If you are reading Unbroken, submit your text-to-text, text-to-self,text-to-world connections here! Please respond to the submissions of your peers as well! Thanks!
Text-to-text example:
Schmeul from The Boy with the Striped Pajamas and Louis Zamperini both experience dehumanization during captivity.
Louis is captured by the Japanese after his plane crashes into the Pacific and is housed in a P.O.W. camp in Japan. His daily portions of food are meager. He is periodically abused both physically and mentally. He is forced into hard labor. Despite the Geneva Conventions, he is not allowed to write to his family or receive packages.
Schmeul is in a concentration camp under Nazi controlled Europe. The soldiers shave his hair which serves to strip him of his humanity. His name is replaced by a number tattooed on his arm. His clothing is stripped away and replaced by striped prison garb (which Bruno classifies as pajamas.) He is physically beaten, called a "rat" who steals food. He is kept behind barbed wire like an animal. All this treatment combined reinforces the idea that he is less than human, a belief perpetuated by Hitler and his Nazi regime. Bruno sees the audacity of this.
Maddie Stafford
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Unbroken" Louie Zampernini was a runner before he was drafted into the army during WWII. I am also a runner for AAU Track and Field. past this time in his life we are very different, like when he gets drafted into the army he was strong, ready, and fearless. Which is the complete opposite of what I would have been. Also when he was on the raft he was the one who kept his head and tried so hard to help the other men try to do so as well. If i had stayed alive during the crash and made it to the raft, I'm sure he would have had to be calming me down. Throughout all of the POW Camps he went to in Japanense Territory, he kept strong and tried to not let the Japanense dehumanize him. Even after the war when he met all those gaurds and other camp workers he wasn't mad but he enjoyed seeing him. Louie Zampernini was a much stronger person then I could have been going through all of his hardships.
For the first part of the book(1-50), Louie Zampernini was a troublesome boy who, with track, was able to make people forgive what he had done in his past. In order for Louie to become such a great track star he had to train hard for running and had stop messing around. Louie was so good at track that he was able to go to Berlin and play in the Olympics. While he was there everything seemed normal except for the fact that the Jewish stores were all closed. As Frank Lubin lingers aroung Germany after the Olympics he notices that the Germans are putting back signs that were not there before that are cruel to Jews and other cultures.
ReplyDeleteFor text-to-self, Louie relates to me because he screws around, but when he puts his mind to something, he is able to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteSo far, in the first 50 pages of the book Unbroken, the author explains much of how Louie Zampernini has grow up and many of the qualities of his character. Personally, I think that it is cool that Louie was such an adventurous and curious child, stealing almost everything that he could put his hands on. I am not like that at all, but I love adventure and have respect for him having the guts to do some of the things that he did. I also believe that due to his brave behavior as a child, it will help him in the future with his challenges he has yet to face. The determination in him as he gets faster and faster on the track shows how motivated he is to get to the Olympics. He has changed from young, careless daredevil to a humble and class-act track star. I can not wait to read on!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad y'all are enjoying the book! I, too, am amazed by Mr. Zampernini's courage, perseverance and ability to forgive his tormentors. Recently I got to see him speak at an event and was impressed by his vitality and energy! He's in his 90s and still going strong.
ReplyDeleteIn the first 50 pages the author describes Louie's childhood. As a kid, he was adventurous and, most of the time, mishchivous. I think that is cool that he didn't have the most perfect childhood, but he was able to rise above it and become an Olympic athlete. Also I think it was entertaining to read about him beating up anything with a heart beat. As his life goes onto high school, Louie takes up track. Eventually, Louie becomes a national track star breaking virtually all records. Through determination and bravery, Louie gets faster and faster which lands him in the Berlin Olympics with the top runners in the world. I noticed that through Louie's childhood he changed from a trouble making menace of the neighborhood to a humble, brave track star. I can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteThe instant I heard about the novel Unbroken it reminded me of the true story and movie 127 hours. They are both about men who go though life changing experiences and hardships. In Unbroken Louie goes through a traumatic experience due to nature when he and Phil are trapped on the life raft adrift the Pacific ocean. They spend over forty days at see with no food other than what they can catch and while constantly being circled by sharks. Also in 127 hours a man (Aron Ralston) spends over four days trapped standing at the mercy of surrounding nature, and eventually has to cut his own arm off with a blunt pocket knife to save his life.Both of these men were in terrible situations involving starvation and awful living conditions. Louie and Aron both barely escaped with their lives, but Louie had to face an even more traumatizing life afterwards in the POW camps of Japan. Louie never truly received proper medical care and Aron did after his experience. In the end both men survived their painful journeys and are still alive to tell their phenomenal stories. today.
