Louis Zamperini
Louis “Louie” Zamperini- (January 26, 1917 – July 2, 2014) Olympic athlete, author, WWII POW and survivor. That line says a lot, right? Louis Zamperini is an example of an American hero because he demonstrates courage, perseverance and faith. Let me give you some background here.
Biography
Louis was born in NY in 1917. He was raised in Torrance, CA, arriving there in 1919. He was the son of Italian immigrants and had 3 siblings, one older brother and 2 younger sisters. When Louis and his family arrived in CA none of them knew how to speak English which made them a target for bullies. Louis had been trained in self-defense boxing. In his autobiography he was quoted saying "I was so good at it that I started relishing the idea of getting even. I was sort of addicted to it." (Zamperini & Rensin, 2003). Needless to say, Louis learned to fight at a young age, which resulted in him getting into trouble. He started picking fights just for the sake of seeing if he’d win. As a way of keeping him out of trouble in high school his brother encouraged him to become involved in the track team with him. He would train Louis and time his running. Louis was good but his brother told…show more content… He was a bombardier on a B-52. During a bombing mission his plane got badly damaged and could no longer fly. In 1943 Louis and other crew members were assigned the task of conducting a search for a lost plane and the crew. Because their plane was no longer operational they were given another plane which was defected, but operational. On May 27th, 1943 the crew experienced technical difficulties and crashed into the middle of the ocean. Eight of the 11 crew members died on impact. The 3 survivors managed to salvage a small raft. With very little food Louis survived an excruciating 47 days at sea. Unfortunately, 1 mate passed on the 33rd day. “We slipped him overboard, a burial at sea,” (Zamperini & Rensin,
