"I have always been called Lucky Louie. It's no mystery why."
World War II
Now that the Olympics had been cancelled Louis had decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps. Louis and his crew were sent out to the Pacific Ocean to search for a plane that had gone missing. When the plane he was aboard experienced mechanical issues it crashed into the ocean and only he and two other men survived. They were stranded on a raft for 47 days, out in the middle of the ocean with no help to be found. One of the days they were stranded they saw a plane drawing closer so they started to try to get the planes attention. Little did they know the plane was a Japanese bombing plane and the plane released bombs towards them. One man even died due to the serious conditions of being stranded at sea. When washed ashore they found themselves on Japanese territory and taken in as prisoners. Eventually, the two were separated and sent to two different prisoner camps. Zamperini was always singled out by a man named "The Bird" and abused and beaten at some times almost to the point of death. The Japanese saw Louis as a propaganda tool so they spared him his life many times. The captivity in the camps lasted two years. He was released from the Army in 1945. |