ReplyDeleteTommy Kollias
Ok so my first post disapeared some how from the transition of posting.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the course of this book, I have looked more and more up to Louie as a role model. Yes, I understand your shock; looking up to a former delinquent, but Louie has risen above his delinquent record, and had become a focused, young internationally known olympian. Not only has he broken trmendous and unthinkable records for his age, but he served in WWII. Now, I cant say that I have ever stolen or had the urge nor thrill that Louie had to steal, but I do as he, LOVE sports. When Louie was 14, he wasn't quite fond of track yet. I can realate to that because this year I had to start swimming because of a knee injury. At first I thought, how on earth can anyone actually like this sport. But, after I could swim more than five laps without needing an oxygen tank, I found myself trying to beat my time from the previous laps before. So far, I believe Louie was/ is a true leader.
So with each chapter I am falling even more in love with this novel. This novel is not only an inspiring story, but I believe it is relateable to today's times. With the war going on in Iraq, there are many young men and women in the military. There are so many distracting things media, cell phones, the internet, ect... that the people fighting for our country sometimes, from my prospective, get overlooked. This novel has really hit home for me about what those troops out there are doing, and how much is at stake when they go out on their missions. Laura Hillenbrand shares some of the horrors Louie Zamperini had to go through. If, I were a soldier, this novel would give me hope and courage to do what I came out there to do. This novel would also give me hope to survive. I believe this novel would give the feelings that I have from reading this book so far, to the soldiers fighting for us currently. This novel has also unfolded a further appreciation for our troops to me.
ReplyDeleteIn the book Unbroken, there is a text to text relationship that I have noticed In the Movie, The Right Stuff, the main character, Chuck Yeager has a goal of becoming the first American to go to space. Having already been the first human being to ever break the sound barrier, and already been one of the best pilots in the world, NASA didn't accept him, because he didn't go to college. Louie had a similar situation. his goal was to be the first person to run faster than a four minute mile. he didn't get a chance to do it, because of World War Two starting. Despite the fact that neither of these characters achieved their goal, they decided to move on and plow through life, taking on each days challenges.
ReplyDeleteUnbroken has some text to self relationships to me, but there's one in particular. My two older brothers are much like Pete and Louie Zamperini in the fact that one of them(the older one) was more mature growing up. he could convince adults of things where other kids failed to do so. Without a hint of shyness he was welcome into conversations with esteemed people and they listened to what he had to say. On the other hand, the younger one was more of a shinnaniganizer(one who commits shinnanigans). Not to say that my brother was a thief, because he wasn't, but he did goof around more. As a class clown in High school, he soon had a reputation of being the silly one, while his older brother was known as the serious one.
ReplyDeleteFor the text to world relationship I chose to discuss how in Unbroken it talks of all of the sharks in the waters that would surround all of the emergency rafts of fallen planes in the Pacific. It amazes me how rampant they were along with whales back in the forties. Today many breeds are on the endangered list because of Japanese fisherman. Lots of people are working to make it illegal to hunt sharks, when back then people, as it said in the book, would throw grenades at them and kill them as if they were nothing but a bug. Airmen lost at sea that returned would tell of hundreds of shark sightings. Nowadays you just don't see sharks unless you go to them. anyway I just thought that was interesting.
ReplyDeleteThrough Louie's childhood, it is kind of hard to see him as a protagonist because of his theft lifestyle. With track though he rose above stealing and became an amazing athelete. He conquered obstacles by just pushing through them holding his head up high. After the olympics, he signed up for a race, and his oppenents, not to Louie's knowledge, sharpened their cleats. While racing, his oppenents stomped their cleats on his foot, and slashed his shin. Even with all of that pain, Louie did not stop running, he seemed even more determined to win. With a puncture through his foot and slashed shins, Louie still won the race by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteLouie has to go through a lot of training to actually fight in the war. He is sent from training camp to training camp and he really doesn't mind it. I would never be able to handle so much relocating and packing up. Changes are not something that I look forward to. Also, as the book goes on we find out that these men were flying and training in rediculous conditions. The author states, "In subsequent months, death tallies exceeding 500 were common...thats 19 per day". There is no way that I would have survived in training. Louie had some major gutts for sticking through his training!
