Chapter 13
- The Green Hornet is officially declared missing.
- The navy assumed command over the rescue effort and has sent a few planes out to begin searching for the Green Hornet.
- Louie wakes up on the raft beside Mac and Phil. Louie decided to split breakfast – a single square of chocolate- with his two fellow survivors.
- Louie searches for the chocolate that was on the raft the night before, but is unable to find it. He looks at Mac’s guilty eyes and realizes that Mac ate all the chocolate while Louie and Phil slept.
- While drifting on the ocean, the men see a B-25 plane flying above and Louie reaches for the flare gun and fires a shot. However, to his dismay, his efforts were futile and the plane flew away.
- The next day, another plane flew above the men. It was Daisy Mae, so Louie fired another flare but the crew on the plane didn’t see it so they flew back to base.
- The men were losing hope of being rescued, and they knew that they were drifting towards Japanese Islands- either the Marshall Islands or the Gilbert Islands.
- Louie began to pray silently- something he had done only once before in his life.
- News that the crew on the Green Hornet was missing was sent to the families of the men.
- Louie’s sisters and mother were consumed in anguish of the report that Louie was missing. His father and brother stayed calm, saying that Louie was tough and could make it.
- Louise (Louie’s mother) wrote on the back of the last family photo taken before Louie left that Louie was reported missing May 27th, 1943. Even though she was consumed with sadness, Louise was certain that her son was still alive.
Chapter 14
·
The men are practically baking in the sun and
have no water.
·
Occasional rainstorms kept them alive, and they
learned how to collect fresh rainwater.
·
The men had no food for days.
·
Nine or ten days after the wreck, a bird landed
on Louie, and he was able to catch it.
They tore it open and nearly got sick from the smell and could barely
even get the meat into their mouths.
·
They used the rest of the bird for bait and
caught a pilot fish, and ate it raw.
Louie and Phil “felt inspired” but Mac “remained unchanged” (143).
·
Several days passed, no birds.
·
Phil remembered an article written by WWI ace
pilot Eddie Rickenbacker – about a crew that had survived on rafts for 24 days
before they were rescued. Many of that
crew had been driven insane by the terrible conditions.
·
Louie, determined to keep everyone mentally
sharp, began asking the other two men questions about every subject he could
think of; they told stories, their histories, and memories so they’d stay
sane. They always ended up talking about
food, and it began a ritual that would happen at every ‘mealtime.’ Louie would go step-by-step of how to prepare
every dish, and the men all knew Louise’s recipes. It kept them focused. However, Mac didn’t participate.
·
Even though all three men had experienced same
ordeal, they didn’t deal with it the same.
Phil and Louie kept strong, but Mac did not. Phil was a deeply religious man (Louie didn’t
know at the time) and that gave him strength and hope. For Louie, the same attributes that made him
a terror as a boy helped him to be strong and accept this new challenge.
·
At the two-week mark the men realized they were
wasting away, and Louie began to pray aloud even though he had no idea how to
speak to God.
·
Around day 14 – another albatross landed, which
they caught and killed. They split up
the meat and even found small fish in the bird’s stomach, which they ate
also. Rains also came every once in
while, and they were able to capture some freshwater to drink.
·
Louie made a rig with fishhooks on his fingers
and was able to grab a pilot fish as it swam by near the sharks. They also caught a couple of terns (birds)
but one was covered in lice and they buried themselves in Louie’s beard, which
“rattled Louie more than anything he had yet encountered” (151).
·
On the sixth day without water, the men knew
they wouldn’t last much longer. “They
bowed their heads together as Louie prayed.
If God would quench their thirst, he vowed, he’d dedicate his life to
him” (152).
·
The next day, it rained. Twice more the water ran out, twice more they
prayed, and twice more the rain came.
Chapter 16
·
The three men are floating in the ocean, and
Louie decided to feel the skin of a shark as it passed by the raft. The shark
swam away, but quickly returned and thrust himself out of the water straight at
Louie’s face.
·
Louie threw his hands in front of his face and
began hitting and shoving the shark in the nose. This shark resigned into the
water.
·
More sharks began trying to attack Louie. To
Louie’s relief, one of his fellow crewmen took an oar and started beating the
sharks in their noses until they all retreated. To Louie’s surprise, the man
that helped him defeat the sharks was not Phil; it was Mac.
