Louis Zamperini's War Survival Epic

In the 1930s, Louis Zamperini ran for the United States at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, then served as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, surviving one crash landing before a second B-24 crash in the Pacific left him and two crewmates drifting on a life raft.

He spent 47 days at sea battling hunger, thirst, storms, and circling sharks before Japanese forces captured him and took him to Kwajalein, nicknamed “Execution Island,” where many prisoners were killed. In the Japanese POW camps, he endured years of brutal beatings, forced labor, and psychological torture at the hands of his guards. Zamperini somehow survived the war, returned home, and lived to the age of 97, dying in 2014.

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