WEBVTT - Louis Zamperini's Story—in His Own Words

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<v Speaker 1>This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,

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<v Speaker 1>the show where America is the star and the American people.

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<v Speaker 1>And we love our listeners stories. Send them to our

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<v Speaker 1>American Stories dot com. That's our American stories dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>There's some of our favorite Our next story was made

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<v Speaker 1>into a twenty fourteen motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie,

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<v Speaker 1>based on the twenty ten non fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken,

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<v Speaker 1>a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption.

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<v Speaker 1>While some of the most remarkable parts of Zamparini's story

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<v Speaker 1>were left out of the film, you will be hearing

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<v Speaker 1>them told now by the man himself. We'd like to

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<v Speaker 1>thank the folks at Vision Video for giving us access

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<v Speaker 1>to the footage you're about to hear. Checked out their

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<v Speaker 1>selection of nineteen hundred video titles of uplifting, family friendly

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<v Speaker 1>videos at Vision video dot com. Let's take a listen.

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<v Speaker 2>My name is Louis Zamparini. I was born January twenty sixth,

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventeen in Oley and New York and moved to

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<v Speaker 2>California for my health. I had pneumonia and so ever

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<v Speaker 2>since I was two years old, I lived in tornch

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<v Speaker 2>California is a south of LA about twenty miles and

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<v Speaker 2>I'm afraid I was in constant conflict with the Tornch police.

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<v Speaker 2>I was a rascal, and I think it all started

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<v Speaker 2>with the I couldn't speak English and the other kids

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<v Speaker 2>were teasing me. They wanted to hear me swear in Italian.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, these were your bullies they call them today.

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<v Speaker 2>And so my dad got me some weights, a punching bag,

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<v Speaker 2>and I started getting in shape. And so then after

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<v Speaker 2>a few months, I started fighting back. When I started

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<v Speaker 2>fighting back, they stopped teasing me. But time I continued

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<v Speaker 2>with my errant ways, and I had been dissipating. I

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<v Speaker 2>started smoking when I was five, and during that time

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<v Speaker 2>it was probition. But everybody made beer, wine and other things,

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<v Speaker 2>and we knew who made it, and when they're at

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<v Speaker 2>the movies on Saturday night, we would hijack the stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>And even if they knew we took it, they couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>turn a sent to the police, so they'd go to jail.

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<v Speaker 2>So that was my life as a teenager until my

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<v Speaker 2>brother got me on the track what they call an

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<v Speaker 2>inner class track meet, and the pains of exhaustion, that's

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<v Speaker 2>the worst and that was it, no more running. So

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<v Speaker 2>a week later, we're having our first duel meet with

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<v Speaker 2>Narbon Narbonn High School and everybody assisted. I represent the

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<v Speaker 2>school in this race, the same six hundred and sixty

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<v Speaker 2>yard run, and they finally talked me into it. The

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<v Speaker 2>first two runners from Narbon had finished and their third

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<v Speaker 2>mamazon headed me about fifty years ago. I wasn't about

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<v Speaker 2>the ash, you know, until the students, a thousand students

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<v Speaker 2>from my high school started screaming, come on, Louie. Well

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<v Speaker 2>those were beautiful words to me because I had no

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<v Speaker 2>idea that.

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<v Speaker 3>Anyone at all knew my name.

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<v Speaker 2>Here a thousand students of Hallering, come on, Louie, And

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<v Speaker 2>that tasted pretty good, and I just got up.

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<v Speaker 3>A little adrenaline.

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<v Speaker 2>I suppose I finally nipped this guy at the tape

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<v Speaker 2>about six INSS and came in third. So after that

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<v Speaker 2>I thought about that recognition. That was important to me,

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<v Speaker 2>and I think it's important to all athletes. The thing

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<v Speaker 2>that inspires you and creates the desire to go ahead

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<v Speaker 2>and become a chapain is a recognition. And so that

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<v Speaker 2>night I had to make a decision, and that was

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<v Speaker 2>no doubt. The first wise decision of my life. I

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<v Speaker 2>decided to go all out to become a runner. Considering

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<v Speaker 2>my life, you think that was an impossibility. My family

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<v Speaker 2>thought it was an impossibility, my brother thought. But I

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<v Speaker 2>made up my mind and I became a dramatic trainer.

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<v Speaker 2>No more dessert. I ran everywhere, no hitch hiking, rdnd

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<v Speaker 2>on back four miles or most of them back. I

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<v Speaker 2>run like cloelve miles on a Saturday. I hit the mountains,

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<v Speaker 2>run around the lakes, jump on, and I got so

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<v Speaker 2>I liked it. I was not getting tired anymore and fatigued,

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<v Speaker 2>and I enjoyed mainly not running around the track, with

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<v Speaker 2>running in the wilderness and jumping over streams. I can

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<v Speaker 2>remember on a number of occasions chasing deer down.

