UNBROKEN

It took almost ten years for Laura Hillenbrand to write her second book, and it's a doozy! Wow! I thought Seabiscuit was a great maiden book, but this second effort destroys the sophomore jinx. It tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a Lieutenant in the Army Air Force during World War II. It's so realistically written that I felt that I was right there in the prison camps with the Lieutenant. This is a story of extreme mental fortitude and courageous actions in the face of hopelessness.

Louis goes from a juvenile delinquent, a high school track star, a Olympic runner, a bombardier, a prisoner of war, a post-war alcoholic to a Billy Graham inspired speaker in 406 delightful pages. The side characters are real and play important roles in Louis's life. They include his brother Pete, Marine officer William Harris, and B-24 Liberator bomber pilot Allen Phillips, who shared most of Louis's horrors. Laura Hillenbrand draws you into one calamity to the next at a furious pace. This book is hard to put down. It reads like a fiction novel, but it's all true. This is non-fiction at it's best.

While on the Green Hornet, a B-24 Liberator, in a bombing raid, Louis's plane gets shot down over the Pacific. He, along with his pal Phil and tail gunner Mac, float on a raft for 47 days while drifting west towards Japanese held islands. They are constantly surrounded by sharks; they are strafed by Japanese aircraft; and they are starving. Mac dies, while Louis and Phil are picked up by the enemy on the island of Kwajalein (known as the execution island). This starts two and a half years of misery from Kwajalein to Ofuna to Omori to Naoetsu, all prison camps from hell. Geneva Convention rules don't work in Japan. Here they meet the monster, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, the most hateful disciplinary officer in Japan, known as The Bird. This part of the book is troubling - how can anybody beat another human senseless day after day? This is what Louis experienced. The Bird hated him!

The good news is that Louis Zamperini is alive and well at 94 years old. He may well be the indestructible man. He still has all his wits and a zest for life. He did 75 interviews with Laura, presented her with a 65 pound scrap book, and provided most of the photos for this book. This was the most awe inspiring book that I've read in a long time. If anything, this book should be read for the sake of American history.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars.

Comment: As a young Marine in the early sixties, I sat with veterans of these island campaigns at a camp fire in Camp Lejeune during a training exercise. They told me stories that sent a cold chill down my back. I still can't think of Kwajalein, Tarawa, or Iwo Jima without thinking of these brave Marines I met.