ReplyDeleteLouie recieves many forms of dehumanization while in the Numerous Prison Camps he is held in, such as Ofuna, Omori, and Naoetsu. The guards steal the food and tobacco from the rations that are supposed to go to the POWs, thus the POWs suffer from starvation and malnutrition. In some circumstances, they had nothing to eat but a tiny bowl of seaweed and a rice ball a day. The POWs were also beaten, some to death. For Louie, he was targeted by a "vicious tyrant" guard who ran the camp, even though he was a prett low rank. He is attacked and beaten every day by this guard, known by the POWs as "The Bird." In one situation, he is repeatedly whipped in the head and eventually knocked out by the Bird's belt buckle, resulting in him being deaf for weeks in his left ear. He and the other POWs are also worked to death in different jobs, like working in coal factories and lugging tons of rocks a day up the ramp to the boat, and being beaten if they paused even for a second. Still, under these harsh and inhumane conditions, Louie is able to survive the punishment recieved from the guards and return home to his family later.
ReplyDeletePg 51-130
ReplyDeleteLouie has joined the army and has to give up running. This is text-to-self because he gives up something he loves to do in order to do something that is even better. When Louie is stationed in one of the Pacific Islands as part of the Air Force, he hears stories of pilots and their crews being lost at sea. He experiences loneliness because his friends on other crews disappear on missions. The first crew he was with had gone threw a lot, almost getting shot down twice. But through perseverance they were able to make it. Louie had to switch crews because after their last mission, where they almost died, most of them had been injured. On a new plane and a new crew, they are on test flight when one of the engines fail and they crash. Louie and two other crew members survive. A text-to-world is that even though most people would give up at that point, he has a plan and spaces out how much he can eat and drink.
Ever since I was a little child, I have loved exploring the outdoors and surviving in the wilderness. A fun little activity that I played as a child on vacation in Florida was my cousins and I would be dropped off on a small island with only a few necessary survival utensils. From there, we had to try our best to survive the upcoming night. To us, that game was fun and harmless. Little did I know how serious a survival situation could get until I read this book. It was hard for us to survive on an island for a night, yet Louie survived on a RAFT for 47 days! If I was in that situation, I wouldn't have survived for a week! This goes to show you how much courage, strength, and heart that Louie had.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading Unbroken, I felt an immediate connection to Louie's brother, Pete. Like Pete, I try to do my best in school, I rarely get into trouble, and I try to make an example for my brother and sister. My dad will sometimes check with me to get his facts straight, and I am very hardworking. Pete tries to stay on the right track for his family's sake, and I do as well.
ReplyDeleteOne topic that really bothered me in the book was how mistreated Phil and Louie were when they were founded on the coast of the Marshall Islands. When they were discovered on their raft by a Japanese patrol boat, they were hauled on board like fish. After they were fed, cared for, and checked out by doctors, they were sent to an execution camp. Even the Japanese commander taking care of them didn't promise them that they would live. From then on, they were treated like prisoners. They had been thrown into cells, given only a ball of rice a day and a spilled cup of tea. Even though their skin was died yellow, they were starving, and they could hardly stand up, they still had no respect.
ReplyDeleteA part in the book that makes me wonder is when the Japanese plane shot at the raft. What was going on in the pilots mind that made him think it would be funny to shoot at a raft with living humans on it trying so hard to survive? The fact that the plane saw the survivors and didn't help them or call for a naval ship to come pick them up is bad enough. But to shoot at them with their machine guns is sickening. Then, as we read on in the book, after Louie and Phil had been rescued and asked questions, the Japanese commander told them that it is impossible for a Japanese plane to do such a thing for it is against their belief and rules. That goes to show you that who ever was flying that plane was one SICK PERSON!
ReplyDeleteA text-to-text example with Louie would be with Aron Ralston.
ReplyDeleteLouie made a plan and made times when to eat and drink like Ralston. They both tried to think positive. They kept on thinking of different ways to get out of their predicament. What they did most people would have given up and died earlier then they would have if it weren't for perseverance and commitment to who they care about. Through all of their different but somehow similar predicaments, they made tough decisions and were able to come out alive.
when I first read the description of Unbroken, it reminded me of the Dicovery channel series "I Shouldn't Be Alive". In Unbroken, Louie spends 28 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a small life raft, starving, and constantly being attacked by sharks. I Shouldn't Be Alive documents the stories of everyday people, lost in the wild, some in Africa, the Arctic, the ocean, and many other untamed places. They have to struggle to survive,while constantly being attacked by animals and the elemnts.Many must do unspeakable things in the name of survival. Both Louie and the people documented on the show make it through their ordeals(they wouldn't document it if they died). Both this book and the show document truly amazing stories of endurance, determination, and survival.