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<v Speaker 3>The hill just for the part of it. And so

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<v Speaker 3>all that running and in no days.

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<v Speaker 2>There were no stopwatches around, so I had no idea

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<v Speaker 2>how fast I was running, didn't even care. I just

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<v Speaker 2>started enjoying running. And finally, at the end of the summer,

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<v Speaker 2>the first running race was a far West a at

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<v Speaker 2>U cross country at use c La, two miles, about

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred and one runners. When the race was over,

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<v Speaker 2>I won by a quarter a mile or over a

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<v Speaker 2>quarter and I couldn't believe it. I said, no, I'm

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<v Speaker 2>sure I had a corner. I wouldn't take credit for winning.

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<v Speaker 2>And the official said, no, all the challenges are in.

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<v Speaker 2>You passed every checkpoint. And they said, by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>you WoT all three records, Class A, Class B, and

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<v Speaker 2>Class C, and you ran the two miles in nine

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<v Speaker 2>fifty seven, which was comparable to college running.

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<v Speaker 3>And I was sophomore in high school. So that did it.

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<v Speaker 2>I knew that hard work was the answer, and from

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<v Speaker 2>then on I never lost a race for three and

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<v Speaker 2>a half years. The best, the second best five thousand

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<v Speaker 2>meter runner in America was coming to California to run,

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<v Speaker 2>to draw a big crowd and so forth, and my

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<v Speaker 2>brother said, I want you to train.

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<v Speaker 3>You got two weeks.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to should have run against this guy now

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<v Speaker 2>we had no hopes of the Olympics. Just run against

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<v Speaker 2>him to see how close you can get to a

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<v Speaker 2>fellow who's going to make the Olympic team. And that

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<v Speaker 2>would have been a victory in itself. And I got.

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<v Speaker 2>I caught him at the table about two inches, So

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<v Speaker 2>I knew that I could beat the second best runner

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<v Speaker 2>in America and this gave me the part ability of

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<v Speaker 2>making the team.

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<v Speaker 3>Now.

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't think about the team at that time until

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<v Speaker 2>the next day when I got a call from the

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<v Speaker 2>newspaper that the Olympic Committee had called Taunch to tell

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<v Speaker 2>them that I qualified for the Olympic tryouts at Ramlers Island,

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<v Speaker 2>New York. And again it wasn't important to win. I

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<v Speaker 2>made the team and the trill and I'm on this

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<v Speaker 2>ship now with all these great athletes and they were

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<v Speaker 2>all my heroes. And I'm going around meeting all the

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<v Speaker 2>athletes and go off the ship at Hamburg and off

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<v Speaker 2>to Berlin. And then they took us into the most

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<v Speaker 2>beautiful Olympic village ever made, and it was gorgeous, Spinstein

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<v Speaker 2>animals running loose lakes, stormtroopers walking through and we'd give

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<v Speaker 2>them the Hile hitter salute with a big laugh on

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<v Speaker 2>our face, and they knew we were kidding. They'd salute back.

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<v Speaker 2>If we said highlight up, they stay Hile Hitler, or

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<v Speaker 2>vice versa. And so they were a lot of fun.

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<v Speaker 1>And you're listening to the voice of the one and

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<v Speaker 1>only Louis Zamparini raised in Torrance, California, as he said,

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<v Speaker 1>a self proclaimed rascal in his youth. But hearing those

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<v Speaker 1>words come on, Louis get chanted by students. That recognition.

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<v Speaker 1>While that was all the fuel he needed, it lit

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<v Speaker 1>a fire in this young man, and he said it

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<v Speaker 1>was the first wise decision in my life of a

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<v Speaker 1>coomer runner. When we come back more of this remarkable

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<v Speaker 1>life story, Louis Zamporini's story here on Our American Stories,

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<v Speaker 1>lie h Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you

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<v Speaker 1>to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the

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<v Speaker 1>American stories coming. And we're back with our American Stories.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's return to Louis Zamparini and where he left off

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<v Speaker 1>with his arrival to Berlin, Germany to compete as a

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen year old distance runner in the nineteen thirty six

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<v Speaker 1>Summer Olympics also known as the Nazi Olympics.