·
At this point in the book, Mac is very fragile
and weak. This is why Louie is so amazed and grateful that Mac helped him.
·
Louie was furious that the sharks tried to
attack him, so he decided that he would attempt to kill a shark.
·
Louie and Phil worked together to pull a shark
onboard and kill it. Louie knew the only edible part on a shark was the liver.
After much effort to try to cut the shark’s skin, Louie finally was able to
pull out the liver and divide it up between the three men. He decided to give
Mac a larger portion since his health was quickly deteriorating. Louie and Phil
killed another shark and used its liver for food. For the first time since the
plane crashed, the men were full.
·
A few days later Louie and Phil caught another
bird and divided it between the three men. Mac is almost lifeless at this point
so Louie fed Mac part of the bird, but it didn’t revive Mac.
·
Mac asked Louie if he thought he was going to die.
Louie didn’t think it was respectful to lie to him, so he told Mac that he
thought he was going to die that night. Mac didn’t say a word. Louie and Phil
rested beside Mac, put their arms around him, and went to sleep.
·
When Louie woke in the middle of the night, Mac
was dead.
·
It is ironic that Mac died first since he was
the one who ate all the chocolate at the beginning.
·
Louie and Phil wrapped Mac up in the remains of
the ruined raft, said all the good things they thought about Mac, and then let
the ocean take Mac.
·
The men have been adrift for thirty-four days
now.
·
After Mac’s death, Louie silently prayed for
himself and Phil, vowing to God that if He would save them, he would serve
heaven forever.
·
Louie and Phil’s bodies are diminishing rapidly.
The two friends quiz each other and tell stories to attempt keeping their minds
sharp.
·
Page 167- On the fortieth day on the raft, Louie
begins to hear singing. He asks Phil if he hears it but Phil did not. Louie
looks up to the sky and sees human figures- 21 figures that were singing the
sweetest song Louie had ever heard. Louie was certain that this was real, even
though Phil could not hear or see anything. Louie concluded that he knew it was
meant for just him and not Phil.
·
On the forty-sixth day (the day Phil predicted
they would find land) the men look around and see that they are headed for an
island.
Chapter 17
- A storm was coming – and the waves grew higher. They could see land in the distance and had determined that the islands ahead had to be part of the Gilberts or Marshalls, enemy territory. They made plans to find an uninhabited atoll and land during the night.
- They had drifted into a typhoon and the raft was tossed everywhere. They braced themselves in the raft and rode out the waves, flying into the air sometimes. During the night it settled down and they napped.
- When they woke they could see huts on island and began rowing to shore. Louie had predicted that they’d find land on the 47th day and Phil had chosen the day before, and they decided they were both right.
- A Japanese boat intercepted them, brought them on board the boat, and tried to question them. They were eventually brought a biscuit and water – this was the first food they’d had in 8 days.
- A second boat pulled alongside the first and they were transferred to it. They were fed and their wounds were treated.
- Phil had weighed about 150lbs when they had left on the Green Hornet and Louie had weighed about 160. On the Japanese ship, Louie weighed about 80lbs. Each man lost about half his body weight.
- The officers told them that they were on an atoll in the Marshall Islands and had drifted two thousand miles. There were 48 bullet holes in their raft.
- They stayed in the infirmary for two days and were well cared for.
- However, they received news they were headed to Kwajalein, called Execution Island. The officer told him that “after you leave here we cannot guarantee your life” (173).
- On July 16, they arrived at Kwajalein and they were put in separate cells. It was the length of a man and not much wider than his shoulders. Over his head was a thatched roof, about 7 ft tall. The only window was a hold, about a foot square, in the door. On the floor was gravel, dirt, maggots, and there were flies and mosquitoes. There was a hole in the floor with a latrine bucket below it.
- On the wall, he saw the words: NINE MARINES MAROONED ON MAKIN ISLAND, AUGUST 18, 1942. The men’s names were listed as well.
- Louie’s thought that first day “All I see is a dead body breathing” (175).
Chapter 19 Summary
·
Louie and Phil are on the Japanese ship and are
slapped by a few Japanese when they both say that America will win the war.
·
The men were blindfolded and led off the ship onto
Japanese ground.
·
Louie can vaguely see under his blindfold and spots
the word “Chevrolet”. The Japanese people put Louie and Phil in the car and
drive them to their destination.