ReplyDeletetext to text
Griffin I.
The text to text relationship between Unbroken and the Twilight saga may seem silly, but there is a resemblince. One of the main characters, Bella, is longing throughout the entire series to be a vampire with Edward. Louie is giving everything he has to go to the olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Edward wouldn't turn Bella into a vampire unless she married him, but she wouldn't marry him fresh out of high school. Louie can not go to the Olympics in Tokyo because of WWII. In both books, even though the Twilight Saga is obviously fiction, the main characters are both longing and training for one thing that they would give most anything for. Yet, both of the main characters dreams get put on hold.
ReplyDeleteAhh, I love the descriptions Hillenbrand puts in the book about Louie's running experiences...how he channels everything into that wonderful mindset a running fan knows when you're strides hit that perfect balance. Good times...good times. Maybe some won't know what I'm talking about, though.
ReplyDeleteRunning was basically my life just a short while ago. I'm still recovering from the aftermath of my obsession, of course (I think I'm hitting my seventh or eigth month of chronic limping now...;)..torn ligaments are not fun...)but reading how this guy came from absolutely nothing, into a totally insane athlete who made it all the way to the Berlin Olympics with a 4-minute mile, is almost unfathomable to me. Stuff like that doesn't happen very often, trust me.
I respect that man. Knowing the extreme sort of conscience one has to have to be a good runner, I can't even imagine how he managed to pull it off--being so successful. Reading his story in his days as an athelete, I think it's definately given me a little boost of motivation, to try harder at whatever next race I'm in (or...whenever my legs heal first..that might help, too.)
For text to text, I can relate the part where he is trapped at sea ti the book "The Hatchet." I choose this book because the boy (I forget the name) is stuck somewhere trying to fend for himself in the wilderness, (rather than at sea) for a long time until someone finds him and brings him to safety.
ReplyDeleteThe text-to-world image I have is the fact that even though life can be tough, you still need to live throgh it and perservere. Like when Louie was in the POW camp, he had to perservere the hardship and challenge he faced and live through it. Like a lot of people are doing today with this country's economy being so low.
ReplyDeleteWC
The text-to-self image that I have is the fact that Louie had to train for the Olympics and he 4 minute mile. This relates to me in the fact that even though training and practicing may be tedious and boring, you still need to pratice to become better at what you do. This relates with my instrument (trombone) that I play, I have to practice to become better, because if you don't practice, you can't achieve anything.
ReplyDeleteWC
Throughout the book, there are many instances where the text is related to world issues. For instance, the island of Nauru, a priceless isalnd with a rich reserves of phosphate, but otherwise, a flat, isolated island. During WWII, Nauru was constantly fought over by the Japanese and the Americans. This remindeed me of the Persian Gulf War, when Iraq invaded the barren country of Kuwait for its rich oil reserves. it reminded me of how devastating it is to the worls when oil is lost, stolen, or destroyed, which must have been the same case for Nauru's phosphate. In both the book and the Persian Gulf War, there are instances where there is a rich rescource, and they both depict people'sresponses when it is captured. They also show how fiercely, in both cases, America, will defend what is rightfully theirs and others.
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Griffin I.
In this book, I saw courage exemplified by Louie and Pillsbury in the battle of Nauru. On the way back to base after the attack, Super Man is being trailed by a pack of Japanese Zeros. When one strikes Super Man, half of the crew is hit with shrapnel. Even with his own leg filled with shrapnel, Pillsbury has the courage and persistance to keep shooting at the oncoming planes and protect his comrades. Louie, also mildly injured also has enough strength and courage, to aid, assist, and comfort his friends who are severly injured, some almost dead. Louie also has the courage, when, even though he might die, he thinks of his friends first, and ties ropes around them to keep them from rolling around in the hard landing. It was amazing moments of courage like this that allowed most of the crew to survive the ordeal.
ReplyDeleteGriffin I.