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<v Speaker 2>So I got in the semi finals, and fortunately I

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<v Speaker 2>made the final. And the last lap comes and I'm

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<v Speaker 2>fifty yards behind the leaders. Something my brother had taught

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<v Speaker 2>me when I was I used to complain about the

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<v Speaker 2>third lap of the mile being tired, and he said,

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<v Speaker 2>all full of the other runners. They're all human beings,

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<v Speaker 2>they're all tired. But think of it this way. You

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<v Speaker 2>got a lap to go about one minute here isn't

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<v Speaker 2>one None of the pain worth a lifetime of glory.

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<v Speaker 2>And I never forgot that. And so I opened up

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<v Speaker 2>the last lap and I caught the leaders coming down

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<v Speaker 2>the homestree. So I did come in with the leaders

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<v Speaker 2>then doing so, the coach said, you just ran your

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<v Speaker 2>last quarter in fifty six seconds, which was considered impossible

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<v Speaker 2>for a distance runner. And uh, that evidently cast the

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<v Speaker 2>attention of Adolf Hitler. He was there every day. And

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<v Speaker 2>I go back to my box after my shower, and

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<v Speaker 2>off she comes over and says, Hitler wants to meet you. First,

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<v Speaker 2>he asked her my name. I said I didn't wear anything.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, he was taking hands of the gold medal.

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<v Speaker 2>He said, well he wants to meet you. Went over

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<v Speaker 2>tonge and hears reached down shook my hand and simply

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<v Speaker 2>said the boy with ah he said, oh yeah, the

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<v Speaker 2>boy with the fast finished and that with it, so

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<v Speaker 2>met The fur didn't mean anything. But my opinion of

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<v Speaker 2>him was the same opinion that Martin Luckman had and

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<v Speaker 2>all the others. You look like a comedian and the

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<v Speaker 2>way he acted, stopping his peak, pounding his legs, and

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<v Speaker 2>face a mustache and all that.

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<v Speaker 3>Uh so that was my opinion of him.

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<v Speaker 1>Uh.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the Games are over and we collected souvenirs all

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<v Speaker 2>the Olympians did remind them of their Olympic trip. And

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<v Speaker 2>now I'm back home entering USC as a freshman, and

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<v Speaker 2>now nineteen forty Tokyo Olympics. We're all aiming for that,

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<v Speaker 2>and suddenly we get the announcement headlines of papers the

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<v Speaker 2>Olympics are canceled. Well, it was quite a blow, you know, adults.

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<v Speaker 2>Billy couldn't understand it. For a kid who's been aiming

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<v Speaker 2>for four years for one race and you're going to

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<v Speaker 2>hit your peak of your life at that particular year,

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<v Speaker 2>that was hard to take.

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<v Speaker 3>Until Pearl Harbor was hit.

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<v Speaker 2>And of course we forgot all about being athletes, and

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<v Speaker 2>like all other Americans who are one mind of one

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<v Speaker 2>accord one purpose, get in the war, quickly, get it

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<v Speaker 2>over with as soon as possible. However, I did run

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<v Speaker 2>in Hawaii to keep in shape. And even though General

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<v Speaker 2>Arnold in charge of the Air Force through a friend,

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<v Speaker 2>he was a friend of mine indirectly, but they wouldn't

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<v Speaker 2>allow me to go back. Because our bomb group was

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<v Speaker 2>a special bomb group and experimental. We were the first

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<v Speaker 2>to use the heaviest bombing of the war for dive bombing.

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<v Speaker 2>So we had a lot of missions up and down

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<v Speaker 2>the Marshall and Gilberts bombing Macon and Tarawa and Woji

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<v Speaker 2>and all those islands, you know. Now, we had a

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<v Speaker 2>few local search missions looking for submarines, and then we

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<v Speaker 2>came back and after a mission, you get a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of days off and we're heading for the main gate

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<v Speaker 2>on the way to Honolu ruined and the operations officers

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<v Speaker 2>comes skidding up in the jeep and says, we just

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<v Speaker 2>got a report of Beach twenty five is gone down

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<v Speaker 2>two hundred miles north of Palmyra. Now the cloud cover broken,

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<v Speaker 2>Sauser at one thousand feet that's our search mission height

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<v Speaker 2>and swinging here on here, and they're looking for debris

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<v Speaker 2>and the water rife, brath anything we could find. And

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<v Speaker 2>suddenly the RPMs dropped on one motor, oil pressure to

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<v Speaker 2>zil and the immediately called the new engineer, and he

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<v Speaker 2>was so excited to do his job. He came up

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<v Speaker 2>and nervously feathered the wrong motor. All this plane could

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<v Speaker 2>not fly normally on four motors. He couldn't get off

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<v Speaker 2>the ground of the bomb loaded was the green hornet

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<v Speaker 2>was a lemon, and with one motor out, the plane

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<v Speaker 2>was having trouble. And now when he feathered the wrong motor,

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<v Speaker 2>the plane just healed over and went down left wing

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<v Speaker 2>first forty five degrees at the water and exploded. The

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<v Speaker 2>pilot and tail gunner were fortunately blown free at the wreckage.

