Louis Zamperini

During World War II there were over 140,000 Americans in Prisoner of War camps in Japan. Louis Zamperini dealt with bullies and abuse his whole life. As a young boy, Louis was no stranger to trouble and danger, he was constantly beat up and bullied by his neighbors and classmates. He was nearly expelled and headed towards a life of crime until his brother, Pete, and mother stepped in and encouraged him to take up track. Louis quickly succeeded in his track events and eventually made it to the Olympics. However, after his Olympic games he was called into service on a bomber crew in the Pacific during World War II. One day the plane went down and Louis and two others on the plane were left stranded on a raft in the ocean for 40 days where they …show more content…
At the Prisoner of War camps in Japan, Louie and other captives were deprived of life’s basic necessities and were abused to no end. Japanese military felt no mercy for the Prisoners of War, “The guards maintained a fixed state of fury at the captives… Virtually every day, they flew into rages that usually ended in Phil and Louie being bombarded with stones and lit cigarettes, spat upon, and poked with sticks” (Hillenbrand 187). When men are so underprivileged to the point where they are being deprived of everyday necessities that humans need to survive they begin to lose their own dignity. Louie and other prisoners were oppressed of human dignity everyday as they were spat on and beaten to the point where one more hit could have killed them. The merciless Japanese may have thought that they were killing these men, when later on these severely strenuous situations built Louie to be stronger. “As dangerous as these acts were, for the POWs, they were transformative. In risking their necks to sabotage their enemy, the men were no longer passive captives. They were soldiers again” (Hillenbrand 249). This shows that the men were willing to put their lives at risk to gain their own dignity back. The guards were stripping them of their human rights and dignity, yet they still fought to succeed. Everything that Louie and the other men underwent in the camps lead them back to their original intent of being able to fight as soldiers for their country. Although Louie eventually made it back home after two years, he suffered later on with alcoholism and post traumatic stress disorder, “A flask became his constant companion, making furtive appearances in parking lots and corridors outside speaking halls. When the harsh push of memory ran through Louie, reaching for his flask became as easy as slapping a swatter on a fly” (Hillenbrand 347). This