This Independence Day will be celebrated without one of America’s most remarkably heroes. Louis Zamperini passed away this week at the age of 97. The subject of the upcoming film “Unbroken” (directed by Angelina Jolie), Zamperini had an incredible life as an Olympic track and field star who went on to survive a harrowing two years as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.
The son of Italian immigrants, Zamperini received a scholarship to USC on a track and field scholarship. At just 19, he ran for the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. While he placed 8th, his final lap in the 5,000 meter race was an astonishing 56 seconds. Watching the run, Adolph Hitler asked for a personal meeting with him. Zamperini would later fight in World War II when he became a bombardier and his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean while looking for a downed B-25. Eight out of 11 men were killed and Zamperini and another man drifted for 47 days on a small rubber raft in shark-infested waters.
He was captured by the Japanese after he reached the Marshall Islands and tortured savagely for two years.
When he returned to the United States, he suffered from post traumatic disorder. However, he would later returned to Japan to carry the Olympic torch at the Nagano Games. After becoming a born-again Christian, Zamperini set out to forgive those who tortured him. In 1950, he went to Sugamo Prison in Tokyo to meet and hug some of the war criminals from this POW camp.
At age 81, Zamperini — a five-time Olympic torch-bearer — ran a leg in the torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano. He used the trip to try to meet with his most brutal tormentor during the war, Mutsuhiro (“The Bird”) Watanabe. Watanabe is an absolute monster who was never prosecuted as a war criminal. He refused to meet with Zamperini and later gave an interview where he refused to apologize to him, stating “I wasn’t given military orders. Because of my own personal feelings, I treated the prisoners strictly as enemies of Japan.”
In May, Zamperini was selected to be grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California.
On this Independence Day, Zamperini’s extraordinary life is a reminder of those who gave up so much to maintain this Republic.
Source: LA Times
“….so you all can have your Hate the USA Parade on the 4th.”
What are you talking about, Nick? Listen, buddy, one might say that you’re overly invested in these threads, topics, etc. “Get a life” and some friends, one might say. And stop pointin’ the old finger at others, while taking a close look at yourself.
There are American Heroes.
There are no war heroes.
There are no war heroes.
——————————–
That is truth.
There are only young, naive men trying to survive the decisions of our “wise, old men”.
There are no war heroes.
99, No, but that’s what’s great when you get kids thinking, not telling them what to think like so many teachers do. One freewheeling discussion did bring out most students thought Japan would have gone nuclear on us in a heartbeat. Few could disagree w/ that. And, we did get onto the topic if Hitler had nuclear arms and again, they thought he would have used it on anyone. Again, hard to argue w/ that.
99, We will respectfully disagree. We have many German Americans where I taught. I would ask my junior and senior students if they thought we would have dropped the bomb on Germany. I think we would not have. They had some interesting answers. I do agree we wanted to show our toy and let Stalin know we beat him in the race to build the bomb.
Hi Nick
Did you ask the students if WWII Germany would have dropped atomic bombs on Europe ? On the UK ? On America ?
Would Japan have dropped atomic bombs on America ?
Would Stalin have used atomic bombs ?
Gus in Denver
Nick I respectfully disagree ……… the atomic bombs did not end the war…. they were war toys rushed into action to see what they could do….. if the USG waited much longer , they would not have been able to use them. Both the U.S. and Japan had leaders that were crazy. Imagine if the populations of both countries ignored their sabre rattling minorities. Imagine if Germans did not fall for the speeches of Hitler. Imagine the First ( and only ) Commandment …. “Leave thy neighbor alone”
The Japanese were poised to execute every US prisoner. Then the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs ended the war.
This is Louis Zamperini’s second official death. He was declared dead during the War. FDR later apologized to his parents when he was found alive, WEIGHING 80 LBS, from being starved and tortured. Louis was treated even worse than his fellow soldiers because the Japanese knew he was an Olympic hero. I know the ungrateful haters won’t read Unbroken so I decided to give a few tidbits. It won’t make any difference. “Haters gotta hate.” Hate me for telling you about this great man.
Much More love for Trayvon than Louis. Well, Louis spent 2 years in hell so you all can have your Hate the USA Parade on the 4th. Direct all your venom @ me, haters, leave Louis to rest in peace. He earned it in spades. Read Unbroken.
Guess I hit a nerve. I guess someone whose job required the asking of many questions would know that there are stupid questions. I tended to be one providing answers and didn’t find the questions to be stupid.
I thought a bombardier would have caused serious pain and injury.
I did miss that he passed this week. My sympathies to his family and friends.
“This is the USA and it’s our birthday!”
Grow up.
Correction for a typo ………
I think the rush to “bring the ______* to justice” is a tad too recursive. It resembles the Hatfield-McCoy feud. If no one ever stops to take a breath …… then it is hard to think about how similarly both** sides of a conflict view the situation.
*( fill in the blank )
**( there may be more than two sides )
I am more interested in seeing atrocities “stop” …. than in seeing the guilty punished.
I think the rush to “bring the ______ to justice” is a tad too recursive. It resembles the Hatfield-McCoy feud. If no one ever stops to take a breath …… then it is hard to think about how similarly both** sides of a conflict view the situation.
*( fill in the blank )
**( there may be more than two sides )
I am more interested in seeing atrocities “stop” …. than in seeing the guilty punished.
And some people don’t know when to STFU.
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/07/04/louis-zamperini-olympian-and-war-hero-dies-at-97/#comment-1211166
I’ll second that.
Show me where he has written, without equivocation, “Bush and Cheney are war criminals and should be prosecuted as such.”
No, his wording is always very careful never to directly label our past leaders accurately. He notes their support of torture and how torture is a war crime, but never takes the final step to label them war criminals.
It’s much safer to accurately label atrocities from WWII then those of the past 10 years.
Did you read Unbroken? Of course you didn’t!
Tryp, You’re obviously new here. JT has been in the forefront regarding US and torture.
I know you won’t read the book. So, here’s a short answer. Louis was on a search and rescue mission for his countrymen when he was shot down. I don’t know to whom he would apologize. But, you might want to consider apologizing to his family and friends for your insensitive and stupid question.