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<v Speaker 2>And then the tail snapped off the control wires, which

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<v Speaker 2>are heavy wires that are springing. So when the wires

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<v Speaker 2>make they coiled up and they so when they snapped, the.

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<v Speaker 3>Wires coiled around the tripod. I'm in the middle.

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<v Speaker 2>I can't get loose now with the wires, there's no

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<v Speaker 2>Hoper's situation, and so I just thought, well, this is it,

0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.520
<v Speaker 2>this is dead. I'm dead, and so I started sinking.

0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.079
<v Speaker 2>My ears popped, and that usually happened around twenty five

0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:06.720
<v Speaker 2>thirty feet and then as I stand deeper something I

0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.200
<v Speaker 2>never had happened before. I felt like someone in the

0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:15.400
<v Speaker 2>signs with a sledgehammer. And then I lost consciousness, and

0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.439
<v Speaker 2>of course I'm thinking, I'm still thinking, so the pressure

0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.720
<v Speaker 2>has got to be getting greater. And when then I

0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:26.800
<v Speaker 2>lost consciousness, and then for some unknown ring, I'm conscious again.

0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.880
<v Speaker 2>I'm freed. I'm loosening from that section of the ship.

0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.280
<v Speaker 2>I'm fairly around my arms trying to find something to

0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 2>grab onto and fortunately my USA ring, which was on

0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.880
<v Speaker 2>this finger, was bearing the white stars still there snagged

0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:43.680
<v Speaker 2>down to the waste window, and I knew that was

0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.079
<v Speaker 2>the waste window by the field. I grabbed with my

0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.839
<v Speaker 2>other hand, watched my back out of the window, and

0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.679
<v Speaker 2>played my life jacket and talked to the surface, and

0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.079
<v Speaker 2>there I saw my two buddies who were now hanging

0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.520
<v Speaker 2>out to a gas tank. They were both in the

0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.040
<v Speaker 2>state of shocked, screaming help, and the pilot's head was

0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:06.360
<v Speaker 2>bleeding profusely with hot iry and there's no way.

0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:06.839
<v Speaker 3>I can help them.

0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:08.600
<v Speaker 2>If I swim over, they help them, we're all dead.

0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.400
<v Speaker 2>I saw a life wrap that had ejected from the

0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:13.960
<v Speaker 2>plane automatically, and so there's a one hundred foot cord

0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:15.760
<v Speaker 2>dragging behind the life wraps.

0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.280
<v Speaker 3>So I'm trying to swim to the.

0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.920
<v Speaker 2>Life raft with shoes on and clothes, and it's impossible

0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.760
<v Speaker 2>even in a swim suit. I couldn't have caught that

0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.120
<v Speaker 2>light at the currents were that vicious. But as I

0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.280
<v Speaker 2>almost gave up swimming, this cord was drawn by my face.

0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:30.760
<v Speaker 3>I couldn't see it in my water.

0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:33.160
<v Speaker 2>I grabbed the last two or three feet and I

0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.720
<v Speaker 2>reeled in the raft and I got to the pilot.

0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.800
<v Speaker 3>Co pilot pulled him aboard, but.

0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.280
<v Speaker 2>A three I took two T shirts, made a wet contest,

0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.920
<v Speaker 2>put on the cuts, tied it with the other T

0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.040
<v Speaker 2>shirt very tightly so it wouldn't breathe anymore, and I

0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.560
<v Speaker 2>laid him back. And then I started thinking about that escape.

0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.760
<v Speaker 2>That really bugged me. And I kept thinking of any

0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:00.960
<v Speaker 2>kind of a logical answer for landscape, and I just

0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.800
<v Speaker 2>couldn't find one, so I gave up thinking about it. Instead,

0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:09.360
<v Speaker 2>I started praying and thanking God for sparing my life. Well,

0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.720
<v Speaker 2>my buddy saw this. They started to pray with me,

0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.840
<v Speaker 2>and then it wasn't long after that the tail downner

0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.040
<v Speaker 2>panics and began to scream. I suddenly dawned on him.

0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:18.520
<v Speaker 3>What happened.

0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:20.840
<v Speaker 2>We're all going to die, he said, I said, mac

0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:21.960
<v Speaker 2>nobody's gonna die.