·
The men arrive at the POW Camp and are separated.
·
Louie is taken to a bathhouse and was allowed to take
a bath, get a haircut and shave his beard.
·
After Louie cleaned up, he was led down a hallway into
a room and was told to wait there for further instructions.
·
Louie is in the dark room but notices a silhouette of
another man. The lights are turned on and Louie sees his old college friend,
Jimmie Sasaki.
·
Jimmie explains that he is a civilian employee of the
Japanese navy, and was made head interrogator of all POWs in Japan. Jimmie
claimed he bore a rank equal to that of an admiral.
·
Louie was then taken outside and sees Phil. Louie was
then informed that he was not at a POW camp, but was at a secret interrogation
center called Ofuna. At Ofuna, “high valued” captured men were housed in
solitary confinement, starved, tormented, and tortured to divulge military
secrets. –Page 192.
·
Louie also learns that Ofuna is a secret place and is
not registered as a POW camp, so the Japanese leaders here can do whatever they
want to the captives and no one will ever know about it.
·
Men here were beaten for the slightest infractions-
folding their arms, cleaning their teeth, talking in their sleep, or not
understanding Japanese orders. One of the favorite punishments was for men to
stand in the “Ofuna crouch” for hours. Ofuna crouch= standing with your knees
slightly bent and your hands raised above your head. If anyone dropped their
hands or slightly moved, they were clubbed and kicked.
·
We learn that the Japanese military men who are
beating the captives at Ofuna are more than likely caught up in “transfer of
oppression.” Transfer of oppression is where the Japanese men in military
training have been beaten by higher ranking military men in order to make these
lower ranking men stronger and harsher to their enemies.
·
A medical officer in Ofuna nicknamed “The Quack”
forced sick and suffering men to come to him for “treatment”, and then tortured
and mutilated them just to watch them suffer and quiz them on their pain.
·
At Ofuna men were given very little to eat. They were
“fed” three times a day, but their food was often infested with rat droppings,
maggots, and sand. Louie’s teeth were soon pitted and chipped due to the sand.
Chapter 21
·
Sylvia, Louie’s sister, hid her feelings about how
scared she was for Louie.
·
In the first few days after the telegram about Louie’s
disappearance, his mom couldn’t shake the thought that Louie was alive. His family simply believed that he was
alive. They weren’t worried that he was
gone; it was that he was in trouble and they couldn’t help him.
·
His sisters and brothers dealt with the stress
differently – but stayed close with their parents.
·
October 6, Louie’s army trunk arrived – the army had
shipped back to his house. Louise put it
in the basement and covered it with a blanket – and it stayed there, unopened,
for the rest of her life.
·
In December of 1943, the family celebrated Christmas,
and even had gifts for Louie. They saved
them with the belief that Louie would be there to open them someday.
·
A couple of months later, after bombing, American
seized Kwajalein. (Louie’s first POW camp) A serviceman, going through
wreckage, found a stack of documents and brought them back. They also found a piece of wood with Louis
Zamperini scratched on it in the remains of a wooden structure. When they translated the documents, they read
about two men brought in that had survived the crash. Deasy, the man reading it, realized who they
were talking about and was upset they had missed them in the search.
·
By the spring of 1944, the mothers of the Green Hornet crewmen and other family
members started to correspond. They all
kept up hope.
·
Thirteen months after the Green Hornet had gone down, the military officially declared Louie
and the other crewmen dead, sending out telegrams. The families were shocked and still didn’t
believe their sons were dead.
Chapter 24
·
Louie was at Omori, a POW camp with 900 other
prisoners, and welcomed warmly by other prisoners.
·
The other prisoners (Tom Wade and Bob
Martindale) told him about Watanabe, saying that he should never use his real
name. The nicknamed him The Bird because
it carried no negative connotation that could get the men beaten.
·
The Bird’s favorite pastime was to “send guards
bursting into a barracks ahead of him, screaming Keirei! He would then race
in and choose his victim – he’d usually ask what they were talking about. The men were advised to say they were talking
about sex because the subject interested him and distracted him.
·
The Bird made the POWs not only salute him but
his window – and his office could be seen from nearly all around the camp.
·
The POWs helped each other figure out where The
Bird was, using code phrases so they’d be prepared.
·
Louie was sad to hear that he couldn’t write
home – the Bird wouldn’t allow it. Other
prisoners, however, were registered with the Red Cross like they were supposed
to.
