Louis Zamperini was born in Olean, Ne York on January 26, 1917. After Louis developed Pneumonia in 1919, his family moved to Torrance, California, where Louis would live till he got drafted as an airman in the army. Once in the army, Louis manned a gun aboard the plane Super Man. After a battle, the Super Man was in no shape to fly. In need of a plane, the team was assigned to an undependable plane called the Green Hornet. Sure enough, Louis was in the middle of a rescue mission when his plane crashed into the ocean. Only two other crewmen survived, Russell Allen Phillips "Phil" and Francis McNamara "Mac". They ended up floating for forty-seven days, during which they survived on a few fish, and the birds that landed on the two rafts. Mac died during this journey. Louis and Phil were slowly starving to death, and it was a miracle they had survived for as long as they did. After being captured, they were sent to many prison and punishment camps. The camps were horrible terrible places, where they had almost no food, and were worked ruthlessly day after day after day. Louis in particular was picked on, by a brutal tyrant called The Bird. Finally, Louis was set free when the war ended.
But this is not the only reason that I consider Louis Zamperini to be a hero. The thing is, after he survived all this torcher, he went through a span of depression, alcoholism, so severe he almost killed himself several times, and threatened his marriage. Its amazing, though because he got a grip on himself and raised himself from perdition. He did this by attending several sermons in L.A. After this he started to toar the world, speaking of his experience. He also started a camp for juvenile delinquent boys. he got countless medels for his efforts, and was praised almost every day. Louis passed away just last week, after leading an extremely inspirational and active life.
I found out about him by a required reading book, Unbroken, By Laura Hillenbrand. I would recommend it to anyone.
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