0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.240
<v Speaker 3>We're gonna die. I said, mac Nobody's going to die.

0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:27.760
<v Speaker 3>And then I told him to shut off. I said,

0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:27.960
<v Speaker 3>if you.

0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.600
<v Speaker 2>Don't shut up, I'm going to make a report on

0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.880
<v Speaker 2>you to the military when we get back. And uh,

0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.760
<v Speaker 2>he still kept screaming. So I tried to use child

0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.840
<v Speaker 2>psychology and that didn't work. So I thought I'd give

0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.800
<v Speaker 2>my double shock, and this is the last resort a

0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:44.800
<v Speaker 2>good shock treatment. So I turned my back on then

0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.240
<v Speaker 2>I came around with the back of my hand and

0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.160
<v Speaker 2>cracked him hard across the face. He laid back in

0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.800
<v Speaker 2>the rapt contempt, and he went okay for maybe five

0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:55.600
<v Speaker 2>days or a week, and then I had to do it again.

0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.000
<v Speaker 2>But it always seemed to work, and he never agacted.

0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:00.040
<v Speaker 2>I just laid back and.

0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:00.720
<v Speaker 3>Seemed to enjoy it.

0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.800
<v Speaker 2>So our menu of course now is for the next

0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.240
<v Speaker 2>forty seven days. There's what birds, fish and water we

0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:11.560
<v Speaker 2>could cast, and a course the burge and the fish

0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.480
<v Speaker 2>we simply ate raw three albatross. Well, we actually caught

0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.240
<v Speaker 2>four albums, and we caught the first only caught. We

0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.040
<v Speaker 2>just ripped it open and the smell was enough. We

0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.760
<v Speaker 2>threw it overboard. The second one we caught, I said,

0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.240
<v Speaker 2>we got to eat some part of it, you know,

0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.600
<v Speaker 2>And so we took the brush. We tried to take

0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:28.280
<v Speaker 2>a bite out of the breast of piece and try

0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:28.920
<v Speaker 2>to chew.

0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:30.720
<v Speaker 3>It up and swallow. We just barely swallowed one.

0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.440
<v Speaker 2>Mouthfall again we where we stood over board and used

0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.600
<v Speaker 2>parts of it to bait, and we did catch a

0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.120
<v Speaker 2>small fish. We divided bad freeways and that wasn't bad

0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.120
<v Speaker 2>raw fish. And then uh, a lot of time went

0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.680
<v Speaker 2>by before we got another albatross, none at all. Yeahway's

0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.560
<v Speaker 2>another albatross. Will open it up. And may I say

0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.800
<v Speaker 2>it was like a hot spudge funny with nuts on it.

0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:52.600
<v Speaker 2>We ate everything eyeballed.

0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.000
<v Speaker 1>And what a story you're hearing? Louis Zamparini. Tell Hitler

0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.360
<v Speaker 1>wants to meet you. He was told after that last

0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.840
<v Speaker 1>final burst of speed. And by the way, he did

0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.000
<v Speaker 1>not tell the story here of him seizing the Nazi

0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.200
<v Speaker 1>flag and stealing it and taking it home. That's a

0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.040
<v Speaker 1>heck of a story. We couldn't tell every bitten part

0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.760
<v Speaker 1>of this story. But he did it, and he did

0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:21.040
<v Speaker 1>it because well why not? He was still well a rascal.

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.000
<v Speaker 1>In the end, he goes to usc he wants to

0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.920
<v Speaker 1>compete in the nineteen forty Olympics. That doesn't happen, They're canceled.

0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.480
<v Speaker 1>Then comes Pearl Harbor. His life is changed. He takes

0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.960
<v Speaker 1>on dangerous missions and soon finds himself stranded in the

0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.919
<v Speaker 1>Pacific with a few buddies forty seven days, hanging on

0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.640
<v Speaker 1>for dear life to be rescued. When we come back,

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.840
<v Speaker 1>more of this remarkable life story, the voice of Louis

0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.640
<v Speaker 1>Zamperini from the grave. He's in heaven now he's smiling,

0:17:52.160 --> 0:18:08.320
<v Speaker 1>loving this story here on our American stories. And we

0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.479
<v Speaker 1>returned to our American stories and to Louise Zamperini's story.

0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.520
<v Speaker 1>The year is nineteen forty one. While serving as Obama

0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.080
<v Speaker 1>deer on a search and rescue mission in the B

0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.520
<v Speaker 1>twenty four Liberator in the Pacific, Zamporini's plane experienced mechanical

0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.920
<v Speaker 1>difficulties and crashed into the ocean. Let's pick up where

0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.040
<v Speaker 1>we last left.

