Louis Zamperini: Biography

Louis Zamperini, whose biography is described in this article, is not only a famous athlete. He spent several years in the Japanese POW camps. And was awarded the attention of Adolf Hitler and a personal meeting with him, winning the final race at the Olympic Games in 1936. In addition to the above, Louis Zamperini can be considered a long-lived. He died at the age of 97 years.

Louis Zamperini's slogan "Not to retreat and not give up" was observed all my life. He urged people to achieve their goals. And he was a fine example, having an unruly spirit, an inner unbending bar and nobility.

Childhood

Zamperini Louis was born on January 26, 1917 in the USA, in Orleans. His parents were Italian immigrants from Verona. Louis had an older brother, Pete. When the youngest Zamperin was two years old, he and his brother became seriously ill. Doctors strongly advised to change the climate. As a result, Anthony Zamperini decided to move to another American state.

They left to live in warmer California, in Torrance, in 1919. Cases when Louis could lose his life, haunted him since childhood. Once he almost stayed in a burning house when his father accidentally pulled out a pillow instead of his son during a fire. But managed to come back and save Louis. Another time, he managed to dive into the pool and nearly drown, although his mother, Louise, held him at that moment by the hand, talking with her friends.

At this time, Louis was just starting to speak English, which made it harder for him to study at school. And local hooliganism because of this did not give passage. Then the father of Louis taught him to defend several boxing tricks. And the hooligans got a decent rebuff. Zamperini started smoking from the age of five. But it all changed when Louis went into the sport. He has a lot of fans, and he became very popular among the fair sex.

Education

The school of Louis Zamperini, whose photo is in this article, graduated in 1936. Later he studied at the University of California. At the end of the summer, Louis graduated from summer school and entered the list of the top fifteen graduates. He could hit the target with an error of only 15 meters.

Sports career

Sports Zamperini began to study since childhood. After the father taught his son boxing techniques to protect himself from hooligan peers, Louis's fights caused an obvious undying interest. He began to drag the girls by their hair, to steal with their friends. Once, at the full speed of the train, Louis and his friends threw out two homeless people from the train. As a result, Zamperini came to the attention of the police. Therefore, so that he does not go on a bad road, Pete (brother Zamperini) decided to enthrall his sport.

When Louis presented at one of the competitions his school, he first heard from peers the words of support, and not abuse. This was a turning point in his life. Louis Zamperini abandoned all his bad deeds and bad habits. Over time, it turned out that he has clear abilities.

Thanks to persistent trainings, he achieved good success in track and field athletics. Louis not only performed at school competitions, but also set a world record among students, was able to run a mile in just 4 minutes 21.2 seconds. And a minute after the stop, without catching his breath, he was able to give an interview to reporters. Thanks to his success in sports, Louis subsequently received a good scholarship at the University of California.

After Zamperini got into the Olympic team, at the age of 19 he already began to gain world fame, having shown in the qualifying competitions a result equal to the records of record holder Don Lash. And this opened the way to the Olympic Games, which took place in Berlin. True, both rivals had no chances to win a 5-kilometer distance, but Zamperini did not give up.

As a result, he was able to get the 8th place in the overall standings. But he excelled at one of the stages of the competition, running the specified distance in just 56 seconds. And this interested Adolf Hitler, who insisted on a personal meeting. In the winter of 1998, Zamperini participated in the relay torch at the Olympics, held in Nagano.

The sports career of Louis was completed in 1940. Then in Tokyo, the Olympic Games were canceled. Plus, the doctors found pleurisy in Zamperini. For several months the doctors treated the athlete for other diseases, failing to make an accurate diagnosis. And at this time, he trained and won Louis almost only on one easy. After the definitive diagnosis of sports, Zamperini had to be forgotten.

Military service

After the end of his sports career, Louis Zamperini did not work for a long time in the freight forwarding company. Then, in 1941, he was drafted into the army, the US Air Force. He received the rank of second lieutenant and was sent to serve in the Pacific Ocean, on the island of Funafuti. I flew on a B-24 bomber.

