World War II shocked the world with violent fighting, genocide and the destruction of many cities, towns and communities. Several inspiring stories are being uncovered from all the negative conflict, including the story of Louie Zamperini. His extraordinary war story was essentially unheard of until now, as author Lauren Hillenbrand managed to document Zamperini’s story when he was in his 80’s.

The story of the 1936 Olympic runner is quite an unique tale. Born on January 26 1917, in Olean, New York, Zamperini was a cocky, arrogant child that got into lots of trouble. As he grew up he turned to his brother Pete for inspiration. His older brother was a charmer, he was nice to all the girls and was a track athlete. In the past, Zamperini had broken into many homes and became quite the expert in running from the police; with his talent of running, Zamperini began to pursue track.

Hillenbrand captures how highly Zamperini was valued at the time, as he was one of the fastest mile runners in history and was nationally recognized for his near-impossible four minute mile.
Starting at his high school then to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Louie managed to run a mile in four minutes and was recognized by Adolf Hitler. Soon after Louie then became a soldier for the US Air Force in September of 1941.He was then deployed to the island Funafuti in the Pacific on a B-24 bomber plane nicknamed “SuperMan” while on their assigned mission the plane was damaged and the crew were assigned another B-24 nicknamed the “Green Hornet”. While on a mission the plane crashed near the Hawaiian island of Oahu due to mechanical failure, 8 out of the 11 crew members were killed. The remaining three were Louie, Phil and Mac.The three men managed to inflate a small life raft and survive for a month and a half by eating seabirds that used the raft as a perch and catching the occasional fish.

Hillenbrand explains in great detail exactly how the three men managed to eat and explained in detail how they were affected physically and mentally.
On the forty-seventh day out at sea, the two survivors were picked up by Japanese soldiers and taken to P.O.W. (Prisoner of War) camp. The two men were beaten and starved to near death situations in the dirtiest, coldest, inhumane conditions. One particular guard named Mutsuhiro Watanabe learned of Louie’s Olympic past and forced the weakened, starved man to run around the camp. Soon after Louie became the primary target of The Bird’s ruthless beatings and painful punishments. America finally raided Japan, all of the Prisoners of War were then rescued.
Hillenbrand captures how happy and overjoyed the men were to see the marking of American airplanes flying over Japan, seeing these planes gave the men a sense of hope.

I will rate this book a five out of five stars, Zamperini’s story is a remarkable tale about bravery, not giving up, and self reliance. Readers grasp how truly horrific World War II was with a tale from someone who went through it all and survived.

Another book similar to Unbroken includes “Seabiscuit”, Seabiscuit tells the story of a horse racing champion and his journey to becoming a national star during the Great Depression and the beginning of WW II.