0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:33.159
<v Speaker 2>Off before we went seven days without water. On the

0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.200
<v Speaker 2>twenty seventh day, we heard mortars and you can imagine

0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.359
<v Speaker 2>our excitement. We shot players through wavery guy in the

0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:45.360
<v Speaker 2>ocean flickered our mirrors. The plane came down and through

0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.600
<v Speaker 2>Lords they came to Wargus. We had our shirts off,

0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.880
<v Speaker 2>you know, waving our shirts. Care's my eyes all. We're

0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.760
<v Speaker 2>going to be with the Maurice to night on Palmyra.

0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.040
<v Speaker 2>And then machine gun it water splash off, you know,

0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.800
<v Speaker 2>coming out and just missed us. And then I saw

0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:00.960
<v Speaker 2>the red circle. I know it was a Sally bomber,

0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:05.879
<v Speaker 2>which was comparable to our be twenty five. And so

0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.159
<v Speaker 2>that went on. They stretched us for about thirty minutes.

0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.159
<v Speaker 2>I was in the water with two sharks while there

0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.679
<v Speaker 2>was two stayed in the raft, and every time I

0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:15.440
<v Speaker 2>came up, I knew they were dead, but they were alive,

0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.480
<v Speaker 2>and they weren't touched, missed by an eighth of an inch.

0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.800
<v Speaker 3>Quarter is half ince And this was just unbelievable.

0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.040
<v Speaker 2>And I'm in the water with two sharks, and of

0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.119
<v Speaker 2>course I'm taught how to evade sharks. The last resort

0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:30.680
<v Speaker 2>is straighte on. You stay there, they'll come up. Surely,

0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.480
<v Speaker 2>they'll stop size you up and then they'll come at you.

0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:35.160
<v Speaker 2>And you got plenty of time to get your hand

0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.600
<v Speaker 2>up there and catch them on the end of the nose,

0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.000
<v Speaker 2>and they usually just take off.

0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:40.080
<v Speaker 3>And that worked.

0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.919
<v Speaker 2>But after about thirty minutes we decided we were in

0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.880
<v Speaker 2>a hopeless situation. The raft was now wrinkled, laying flat

0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:47.400
<v Speaker 2>in the water.

0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:48.920
<v Speaker 3>There's no chance.

0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.239
<v Speaker 2>We got to pretend we're dead. So we pretend we

0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:56.919
<v Speaker 2>were dead, and the plane evidently bypasses that round but

0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.600
<v Speaker 2>made a big circle, and we thought they were going

0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.880
<v Speaker 2>back to but they decided on one more run at

0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.040
<v Speaker 2>this time as they came up directly on course, there's time,

0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:08.400
<v Speaker 2>said the off course. I looked out of the corner

0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.359
<v Speaker 2>of my eye and I saw the bombay door open,

0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.520
<v Speaker 2>and ours is it. They dropped the depth charge. It

0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.800
<v Speaker 2>was a canister. Now we dropped bombed on submarine. They

0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:21.560
<v Speaker 2>dropped the canister and it lit about fifty feet away,

0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.600
<v Speaker 2>which would have killed us, But the canister was improperly

0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:30.160
<v Speaker 2>armed and shrank to the bottom harmlessly. And they did

0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:32.760
<v Speaker 2>turn around then and leave us a boil water relief.

0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:34.600
<v Speaker 2>And then we had to start pumping that raft with

0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.560
<v Speaker 2>sharks around, and we're right level with the water. We're

0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.960
<v Speaker 2>pumping like mad, taking turns, and barely got the raft

0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:46.040
<v Speaker 2>up again and now the holes are about the size

0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.320
<v Speaker 2>of a twenty two hole. He had a seven point

0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.359
<v Speaker 2>seven millimeter I think. And if you saw that inner

0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.560
<v Speaker 2>two pull a hole to the swimming pool, it would

0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:54.119
<v Speaker 2>not sink.

0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:54.920
<v Speaker 3>And that's the way.

0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:58.320
<v Speaker 2>That was our situation there as we saddled back in

0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.560
<v Speaker 2>the raft after eight days, which it took us about

0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.680
<v Speaker 2>eight days to get the raft decently patched ubb and

0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.280
<v Speaker 2>then the only real big storm we had during the

0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.520
<v Speaker 2>entire time, and it was monsterus. The ways were like

0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.600
<v Speaker 2>twenty five to forty feet and that was far more

0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.920
<v Speaker 2>fighting than the Japanese airplane and far more fighting than

0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:21.920
<v Speaker 2>the sharks. And we survived that well, I should say

0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:23.760
<v Speaker 2>the two of us survived. That the tail gun had

0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.520
<v Speaker 2>died on the thirty third day and we buried him

0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.600
<v Speaker 2>a seed. And so the next day, of course, there

0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:31.400
<v Speaker 2>are big swells and we're on top of the swore.