I saw the roles of bully, victim, and bystander in the case of Fred Garrett. Garrett was a pilot who was shot down towards the end of 1943. He was picked up by Japanese, who discovered that during the crash, his ankle had been severely fractured. He was flown to an island where the Japanese, the bullies, took turns kicking Garrett's, the victim's, broken ankle. Then, he was thrown into a cell block on another island. The Japanese, again the bullies, taunted him with medical treatment which he would recieve if he gavre them information. when he gave them false information, they cut off his entire leg, ruining any chance for him to fly again. The bystanders, in this case, are the men inside his cell block. i'm sure that they felt sad for him and wanted to help him, but what could they do? They were already weak and tortured and taunted themselves, and if they tried to help, then they would surely be killed, and then they would be no help at all. Bullying was a major part of WWII, with all sides using it to get what they needed.
ReplyDeletetext to world
Griffin I.
(Excuse me, I skipped a year and a half..it's been 20 months of limping :D)Anyways..
ReplyDelete(pages 1-50)
After a breif foreshadowing, we start the book off with a window into Zamperini's childhood. We watch him transform his delinquent, misunderstood emotions into running, a skill which he molds and shapes upon himself like a hand in a glove. Louie rises in his sport to the point where he is virtually famous, one of esentially just a few top runners in world standings, with a near-unbeatable mile time. He is sent to the Berlin Olympics, which are ultimately canceled, and we witness the world slipping into war. Louie enlists in the Army Air Corps and is plunged into a new environment, a new chapter of his life.
There are several ties to faith and religion in this book. As Mac, Louie, and Phil drift endlessly across the Pacific, their frequent prayer sessions seem to tie them back to a reason to have hope. It was one of the reasons that kept them going.
ReplyDeleteA less philosophical point would be where the soldier Kawamura finds a connection with Louie through Christianity. With this, he provides lifesaving empathy towards the two captors.
I cannot understand the temerity these men held when they were stranded on the ocean. Excluding Mac's occasional outbreaks, I don't see how the castaways could have stayed so incredibly calm while drifting into who-knows-what with dark, endless water as far as the eye can see, all while sharks thrice the size of the piece of plastic they were living on circled omnipresently. Personally, after a few shaky childhood events with riptides and sharks and jellyfish, I still need some coaxing to get comfortable in the ocean. How could they not think about how incredibly deep the water was, or how many bloodthirsty, carnivorous aquatic monsters there really were stalking their raft? The author hardly even wrote about their feelings towards that. I find that breathtakingly impossible...
ReplyDeleteI can easily connect to Louie's mindset that kept him alive through the war to my mindset when i play sports. Louie had to believe that he was going to be alright, and fight through many terrible adversities to survive. At many points he believed he would die.Only by the help of compassionate guards and friends did he make it through the war.When I play sports I have to believe that I will do well to succeed. Also sometimes you struggle and need help from teammates and have to fight to win. This is how I connect the way I think when I'm playing sports to the way Louie had to think on the raft and in the POW camps to survive the war.
ReplyDeleteTommy Kollias
The major example of dehumanization in Unbroken is the abuse of the POW's by the Japanese. the victim of these terrible acts was the men that were being abused and the predators were the Japanese officers who almost found the POW's like toys. One of the most famous and insane predators was Mutsushiro Watanabe "The Bird". He was completely mad and beat almost every prisoner crazily. Louie was one of the Bird's favorite soldiers to beat, and suffered greatly from the beatings after the war.Abuse and dehumanization of POW's included beatings, malnutrition, and even execution. Many of the Japanese in charge of this abuse were jailed or executed.
ReplyDeleteTommy Kollias
A text-to-world example would be about Louie's dedication to running. Louie was a troublesome kid until he finds running. His dedication to running was like any others. A regular person would not have as much dedication as Louie. He would train everyday for hours. He was so good that the world around him forgave. This also teaches that a good act you are doing can be recognized by other people that at once didn't like you. The dedication he had to the sport enabled him to make it to the Berlin Olympics. The world doesn't have that kind of discipline like Louie. People that are special like Louie have that much dedication to what they love and are able to inspire other people until the whole world is filled with a feeling of possibilities and opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIn the book Unbroken Louie has to overcome several different obstacles throughout his lifetime. As a child he faced prejudice because of his Italian heritage, and living in the shadow of Pete was hard. His greatest obstacle to overcome though was when he crash landed the Green Hornet, and had to survive on the raft for months on end. Then finally he was taken to the POW camps were he spent two years being beaten and starved. The only way that he overcame these obstacles was by believing that better things were to come, and through help from his friends. Louie had to overcome many life threatening and altering obstacles in his life, and through perseverance and determination he overcame them and is still alive today.