·
The Bird hated Louie, and Louie spent much of
his time trying to stay away from him.
·
Typically the POWs that were officers at Omori
didn’t have to work, but to avoid being beaten, Louie made a compromise with
the Bird and they worked stitching up leather ammo pouches, etc. After that, the Bird announced that the
officers would be in charge of emptying the benjos. There were 8 benjos for 900 men (all sick with dysentery). Ew.
·
In order to aggravate the Bird even more, the
officers made it a point to be happy about the disgusting job especially when
the Bird was watching them.
·
Louie learned that POWs were waging their own
war of sorts behind the scenes. POWs
worked as slave labor, and at their different jobs they switched mailing
labels, threw dirt into gas tanks, broke anything mechanical that passed
through their hands, “accidentally” dropped fragile items, drank tea and peed
on nearly every bag of rice they loaded, and also overloaded a barge so much it
sank. Then sank the replacement one
too.
·
One soldier was able to alter the train tracks
and tip over a train. Acts like this
gave the soldiers courage.
·
They stole by putting food, sugar, alcohol in shoes
that were too big, socks concealed under clothing, and secret compartments in
canteens. Stealing from the enemy gave
back the men’s dignity.
·
Weeks passed and the Bird still attacked Louie
at every chance.
·
Some Japanese tried to help POWs behind Watanabe’s
back – Watanabe was untouchable – no one outranked him.
·
Louie had no choice but to take the beatings
from the Bird – and it brought back painful memories of being bullied as a
child. He couldn’t do anything about it
though, no matter how much he dreamed of killing the Bird.
Chapter 32
·
POWs at a camp in the mountains were told that
the war had ended so they threw a huge party, demolishing the fence around the
camp and burning it. The next day they
came down to the villages and found them empty.
·
POWs at Naoetsu weren’t treated as well even
though the war was over. They still didn’t have enough food. Planes flew over
and they requested food and smokes by writing in the dirt with lime. Fitzgerald was able to pressure Japanese
guards into getting food.
·
Finally food and supplies were dropped to men
and they found out that the ear had ended on Aug 15. They found out that for
five days the Japanese hadn’t told the POWs the war was over.
·
Three days later more food and supplies were
dropped to POWs. The men ate until they couldn’t eat any more.
·
General MacArthur addressed troops over radio
and with him was Bill Harris.
·
In Japan, 1 in 4 of POWs died. More Americans died that any other
nationality.
·
On the morning of Sept 2, 1945, Japan signed its
formal surrender that ended WWII.
·
Louie was happy and didn’t think about the bird
at first.
·
The POWs had extra clothes and had mercy on the
guards, sending clothes and supplies home with them, they gave out supplied to civilians and
chocolate to children,
·
The men ventured out into the countryside and
realized how pretty it was. They met friendly civilians and traded their goods
for haircuts, shaves, and fresher food.
·
Early Sept 5, the men left Naoetsu. Fitzgerald stayed with the sickest POWs until
the next day; he didn’t want to leave any behind. The men marched out in an orderly way behind
the flags of their nations. When they
looked back at the guards as the train left, the guards were saluting them.
Chapter 33
·
As the liberated POWs traveled by train, they
drank sake and got rowdy- and were
warned that they needed to watch so they didn’t fall off the train, drunk. Some did.
·
The POWs witnessed the destruction from the B-29
bombers, and some trains saw Hiroshima. They believed the end justified the
means even though it was destroyed.
·
They finally arrived in Yokohama that night, and
red cross nurses helped them. The guys thought they looked like goddesses.
·
Robert Trumbull, a journalist, found Louie and
asked him to tell his story.
·
Louie left out the part about mac eating the
chocolate for the sake of Mac’s family.
·
On base the men got to eat and get back in touch
with families. Gradually people realized
that Louie wasn’t dead. Most of the
people from his squadron were. He tried
to eat at the mess hall but couldn’t because he was not listed as a POW and was
presumed dead.
·
Louie gained weight rapidly but it was just
water weight. His body still showed the
stress of 27 months of abuse and starvation.
·
The Zamperini family hadn’t received official
word that he was alive. The only thing
they knew was his radio broadcast 10 months earlier.