0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.560
<v Speaker 2>I see lamb for the first time, and we knew

0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:36.280
<v Speaker 2>we were going to drift into the island, but we

0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.080
<v Speaker 2>also knew these were held by the Japanese, so we

0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:40.680
<v Speaker 2>had to be real careful and try to find a

0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:44.160
<v Speaker 2>Jujuga island. And we were about to land on one

0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.760
<v Speaker 2>island when the Japanese patrol boats came around a point

0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.960
<v Speaker 2>and followed us, and you know, you got about twenty

0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.199
<v Speaker 2>five guys with rifles aimed at you, one guy the

0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.080
<v Speaker 2>machine gun. You know, we were so bushed that we

0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.280
<v Speaker 2>couldn't really laugh, but inside we were laughing.

0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.639
<v Speaker 3>Then they threw us a rope and pulled us aboard.

0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.959
<v Speaker 2>We couldn't even crawl over that week and sat us

0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:09.639
<v Speaker 2>on the deck of the ship. And here's for the

0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:11.879
<v Speaker 2>pescol in the face. But they did get us a

0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.480
<v Speaker 2>drink of water and a biscuit. They were taking the

0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.080
<v Speaker 2>wood in there. Weighed in at thirty plo about I

0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.119
<v Speaker 2>don't know sixty five pounds, so I lost about almost

0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:25.480
<v Speaker 2>one hundred. And there we were treated decently. They pulled

0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.919
<v Speaker 2>the raft out of the from the boat and counted

0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:31.560
<v Speaker 2>the whole forty eight holes. And I told him, I

0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.000
<v Speaker 2>told him to day, the twenty seventh day on the raft,

0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:37.480
<v Speaker 2>the date that the Japanese pilot straped us, he should

0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:39.520
<v Speaker 2>be able to find out who that pilot was or

0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.800
<v Speaker 2>no Japanese pilot wouldn't do that, but he did it,

0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:47.240
<v Speaker 2>so they wouldn't accept that even with the evidence. Two

0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:51.639
<v Speaker 2>days later, We're told we're going aboard a steamer heading

0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.359
<v Speaker 2>for another island, and after you leave this island, we

0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:55.560
<v Speaker 2>cannot guarantee your life.

0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:57.119
<v Speaker 3>So we're heading for a.

0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:03.160
<v Speaker 2>Quad and we knew through the scowl, but that it

0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:09.560
<v Speaker 2>was considered an execution island. We were blindfolded the ocean

0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.040
<v Speaker 2>forty seven day out there, all you saw was that

0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:15.680
<v Speaker 2>endless sky, and the Pacific Ocean is what sixty five

0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.879
<v Speaker 2>million square miles the endless ocean. Now I'm blindfolded, and

0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:22.040
<v Speaker 2>when I men tie that cell, which is two feasts

0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:25.000
<v Speaker 2>wide by six feet deep and six feet long, they

0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:26.359
<v Speaker 2>take my blind poles off.

0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:27.520
<v Speaker 3>My eyes just.

0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.000
<v Speaker 2>Jumped all over the place. I couldn't believe where I was.

0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:32.479
<v Speaker 2>And this had a terrible effect on me. I just

0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:35.440
<v Speaker 2>in the corner of that stell. I just sat there

0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.160
<v Speaker 2>and I looked at my scoutsful fame and just started

0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.080
<v Speaker 2>to cry. And it was you know, here I am

0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:45.800
<v Speaker 2>a two months ago, I was a vigorous athlete, and

0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:50.240
<v Speaker 2>here I am a skeleton. And then now our knew

0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:52.520
<v Speaker 2>guard came on duty and after about a week and

0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:57.760
<v Speaker 2>he simply looked in and said you Christian, me Christian.

0:23:57.840 --> 0:23:59.920
<v Speaker 3>So they can say, well in Japan at that time.

0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.120
<v Speaker 2>You didn't admit you were a Christian out in Japan,

0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.800
<v Speaker 2>and uh, of course I thought I wasn't ill me

0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:11.520
<v Speaker 2>Christian Christian. So we started a chat on paper, who

0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:13.400
<v Speaker 2>draw a picture for the name to and so forth?

0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:16.639
<v Speaker 2>And uh, two days later he got his monthly candy

0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:17.760
<v Speaker 2>rash and shared it with me.

