japanese bomber shot at their rafts, and McNamara ended up dieing on day 33 of starvation and dehydration. That 's only scratching the surface of what happened to them on their 47 days at sea though. On their 47th day they came to a boat near a pacific island that was Japanese territory and 2,000 miles away from where they crashed. They were taken into captivity as POWs by Japan. After being nursed somewhat back to health, the deputy commanding officer of the boat where they were cared for, gave them food and news. Louie and Phil

Louie suffered night terrors, alcoholism, and after marrying his wife Cynthia, the couple came close to divorce. Louie was a hurt man that only felt a strong burning hatred for the people that had caused him his pain. Things finally started to turn around for louie in 1949 though when he went to a Billy Graham sermon in Los Angeles after lots of encouragement to go from his wife. This sermon was the start of louie 's next chapter of forgiveness and healing. He decided to follow Christ and became a Christian and soon after that he was able to forgive his tormentors in Japan and his night terrors ceased from there out. In 1950, Louie began to visit his tormentors to forgive them in person., however, when he tried to forgive Watanabe in person, the Bird refused to meet with him. Just four days out from his 81st birthday, Louie ran the Olympic torch in the 1998 winter olympics in Nagano Japan as a way to show that he had forgiven Japan for what they had done to him. On July 2, 2014, Louis Zamperini died of Pneumonia at the age of 97 in his home.

There are many memorials and places named for him including the Zamperini Stadium at Torrance High School. Louie Zamperini was a courageous and strong man that went through a lot in his brutal life and even after his death, he still manages to inspire people in many ways. His life was never what he expected, but even after everything he