Many years ago when I was a young teenager, I read "The Great Escape." I also read another book, but I don't remember the name of it. These two books were biographies about World War II German prison camps. They fascinated and frightened me. Now, this many years later, reading a similar story unfolded in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I found it almost impossible to read. What difference do so many years make? I wondered this same thing as I tried to watch "Hunger Games" on TV. Sitting there with my children who seemed to be eating it up, I couldn't make it through the show. The subject matter was horrible. The amount of suffering inflicted and fear put in the hearts of those children was unbearable to watch. I had the same feelings as I was reading this book, "Unbroken." Many times I wondered if I shouldn't continue because my nervous system was in pain. I will not be viewing the movie, as a precise image would probably send me for a loop. I read it at work between calls, so 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes at a time is probably what saved me, but it was fascinating...
The story set forth in "Unbroken" is about Louis Zamperini, a bombardier in World War II whose plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He and two others lived through the crash to be able to float for days on life rafts to then be captured by the Japanese. The story was presented extremely well, artistically and meticulously, by the author, Laura Hillenbrand.
The story began with a description of his childhood which showed how he had the background to be able to survive such an ordeal. The word used in the book to describe his childhood was that he was a "delinquent." He could steal a freshly baked apple pie out of the neighbor's house without anyone's knowing. He was always in trouble, and everyone in his town hated him. As I read, I remember feeling an aversion for him; I was amazed at how the author had painted a picture of this person so that I felt what the townspeople were feeling.
Finally, his older brother took charge of him and convinced him to focus on sports, specifically track, and through intense training, Louis Zamperini became a candidate for the Olympics. Weeks before he was to enter his second Olympics, he was called up to war.
Louie, his nickname, decided to serve in the United States Army Air Corps. After months of training as a bombardier, his group was sent to the Pacific Islands. They had gone on several campaigns to take out the Japanese, but the one that downed Louie's plane was a search party to rescue a lost plane and crew. In the process their plane went down as well. I tend to think that it would not have happened if they had been in a reliable plane. The "Green Hornet" wasn't sound, everyone knew that, but the commanding officer ordered it, so they went.
Once in the water, Louie seemed to have drowned. He couldn't get back to the surface. He swallowed water, he lost consciousness, but all of a sudden, he was up and out and breathing. He mentions that he didn't understand how that happened when his condition seemed doomed. Once at the surface, he went for the life rafts. He almost lost one, but all of a sudden, he noticed the rope trailing behind it, and he grabbed it. So, they had two rafts that he tied together. Phil, the pilot, and Mac also made it to the surface, and they climbed in the two rafts.
The next 47 days were spent trying to survive on the ocean. In training, the men had learned what could be done if they were found stranded in any kind of scenario, and Louie's mind was constantly working out how to eat, how to keep afloat, how to stay alive. There were a few fish hooks which they used to catch fish, but, eventually, those were gone, at which time, Louie made hooks from fish bones that they kept from the remains. All remains were put to use. Sometimes they dived for fish or simply (actually, not so simple) caught them with their hands. For weeks the sharks had been circling their rafts, and finally, Louie resolved to take one out. He figured out a way to kill the shark; a screwdriver through the eye immediately rendered it lifeless. Then, getting it in the raft, Louie set about skinning it, deboning it, and finding the liver which was the only part that was edible. They collected drinking water from dew forming or rain falling on plastic sheets because sea water is not safe to drink. With just enough food and water to maintain life, all three men became skeletons.
Whenever a plane flew overhead, means were taken to gain visibility. Unfortunately, they were too small to be seen in the huge ocean. One Japanese plane did spot them and circled them with guns blazing numerous times. Louie jumped in the ocean and hid under one of the rafts. Phil and Mac, too weak from starvation and immobility, curled up on the raft and hoped to be missed. Miraculously, all three of them survived. How that could have been possible was not known. The rafts were full of bullet holes. Louie and Phil spent the next several days bailing water and patching holes. They let one of the rafts go, and all three men now occupied the very crowded confines of one raft.
A very important part of their survival was to keep their minds active and positive. Phil and Louie spent several hours everyday tossing math problems and riddles back and forth. They recounted childhood events and army stories. They figured where they were travelling by the sun, moon, stars and flow of the ocean. They kept track of the days. Louie's mind that was so active and imaginative as a youth was put to the test in this experience. Mac, on the other hand, didn't participate. He had no hope for survival, and he dwindled daily. He did eventually die, and they buried his body at sea. It was providential, I believe, that all sea life left his body alone.
Perhaps it is obvious that they were being divinely protected, but to make Louie sure of it, near the end of their time on the ocean, he heard and saw angels singing. He asked Phil if he had heard it, but no, it was a manifestation just for Louie. Soon after this manifestation, they spotted land, and although it was several days before they reached it, their spirits were lifted.
With land came people and the wrong kind of people; Japanese prison camps were the next trial. Despite being on land, there was still little food, and treatment by guards was horrible. Louie even wished to be back on the raft. Whereas, time on the rafts was difficult, time in the camps was detrimental to self-respect. Numerous times Louie had bones broken or was rendered unconscious from beatings. Louie said, "The crash of Green Hornet had left Louie and Phil in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subjected to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live. One American airman, shot down and relentlessly debased by his Japanese captors, described the state of mind that his captivity created: 'I was literally becoming a lesser human being.'"
Phil and Louie were separated into individual jail cells and then into completely different camps, and Louie didn't know how Phil fared until he returned home. I confess I had to look at the end of the story to ease my mind before I could continue on in the story, and he did marry the girl who was waiting for him.
Finally, the war ended, and they were freed. It took years to get Louie's digestive system working properly - amazing how resilient the human body is. He had many emotional problems to contend with upon his return, but when he eventually remembered the goodness of God in protecting his life, that God loved him and felt he had worth, rather than the hatefulness of the Japanese guards and even the errors of the American military leaders, he began to heal. He turned his life over to God and Christ and encouraged others to do the same. I'm sure that our Heavenly Father is pleased with how he used his talents, how he never gave up, how he honored the Lord despite all. He married, had children, embarked on a motivational speaking career, and became famous for his war exploits. In 2014 he died at the age of 97; once sure that he would soon be dead, he ended up living a good long life.
It is of note that the author, Laura Hillenbrand, was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome while she was writing this book which took several years, 2002-2010, to accomplish. Unable to leave her house for years, she pushed forward in the task of gathering facts. Now, her health is not so precarious, but it is not surprising to me that forces might not want this story uncovered. If there is "anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy," which things testify of God and Christ, the adversary would not want them to go forth. Francis Webster, a member of the Martin Handcart Company, stated concerning that experience, “Everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities [greatest suffering].” The Lord has promised that if you are true and faithful, the Lord himself may be “in your midst and ye cannot see me.” (D&C 38:7.) Even if you do not see him, he can “be on your right hand and on your left, and [his] Spirit shall be in your hearts,” and the angels will be “round about you, to bear you up.” (D&C 84:88.) Without a doubt, the angels and the Lord's Spirit were with Louie and the other men.
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