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Louis Zamperini

Published on Feb 03, 2016

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

LOUIS ZAMPERINI

BY HOLIDAY RIDER

CHILDHOOD

  • Born on January 26, 1917
  • Born in Olean, New York
  • He had three siblings

CHILDHOOD

  • Parents were Italian immigrants
  • Started smoking at age 5
  • Started drinking at age 6
  • Trouble-maker
  • Bullied a lot

RUNNING

  • His brother Pete motivated him
  • Hated it at first
  • Transformed to love it
  • Running broke his bad habits
  • Broke inter-scholastic mile record at 4:21.2
Photo by Dean Hochman

COLLEGE LIFE

  • Fast times gained college attention
  • University of Southern California
  • Kappa Sigma Fraternity house
  • Training at USC led to Olympics in Berlin

OLYMPICS

  • Raced against Don Lash
  • Placed eighth in the 5,000 meter race
  • Last lap of 56 seconds caught attention of Adolf Hitler
Photo by ecstaticist

WWII

  • In September 1941 Louis enlisted
  • Shot down 850 miles of the coast of Oahu
  • Stranded for 47 days on a raft
Photo by rikdom

POW

  • After time on the raft he was saved/rescued by the Japanese
  • Kwajelian
  • Ofuna

MUTSUHIRO WATANABE

  • Prisoners at Ofuna nicknamed him "The Bird"
  • Watanabe took pleasure in beating prisoner
  • After the war he was placed on General Douglas MacArther's list of war criminals

POST-WAR

  • Louis was freed from Ofuna
  • Mutsuhiro Watanabe fled the camp and hid from the Americans
  • Louis went home and rejoiced with his family
Photo by Sam Ilić

POST-WAR

  • Alcoholism
  • Married Cynthia AppleWhite
  • PTSD
  • Billy the Evangelist
  • Found God
  • Camp for troubled youth

DEATH

  • Louis Zamperini passed away on July 2, 2014