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American Hero #1
Louis Zamperini
3/1/2011 - edited 4/12/2011
Congratulations to Louis Zamperini, our American Hero #1 for 2011.
The amazing story of courage, perseverance and faith about former Olympic runner, Louis Zamperini, is masterfully retold in the current best-selling book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I bought the book for my teenage son for Christmas but decided I wanted to read it as well. It was VERY hard to put down. As of April 12, 2011 the book had been in the top four sellers of its New York Times category (non-fiction hardback) for 14 straight weeks!
It seems Louie and his fellow crew members were officially declared dead after their B-24 bomber, "The Green Hornet", crashed in the Pacific during World War II. Actually, Louie had survived and, along with another crew member, floated for 2,000 miles until they were finally rescued, as "luck" would have it, by the Japanese and sent to a horrific POW camp. They endured two years of brutal treatment by the guards, especially one they called "The Bird".
After the war ended, Louie was released and returned to the United States as a celebrated war hero. But, as the result of his experiences, he developed serious emotional problems and "learned" to cope with alcohol. It wasn't until Louie had a dramatic spiritual encounter, after attending a Billy Graham crusade, that he was able to forgive his captors and get some relief from bitterness and alcohol. Remarkably, Louie eventually traveled back to Japan to meet and forgive his former captors.
I am deeply grateful that Mr. Zamperini (now age 94) and the incredibly talented author of Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand (who also wrote another # 1 best-seller, Seabiscuit), decided to recreate Louie's story in such a compelling, accurate and inspirational manner. Great pains were taken to get the facts correct as evidenced by the time it took to complete the work ... seven years.
Watch a short video about Louis Zamperini's story of
perseverance, faith, and courage
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