Devil at my heels a heroic Olympian's astonishing story of survival as a Japanese POW in World War II
"A youthful troublemaker, a world-class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller life than most. But on May 27, 1943, it all changed in an instant when his B-24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Louis and two other survivors drifting on a raft for forty...
| Main Author: | Zamperini, Louis, 1917-2014. |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | Rensin, David. |
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Harper,
2011.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
"A youthful troublemaker, a world-class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller life than most. But on May 27, 1943, it all changed in an instant when his B-24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Louis and two other survivors drifting on a raft for forty-seven days and two thousand miles, waiting in vain to be rescued. And the worst was yet to come when they finally reached land, only to be captured by the Japanese. Louis spent the next two years as a prisoner of war -- tortured and humiliated, routinely beaten, subjected to medical experiments, starved and forced into slave labor -- while the Army Air Corps declared him dead and sent official condolences to his family. This is the remarkable true story of accomplishment, glory, disaster, survival, and true heroism made famous by Laura Hillenbrand in her #1 New York Times bestseller Unbroken. Told in Louis Zamperini's own words, Devil at My Heels is a stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the "Greatest Generation, " a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness."--From publisher's website. |
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| Item Description: |
"A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2003 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers."--T.p. verso. |
| Physical Description: |
xiv, 297 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., map ; 21 cm. |
| ISBN: |
9780062118851 (pbk.) 0062118854 (pbk.) |
| Author Notes: |
In 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and was deployed to the Pacific as a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator bomber. In 1943, his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He and two others survived without food and water for 47 days before washing ashore on a Japanese island behind enemy lines, where he was held as a prisoner of war for two years. He wrote two memoirs, both titled Devil at My Heels, the first published in 1956 and written with Helen Itris, and the second in 2003 with David Rensin. He also co-wrote Don't Give up, Don't Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life with David Rensin, which was published in 2014. His story was the inspiration for the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. The book and his story were also adapted into a film entitled Unbroken, which opened on December 25, 2014. On his 81st birthday in 1988, he returned to Japan and ran a leg in the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano. He died following a case of pneumonia on July 2, 2014 at the age of 97. (Bowker Author Biography) |