Zamperini, Louis (1917-2014), was a United States athlete and military officer. Zamperini represented the United States at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics before serving as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II (1939-1945). In 1943, Zamperini survived the crash of his plane in the Pacific Ocean , a lengthy time lost at sea, and more than two years of captivity as a prisoner of war (POW). After the war, Zamperini became a Christian evangelist (preacher) and inspired others with his life story of strength and endurance.
Louis Silvie Zamperini was born on Jan. 26, 1917, in Olean, New York , in the East Coast region of the United States. His father was an Italian immigrant, and his mother was half Italian. In 1919, his parents decided to move the family to the West Coast. Louis grew up in Torrance, California , near Los Angeles . He excelled as a distance runner in high school, earning a track scholarship to the University of Southern California . In 1936, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the 5000-meter race and traveled with the team to Germany . He finished eighth in the race but impressed German Chancellor Adolf Hitler , who shook Zamperini’s hand and congratulated his effort.
Zamperini joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, earning a commission as a second lieutenant. On December 7, Japan ’s attack on Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , pulled the United States into World War II. Zamperini was soon sent to the Pacific, where he served as a bombardier aboard a B-24 Liberator airplane. On May 27, 1943, Zamperini’s Liberator suffered mechanical failure and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He spent 47 days at sea before reaching the Marshall Islands , where the Japanese captured him and the Liberator’s pilot, Russell Phillips. The only other crew member to survive the crash had died on their 33rd day at sea. Zamperini and Phillips then endured more than two years of brutal treatment in POW camps until the Japanese agreed to surrender to the United States and its allies in August 1945.
After the war, Zamperini returned to California. In 1946, he married Cynthia Applewhite. The couple had one daughter and one son.
Zamperini’s wartime experiences troubled him, however, and he turned to religion for comfort. He became a Christian evangelist, stressing the importance of forgiveness. In 1950, Zamperini returned to Japan to forgive his captors. In 1998, he returned again to carry the Olympic torch before the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in the Japanese city of Nagano.
Zamperini’s memoir, Devil at My Heels, was first published in 1956 and then in an expanded edition in 2003. Zamperini was the subject of the American author Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 best-selling book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, which was adapted into the motion picture Unbroken (2014). Zamperini died in Los Angeles on July 2, 2014, several months before the film was released.
