Observation Of Omori's Life

“He past the deflated Lash, but it meant little to him. He was tired. The Finns were small and distant, much too far away to catch. He found himself thinking of Pete, and of something that he had said as they sat on their bed years earlier: A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let go.” (Page 34 paragraph 2) His father, Anthony was an Italian immigrant, he, Louie was from Olean, New York. Born January 26, 1917 Louie was the third youngest of the four Zamperini children. Louie was the troublemaker, the thief, the hot tempered bully, but he was also the youngest distance runner to make the Olympic Team in 1936. His older brother Pete was the reason for this. Since high school he had pushed Louie to practice, to get faster,

On August 26, 1943 they were transferred to Ofuna where they met Tinker and Harris, two other captives. Phil later on was taken to Ashio to mine copper. September 30, 1944 Tinker and Louie were taken to a camp in Omori where they met a psychopathic corporal named “the Bird”. All he did was beat the captives up, especially Louie. In November the captives of Omori saw their first B-29, the saviors of the war. On March second Tinker and Louie were taken to Naoetsu, sadly the Bird was sent there as well. On August 20 Louie finds out that the war is over, and on September 5 he and all the other captives are sent home (Phil also finds out, and is sent home). Now that the war was over Louie decided he wanted to settle down. Saturday May 25, 1945 Louie marries a lovely woman named Cynthia. Since his marriage Louie has gone to prisons to see the guards that abused him started a victory boy’s camp for troubled boys, and carried the Olympic torch before five different games. “Louie extended his hand, and in it was placed the Olympic torch. His legs could no longer reach and push as they once had, but they were still sure beneath him. He raised the torch, bowed, and began running.” (Page 397 paragraph