THE POP EXPOSE – Louis Zamperini’s true story “Unbroken”!
Hello everybody. Today I take a look at the amazing life of Louis Zamperini. Born in 1917 in Olean, NY. The Zamperini family moved to California when Louis was 2 years old. His parent both came over from Italy and were strict Catholics. Louis was a bit of a troubled child growing up and got into many fights as a kid. Zamperini’s older brother got him interested in track where he would prove himself at Torrence High school. At USC Louie would be a track star and they nicknamed him the Torrance Tornado.
The Zamp another nickname went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin to compete in the men’s 5000 m race. He is the youngest athlete to ever compete in the race at age 19. Although he didn’t medal getting there at his age and setting a lap record put his name in the books. In 1941 Zamperini enlisted in the military as many men did back then. The threat of WWII crept slowly into the United States and for the most part most men and women were willing to help their country in any way possible. Zamperini was in the Army Air Force. In 1943 while on a search mission for a downed aircraft in the ocean Zamperini’s plane lost its engines and crashed into the Pacific. 3 of the 11 on board survived the crash.
Unfortunately they also lost 1 of the 3 at sea and Zamperini and Russell Philips spent 47 days adrift surviving on fish and rain water but, were found by Japanese soldiers and put into a prison camp. The 2 of them along with many other captives were forced into slave labor and beaten for no good reason. The 2014 movie “Unbroken” paints a grim but accurate picture of what Zamperini’s life was like. This is a remarkable true story of true survival and I would recommend watching this movie if you have not seen it already. If you have seen it, be sure and share your thoughts with us about the movie in the comments below! Have a great week everybody.