·
On Sept 9 Pete, Louie’s brother, saw the
headline for the newspaper the Los Angeles Times. The headline was Zamperini Comes Back From Dead. They found out that he was on his
way home. Louie’s mom said that from now
on Sept 9 was going to be Mother’s day, since that’s when she found out Louie
was alive and coming home.
·
For Phil and Fred at the POW camp in the
mountains, it took longer to get supplies and food. One of the men had a flag
that had remained hidden the whole time.
They took down the Japanese flag and put up the stars and stripes. They finally headed home on Sept 11. Phil’s family was notified that he was alive
as well,
·
In Okinawa, Louie had a great time, eating,
drinking, etc, he stayed on for another week, not wanting his mom to see him so
thin. Louie also liked freaking people
out because they thought he was dead, then he’d show up and surprise them.
·
When leaving, they flew over Kwajalein, Louie
didn’t recognize it at all. It had been
bombed and there was only one tree left on what had been a jungle.
·
Louie arrived in Hawaii and was hospitalized,
slept on a bed with clean sheets, was given a new uniform and promoted to
captain. Other soldiers coming back home
were met with parties and girls.
·
October 16, Russell Allen Phillips stepped off a
train in Indiana. Four weeks later, he
married Cecy.
·
When Pete found out that Louie was alive, he
went AWOL and came to see him. They
spent time together in San Francisco and the doctors finally cured Louie of his
dysentery.
·
Louie came back home – and ran into the arms of
his mother. Photo: p 330
Chapter 35
·
In late 1946, Louie and Cynthia, Phil and Cecy,
and Fred Garrett were out to dinner in Hollywood. From a distance they looked like a normal
group; you’d never guess that they had all been in war or in POW camps. The waiter put a plate in front of Fred – had
white rice on it – and suddenly he lost it.
He screamed until his face was purple and the waiter removed it from
him. They realized that nothing was ever
going to be the same.
·
At the end of WWII, former prisoners of the
Japanese (Pacific POWs) started to get back to their normal lives. All suffered from physical and emotional
injuries from the years of abuse.
Problems included tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery, malnutrition,
anemia, eye ailments, festering wounds, neurologic damage (brain damage),
respiratory diseases, broken bones that hadn’t been set correctly, ruined teeth
because of chewing grit in their food, going blind from malnutrition.
·
Nearly 40 years after the war, more than 85
percent of former Pacific POWs in one study suffered from post-traumatic stress
disorder. Several others had
“psychiatric impairment.” They suffered
from flashbacks and intense nightmares.
Men also:
o
slept on floors because they couldn’t sleep on
mattresses
o
hoarded food
o
ducked when they heard an airplane
o
couldn’t stop using Japanese terms because he’d
had to before
o
escaped by drinking
o
had to deal with uncontrollable rage
o
had difficulty talking about their experiences
·
The Pacific POWs who went home in 1945 were
torn-down men. They had unspeakable
memories of torture and humiliation, dealing with the fact that they’d had to
suffer so greatly and lose their dignity.
·
Louie and Cynthia went on their honeymoon in the
mountains because she knew Louie would like it.
Louie still dreamed about him but it was the closest thing to peace that
Louie had known since the Green Hornet
crashed.
·
When they arrived back home, Louie didn’t make
any real effort to find a career or work.
He didn’t finish his college degree and had no idea what to do for a
living. He did manage to make enough
money buying and selling stuff to rent a small apartment, however.
·
At night the Bird haunted his dreams.
·
He started running again, and ended up pushing
too hard and reinjured his ankle. His
running career was over.
·
With the definite end of his running career
Louie had nothing to distract him from thoughts of killing the Bird. He couldn’t sleep, started smoking again, and
started drinking heavily. He would drink
until he passed out because atleast then he could escape the Bird. He was full of rage and started fights with
strangers over practically nothing.
·
He was at a bar and heard a backfire, and
dropped to the floor – everyone stared.
Another time, he was drinking, and thought he heard someone yell
“Keirei!” He jumped up, thinking that
the Bird was getting ready to hit him with the flying belt buckle.
·
He had flashbacks – thinking that he was back in
the camp – and these made him drink even more.
·
Cynthia urged him to get help, and he went to
see a counselor, but quit after 2-3 sessions.
After reading about a POW that had seen one of
his wartime captors and had him arrested, Louie began to focus on the idea of
finding the Bird and killing him. This
became his new obsession.