Louis Zamperini

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis Zamperini in May 2014 at the announcement of his honorary position as Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade 2015

Louis "Lou" Silvie Zamperini (born January 26, 1917 in Olean , New York , † July 2, 2014 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American athlete who took part in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . During World War II , he served aboard a bomber in the Pacific War . After the plane crashed, he survived in a lifeboat for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese. After the end of the war he turned to the revival movement and appeared mainly as a motivational speaker.

In 2010 Laura Hillenbrand published Zamperini's biography Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption , which became a bestseller and was filmed in 2013/14 by Angelina Jolie under the title Unbroken .

Life

youth

Zamperini was born in Olean, New York , in 1917 to the Italian couple Anthony and Louise Zamperini. The family moved to Torrance , California in the 1920s , where Zamperini attended Torrance High School . Since he initially only spoke Italian, he was often harassed by his classmates, which is why he soon learned to box and was more often involved in fights.

To save him from further trouble, his older brother took him to the school's track team. In 1934, he set a high school world record at the California Interscholastic Federation's CIF California State Meet when he ran a mile in 4:21.20 minutes. Zamperini's record was broken only after 20 years.

A week later he ran the mile in a time of 4: 27.8 minutes and won the championship, which earned him a scholarship to the University of Southern California .

Olympic participation

In 1936 he was appointed to the US track and field team.

At the Olympic Games of the United States in Randalls Island he was second over 5000 meters , at the same time as the winner Donald Lash , and thus qualified for participation in the Olympic Games in Berlin .

In the 5000 meter run, Zamperini was the youngest participant. He crossed the finish line in eighth place with his personal best of 14: 46.8 min, but he ran his last lap in 56 seconds, which caught the attention of Adolf Hitler , who later personally congratulated Zamperini on his run.

In 1938 Zamperini set a national college sport record over a mile with 4: 08.3 min, which was to last for 15 years and earned him the nickname "Torrance Tornado".

Military service in World War II

Zamperini looks through the hole in his B-24D Liberator Super Man , which was caused by a 20 mm projectile over Nauru (April 8, 1943)

In September 1941, Zamperini joined the United States Army Air Forces . After his promotion to Second Lieutenant in August 1942, he was transferred to Hawaii , where he took part in numerous missions as a crew member of a B-24 . As a result of a mechanical malfunction, the aircraft crashed on May 27, 1943 during a rescue flight for a missing machine on the way from Kualoa Airfield on Oahu to Palmyra , killing eight crew members.

Zamperini and two other survivors were able to save themselves in a boat. After the few water bottles and chocolate bars in the boat were used up, they ate themselves on fish and birds they had caught themselves and drank collected rainwater. A Japanese plane shelled and severely damaged the boat floating in the Pacific , but none of the men were killed. On the 33rd day, the rear gunner Francis "Mac" McNamara died.

On the 47th day, Zamperini and the other survivor, pilot Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips, reached the Wotje atoll of the Marshall Islands , where they were directly captured by the Japanese . His family believed he had fallen. Zamperini remained in Japanese captivity until the end of the war . In the Ōfuna camp he met the fighter pilot Gregory Boyington , among others . Boyington later mentioned Zamperini in his book Baa Baa Black Sheep .

In September 1945 it was announced that Zamperini was still alive. After press reports in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , he returned to the United States as a war hero.

post war period

The attempt to continue his sports career failed because of an injury sustained in the Japanese captivity. In 1946 he married Cynthia Applewhite, with whom he lived until her death in 2001. He had two children. His daughter, Cynthia Garris, was an actress. Zamperini's son-in-law is the film director and screenwriter Mick Garris .

At the Los Angeles Crusade organized by the revival preacher Billy Graham in 1949, Zamperini got to know the revival movement and in the following years was mainly active as a Christian speaker. In his speeches, he particularly addressed the subject of forgiveness . Among other things, Zamperini met numerous guards from the prisoner-of-war camp where he was imprisoned during World War II.

On the occasion of his 81st birthday, Zamperini took part in the Olympic torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano , Japan in January 1998 . In March 2005 he visited the Olympiastadion Berlin again . Zamperini died on July 2, 2014 at the age of 97 in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia .

Zamperini outlived his three siblings. His older brother Pete (born May 24, 1915 in Dunkirk , New York ) died on May 15, 2008 in San Clemente , California . His sister Sylvia (born January 30, 1918) died on October 28, 2008. His youngest sister, Virginia, who was born on September 19, 1923, died on July 29, 2008 in Littleton , Colorado .

Honors

Zamperini Stadium

In the 1960s, the Torrance airfield was named after him Zamperini Field .

The sports field at Torrance High School is named after him, Zamperini Stadium .

In October 2008, Zamperini was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame .

reception

Zamperini's memoirs form the basis for three books about his experiences, the first two of which are entitled Devil at My Heels . The first book was written with Helen Itria as co-author , appeared for the first time in 1956 and was also published in German translation under the title The Devil on the Heels . David Rensin co-authored the second book in 2003. Also with David Rensin as co-author, the memory book Don't Give Up, Don't Give In was written, which appeared in 2014 shortly after Zamperini's death.

2010 wrote Laura Hillenbrand Zamperinis biography titled Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (German title. Inflexible ). It became a bestseller and was voted Best Nonfiction Book of 2010 by Time Magazine .

The book was filmed in 2013/14 by Angelina Jolie under the title Unbroken . Zamperini is played by the actors Jack O'Connell (as an adult) and CJ Valleroy (as a child).

In 2015, the Christian documentary Captured by Grace Zamperini was dedicated to the life. In 2018, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, a sequel to Angelina Jolie's film Unbroken, was released . The feature film, directed by Harold Cronk , is based on the final chapters of Hillenbrand's novel Unyielding . The main role was played by the actor Samuel Hunt .

literature

Web links

Commons : Louis Zamperini  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b TRACK AND FIELD; Not Yet Ready for His Last Mile , New York Times, February 15, 2003, accessed October 11, 2013
  2. a b c The Great Zamperini ( Memento of the original from November 5, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: USC News, 2003, accessed October 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.usc.edu
  3. ^ Richard Hymans: The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field. (PDF; 4.1 MB) in: usatf.org, 2008, accessed on October 11, 2013
  4. A Veteran's Life ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 369 kB) in: Franklin County Veterans Journal, 2006, accessed October 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.franklincountyohio.gov
  5. Ira Berkow: Louis Zamperini, Olympian and 'Unbroken' War Survivor, Dies at 97th obituary in The New York Times, July 3, 2014, accessed July 3, 2014.
  6. Time's Top 10 of Everything for 2010 in: Time, accessed October 11, 2013
  7. Unbroken in the Internet Movie Database (English) in IMDb , accessed on October 11, 2013
  8. 'Angelina's a human dynamo!' War veteran Louis Zamperini praises director Jolie as pair pose in first official image from Unbroken at dailymail.co.uk, accessed November 1, 2013