Air crash

During one of the operations, the plane fell into an open ocean, near Oahu. There were eleven people in the crew. Of these, 8 died during the crash of the aircraft immediately. There were three left who were in the open ocean and far from the earth. From the plane during the fall, life-rafts were thrown out. And it was a little chance to stay alive and try to get out on land.

The pilots started fighting for survival, managing to fish and eat it raw. A little later they were able to catch two albatrosses. Reserves of water were replenished only during the rains. The pilots were constantly rescued from the attack of sharks, who pursued them, sensing the blood, and experienced not one stormy storm. Once they were even fired upon by a Japanese bomber. Subsequently, Louis Zamperini, a film based on the ordeals of which was shot by Angelina Jolie, became the prototype of the protagonist.

In captivity with the Japanese

As a result, only two survived - Zamperini and Phillips. They were able to reach the Marshall Islands in only 46 days. And there they immediately fell into captivity to the Japanese. The pilots were kept in terrible conditions. The pilots were constantly subjected to severe beatings, humiliation. They were hardly fed, and the food was one that even cattle were not given. The prisoners died from epidemics and experiments, which the Japanese put above people.

And Zamperini "was lucky" also to fall into the hands of M. Watanabe, who was famous for his cruelty and later became one of the forty most dangerous criminals of Japan. But Louis Zamperini was able even in such intolerable conditions to maintain his dignity and firmness of spirit.

In captivity, he was two years. Thanks to the recipes of Italian cuisine, which he shared with other prisoners of war, Zamperini was able to help keep the mind clear and survive many prisoners.

Return from captivity

When Louis disappeared, at first he was listed as missing. And in 1944 he was officially recognized dead. His mother received a letter of condolences, signed by Roosevelt, who was then president. Zamperini returned from the Japanese camps to his homeland only in 1945, when Japan capitulated. And immediately became a real hero. His return was a surprise to all. Laura Hillenbrand, compatriot Zamperini, wrote about him in 2010 a book.

Personal life

Louis Zamperini met with Cynthia Applewite immediately after his miraculous return from captivity. And in 1946 he married her. Marriage was happy. True, not without a spoonful of tar. Zamperins were tormented by nightmares, in which torture was seen in Japanese camps, and more often the main torturer was M. Watanabe. Louis started drinking and nearly lost his family. One night, during another nightmare, he nearly strangled his own wife.

After that she advised the husband of pastor Billy Graham. Soon the relationship was normal, nightmares retreated, and the couple lived together until 2001, until the death of Cynthia. The loss of his wife for Zamperini was a great psychological blow. For some time he struggled with post-traumatic syndrome. But there were children - a daughter and a son. And they also helped my father postpone the loss of his beloved woman.

Zamperini preacher

In curing Louis of anguish helped by religion. He became a Christian and often listened to the speeches of Bill Graham, who made from Zampperini an excellent preacher. He often devoted his speeches to forgiveness. Over time, he was able to return to one of the Japanese prisons and officially forgave his sins to his former warders and torturers who themselves became prisoners. And the son and grandson did not allow him to meet with Louis's chief torturer.

Louis Zamperini and Angelina Jolie: the eternal memory of the hero

After the release of the book about Zamperini, his story simply shocked Angelina Jolie, and she wanted to film about Louis the film. Having received the approval of the producers, she began working on the picture "Unshaken". At first I studied in detail the biography of Zamperini, spending hours in the library. But most of the information she derived from friendship with Louis himself, having learned many unpublished facts from his biography. The picture was released in 2014.

End of life path

Louis Zamperini, David Rensin - authors of the book, which describes the lessons of perseverance and courage. It contains incredible stories that describe the power of the human spirit. Whatever negative events happen to him in life, Louis always smiled at failures. Zamperini died in the summer of 2014, at the age of 97 years. The reason is pneumonia, which for the first time almost killed him for another two years. Before the movie, Louis did not live to see it.