![]() Zamperini in 1943 | |||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||
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Birth name | Louis Silvie Zamperini | ||||||||||
Nicknames | |||||||||||
Born | Olean, New York, U.S. | January 26, 1917||||||||||
Died | July 2, 2014 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 97)||||||||||
Alma mater | USC | ||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||
Weight | 132 lb (60 kg) | ||||||||||
Spouse |
Cynthia Applewhite
(m. 1946; died 2001) | ||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||
Country | United States | ||||||||||
Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||
Event | Middle-distance running | ||||||||||
College team | University of Southern California | ||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||
Olympic finals | 1936 Berlin: 5000 m – 8th | ||||||||||
Personal best |
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Military career | |||||||||||
Branch | U.S. Army Air Forces | ||||||||||
Service years | 1941–1946 | ||||||||||
Rank | Captain[3] | ||||||||||
Unit | 372nd Bomb Squadron[3] | ||||||||||
Wars | World War II | ||||||||||
Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
Louis Silvie Zamperini (January 26, 1917 – July 2, 2014) was an American World War II veteran, an Olympic distance runner and a Christian evangelist. He took up running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m race for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finishing 8th while setting a new lap record in the process.
Zamperini was commissioned in the United States Army Air Forces as a lieutenant. He served as a bombardier on B-24 Liberators in the Pacific. On a search and rescue mission, his plane experienced mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. After drifting at sea on a life raft for 47 days, with two other crewmates, Zamperini landed on the then Japanese Marshall Islands and was captured.
He was taken to a total of four different prisoner-of-war camps in Japan, where he was tortured and beaten by Japanese military personnel—specifically including Mutsuhiro Watanabe—because of Zamperini's status as a famous Olympic runner. He was later taken to a new prison camp at a coal factory, and after much hardship, he was finally released. Following the war he initially struggled to overcome his ordeal, afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.
He later became a Christian evangelist with a strong belief in forgiveness. From 1952 onwards, he devoted himself to at-risk youth. Zamperini is the subject of three biographical films: Unbroken (2014), its sequel Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018), and Captured by Grace (2015).
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)