Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (also the author of Seabiscuit) is an amazing true story of Louis Zamperini. A rambunctious child, turned Olympic medal winner and armed services veteran held as World War II prisoner of war by the Japanese.
This book resonated a lot of connections for me. First, my husband is involved with horse racing. I read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand and saw the movie. It was quite a moral booster for all the people in that industry. During the Great Depression, people were looking for an entertainment escape and often found it at the racetrack. Seabiscuit drew thousands of spectators to the sport of kings because he was an underdog that flourished under the right kind of training and circumstances. After that inspiring story and a recommendation from Mrs. Bonsen, I couldn't resist reading Unbroken.
Louis Zamperini was slated to be the first human to break a 4-minute mile. Unfortunately war got in the way and he was drafted into the armed services. This is where I started to relate to the places in his story. He trained a little in Ephrata, WA not too far from Selah. While in Hawaii, Zamperini touched the soil of my own beginnings in Kahuku (where I went to high school from 7th-9th grade) Ewa beach, Honolulu, and Kualoa (Chinaman's Hat island is located right off shore there).
This summer, I also visited Wendover, Nevada where the atomic bombs, Little Boy and Big Boy, were held for a time before they were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wendover is in the middle of NOWHERE. It used to be the ultimate armed forces training facility. They hold a couple of car races each year on the salt flats in that area. (Off topic, I know, but it was cool!) I also bought a T-shirt for veterans day that shows I visited Wendover.
When Zamperini's plane crashed in the ocean, only three made it to the survival rafts. After many days at sea, they lost one of the three men and eventually were picked up by the Japanese. Held as prisoners of war the atrocities performed by the captors made me sick. I had heard of the unjust internment camps in Washington and California, but none of my textbooks talked about how awful the prisoners of war were treated by the Japanese. Maybe I just didn't pay attention because I grew up with a mix of races, or maybe my teenage brain got in the way. Heck, I didn't put together that my dad was one year old, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, until I was into my teaching career. Sometimes we are just not ready for the information put in front of us.
A movie on this amazing story is slated to release on Christmas Day. It is directed by Angelina Jolie. Louis Zamperini died last month on July 2nd.