ReplyDeleteTommy Kollias
Louie and the other POW's display great amounts of courage several times while they are in the camps. The men stole goods from outside facilities which often kept them alive because of the low amount of food in camp. This was a very courageous act because if they were caught they would be severely beaten or even executed. The supplies that were stolen saved many starving POW's in the camps. Another display of courage was actually sometimes displayed by the Japanese guards. Some of the guards treated the prisoners with kindness and tried to help them. These guards saved many lives during the war in Japan. If they had been caught they would have been severely punished and possibly killed. Courage was shown in many different ways during the story Unbroken, but these r just two of the main ones.
ReplyDeleteTommy Kollias
Text-to-self
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the first fifty pages of the book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand describes Louis Silvie Zamperini’s childhood. “Louie” was a troublemaking rebel who maintained a strong tie to his ethnic identity. Ever since he could walk, he liked to assert his independence. Running around his house, he refused to follow his parents’ orders, “careening about, hurdling flora, fauna, and furniture.” Louie began smoking at age five and drinking at age eight. At home, Louie’s family spoke only Italian, probably in order to preserve their Italian heritage in this foreign land. Similarly, I speak only Chinese at home, also to preserve my Chinese identity. While I was not as rebellious as Louie, I also committed “crimes.” I would break all of my sister’s toys when I was small, despite her objections. Though I don’t remember, my family tells me that I crushed my sister’s pet baby chicks with a stool—on purpose. It seems that Louie and I share a vicious streak.
Louie shows many instances of courage in this book. For example, Louie calmly takes control of the situation after he and his crew crash into the ocean. After Louie saves all the crew members, he cleverly rips his T-shirt to tie Phil’s injured head. Louie even develops an eating routine and an efficient way to collect water. However, the crew and he are not the only ones who are hungry, as sharks would follow the raft, waiting for a delicious chance. To fend them off, Louie would often hit the sharks with the oars. But nevertheless, he chooses to face the sharks rather than the bomber planes when one attacks them. Jumping off the raft, he evades the bullets and “stiff-arms” the sharks into confusion. Not only does he bravely face devastation and hunger at sea, Louie also survives a Japanese bomber plane attack.
ReplyDeleteBelief, religion, and education make a big difference in Unbroken. For example, Pete’s belief in Louie affects Louie’s life. He encourages Louie to try out for the track. As a result, Louie is able to compete all the way into an Olympic game. Religion sustains Louie when he lives in the harsher POW camp World War II. Living in a cell with atrocious conditions, Louie would pray and this would help keep himself sane, calming himself. At first, education is a limiting factor for Louie. When Louie moves to a POW with Japanese guards, he and other prisoners would be constantly beaten because of misunderstandings. In turn, William Harris, who was proficient in several languages, helped them survive. Harris would often translate what the guards were saying for Louie and other prisoners. With a photographic memory, he would memorize stolen newspapers to collect the information about the World War. This knowledge kept the POW’s connected with the outside world. All three elements—belief, religion, and education—inspired and sustained Louie in his life.
ReplyDeleteFinal blogpost for Unbroken. Louie has had an eventful life, and I hope he has settled down just a little bit. I found Unbroken to be an amazing and somewhat uplifting book, I can't believe that someone can survive being out in open ocean for 28 days, then be sent to a Japanese POW camp, where he was personally beaten everyday by his guard, and living! Louie suffered from dehumanization, fear of starvation, and most of all the fear of death. But he overcame it, and forgave his tourmenter's, by finding his way to the Christian path. Louie is a special person, and I hope he keeps on going strong, because he is now, one of my many role models.
ReplyDeleteWhen Louie was captured, and sent to Ofuna. He was treated like dirt. He was beaten many times. He was not even registered with the Red Cross. The POWs were given strict orders the slightest violation would result in a beating. Every morning The Pows wold have to do tenko. At Ofuna POWs were also starved. POWs constantly wanted to get out or be rescued.
ReplyDeleteJapanese forced the "Kill-all" order if it seemed the americans were going to invade. THis meant they would kiil the Pows. Pows constently repelled. If its was only using Morse code or stealing the commanders lunch. Louie made friends fast. One of his best was William Harris. Harris was well edcated and had perfet photographic memory. So if they wanted info all they needed wa to show a paper to Harris and ask him about it later.
BH2