Louis Zamperini's Life And Accomplishments

Louis Zamperini was born the second of four children on January 26, 1917 in Olean New York, and later moved to Torrance California. In his childhood, Zamperini smoked and drank. Zamperini wean to Torrance High School in California. There, Zamperini set the national high school record of 4 min 21.2 seconds, and the record stood for 20 years. In 1936, Zamperini went to New York for Olympic trials, and made the 5000- meter race.

On May 27, 1943 a United States B-24 bomber fell from the sky and crash landed in the Pacific Ocean 850 miles south of Hawaii. Eight of its passengers died, leaving the remaining three stranded in the ocean for forty-seven days until they reached land, but only to be captured by the Japanese. Among the survivors of this tragic accident was an Olympic distance runner. Louis Silvie Zamperini, second son to Anthony Zamperini and Louise Dossi, was born on January 26, 1917 in Olean, New York. He grew up in Torrance, California, where he became a sort of delinquent.

For years, until Pete graduated, Louis got into trouble at every turn, because he felt that he was being overshadowed. When Pete, who decided to go the college for track, finally recognized the potential in Louis as a runner, he began to encourage him to start training for track and to set his sights as a grand runner. When Louis, began to run, he felt exhilarated

Pete, Zamperini’s brother ran track and persuaded Zamperini to start track. Zamperini was a star at track breaking all of Pete’s records and setting new ones including a four minute twenty-one second mile time which would stay for twenty years. At the age of eighteen, Zamperini got accepted into the University of Southern California or USC, and at the age of nineteen Zamperini went to the Olympic trials. At the Olympic trials which was in New York it was one of the hottest summers, and many people were collapsing from heat strokes, and forty died. But Zamperini pulled through, and tied with American record holder Don Lash which qualified Zamperini for the 1936 Berlin summer Olympic games.

She did an absolutely wonderful job of creating this time period with just her words and it’s one of my favorite things about this book. The As a boy, Louie Zamperini was always in trouble, but with the help of his older brother, he turned his life around and channeled his energy into running. He set his first record in high school, “He ran a field of milers off their feet, stopping the watches in 5:03. Three seconds faster than Pete’s record. ”(17)

Later on in life too he was still running a few miles a day and he was around 60 at that time, which showed it kept him healthy and happy. Running and the Olympics had a huge and long lasting impact of Louie Zamperinis life from making him incredibly happy at times to deeply depressed at others. It all depended on running for him, it drove him to do things and empowered him to go beyond boundaries people haven’t even thought of going beyond. Overall though it had a positive effect on his life because if he had not have gotten into running he would have probably been doing criminal acts and be in prison, so it is a good thing he straightened

Zamperini did many bad things, as he got older he started

Louie Zamperini was stranded in the middle of the ocean, on a raft for 47 days, then endured over 2 abusive years in POW camps. Louie was born a troublemaker and became a troublesome boy, but his brother, Pete, led him into the career of running, which loomed in his life until he passed. Later, he enlisted into the army and his bomber went down, Louie and Phil made it to Japanese camps, unlike the third crewmate, and luckily survived the harsh treatments of the camps for 2 years. Louie came back to America and decided to live his life to the fullest and take nothing for granted. In the novel Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, she uses Louie’s real life experiences to show his two most important traits: courageousness and determination.

The book begins with Louis troublesome childhood and then proceeds to expand on how he got into track and the ramifications it had on his life. Next, Louis continues to compete in the Olympic trials and eventually the Berlin Olympics. Louis had great aspirations of winning the Olympics after his failure in Berlin. Unfortunately, Zamperini never quite achieved this goal due to the cancellation of the 1940 Tokyo Olympics. Thus, Zamperini enlisted in the army and became a bombardier.

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Louis was surrounded by sharks and had no food. He often had to punch the sharks so he would stay alive. To gain confidence and allow himself to keep going, he would often think to himself that “I’ve worked so hard to be where I am now, I can not give up…” (Hillenbrand 191). Louis was determined to never give up and to keep fighting.

“To persevere, I think, is important for everybody. Don’t give up, don’t give in. There’s always an answer to everything”-Louie Zamperini. This man, Louie Zamperini was a bombardier for the US in World War II. He and his crew were shot down and forced to survive at sea for forty six days.

Determination is something displayed by Louie Zamperini all throughout the novel, from his career as an athlete to his journey in the Japanese prison camps. One part in this book where Louie shows he is determined is when he strives to go to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Instead of trying out for the mile event, he starts training

Louie Zamperini went through more pain and suffering than most people will ever endure in their entire life. In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini was an Olympic runner. He was drafted during World War II . During the war, his plane crashed in the middle of the ocean and he was stranded with little resources to survive. This book follows his incredible story battling starvation and abuse in Prisoner of War camps (POW).

Louie Zamperini was a remarkable man, soldier, and survivor. Growing up a slipshod child in California, Louie learned to push himself on the track. The “Torrance Tornado” was destined for the Olympics. His career was abruptly stopped in 1940 when Adolf Hitler and his regime destroyed the Olympic stadium in Finland. With his dream diminished, he became a bombardier for the U.S. Army during World War II.