0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:20.159
<v Speaker 3>Unbelievable. Uh.

0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:22.680
<v Speaker 2>Every day, of course we in the morning we would

0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:24.920
<v Speaker 2>think about execution. We'll list be the morning, they'll list

0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:25.520
<v Speaker 2>be the morning.

0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:26.720
<v Speaker 3>And then.

0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:31.320
<v Speaker 2>An officer came in one man and said, you will

0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:34.040
<v Speaker 2>go to Yoklahama pidness war on the jeopardy with the

0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:38.320
<v Speaker 2>Japanese fleet up to Sacred Camp in the hild of

0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:41.800
<v Speaker 2>old Una, and uh, there I'm shoved into a room

0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:43.600
<v Speaker 2>and told us stand away for for the orders.

0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:48.720
<v Speaker 3>And uh, so I stand there.

0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:53.080
<v Speaker 2>I see the back of the man's head and then

0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:55.600
<v Speaker 2>he turns around men's back in the chair and looks

0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.000
<v Speaker 2>at him, laughs, and he didn't have to say remember me.

0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:01.960
<v Speaker 3>I know him well at the USC for three and

0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:02.480
<v Speaker 3>a half years.

0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.640
<v Speaker 2>James Sosaki and Riley says I came back to Japan

0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:12.639
<v Speaker 2>after USC and became Admiral Society that civilian rank of

0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:17.080
<v Speaker 2>Admiral ahead of all interrogation all over Japan, ninety one

0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:23.639
<v Speaker 2>prison county, and we talked about USC the bacon and

0:25:23.720 --> 0:25:25.919
<v Speaker 2>eight doctress on the campus. He was talking about that

0:25:26.000 --> 0:25:28.720
<v Speaker 2>kind of food chili. Weren't getting it, and then he said, well,

0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:31.640
<v Speaker 2>we'll see each other from time to time. They called

0:25:31.720 --> 0:25:36.560
<v Speaker 2>him Jimmy. Jimmy Sosaki had a high ficency transmitter just

0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.840
<v Speaker 2>off a towns boulevard a short distance from the Edison

0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:42.800
<v Speaker 2>substation where he made broadcast.

0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:44.880
<v Speaker 3>Daily to the Japanese government.

0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:47.919
<v Speaker 2>Then they said he left by boat two days before

0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:53.679
<v Speaker 2>or raked by the FBI and CIA. I'm finally transferred

0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:57.440
<v Speaker 2>to what they call headquarterstamb On Mary between Alma, Tokyo

0:25:57.880 --> 0:26:01.080
<v Speaker 2>or a man made island, and there I meet a

0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:03.840
<v Speaker 2>nightmare in my life, the bird I command. There he

0:26:03.880 --> 0:26:06.040
<v Speaker 2>lines us up to and by him looks at me

0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:07.560
<v Speaker 2>and I couldn't look in his eye that looked away,

0:26:07.600 --> 0:26:09.320
<v Speaker 2>and he said, why you don't look at my eyes? Buy?

0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:13.159
<v Speaker 2>So I'm knockdown, I get up knock down again. So

0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:15.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm punched out every day for the first ten days.

0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:18.400
<v Speaker 2>And I knew who who the rosh was, That's for sure.

0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:23.480
<v Speaker 2>And so he was so brutal.

0:26:23.359 --> 0:26:23.960
<v Speaker 3>The other guards.

0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:26.719
<v Speaker 2>We gave him bile, filthy names. It didn't give him

0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:29.800
<v Speaker 2>a filthyme. We simply call him the bird Becaucius. If

0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:32.440
<v Speaker 2>he did find out to struggle but that we named

0:26:32.480 --> 0:26:34.919
<v Speaker 2>him a certain name, then we're really in for trouble.

0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:38.600
<v Speaker 1>And you've been listening to Louise Zamporini tell the story

0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:42.119
<v Speaker 1>of his capture by the Japanese forty seven days in

0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:45.600
<v Speaker 1>the ocean. The sharks were tough, the gunfire from enemy

0:26:45.680 --> 0:26:48.959
<v Speaker 1>Japanese planes was tough. What was tougher is surviving a

0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:53.360
<v Speaker 1>wicked storm with thirty five foot plus waves. Then he's

0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:57.280
<v Speaker 1>transferred to execution island. He catches a glimpse of himself

0:26:57.760 --> 0:27:00.439
<v Speaker 1>and all he saw was a skeleton frame, and he

0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:03.880
<v Speaker 1>just started crying. Every morning he thought about one thing,

0:27:04.440 --> 0:27:08.520
<v Speaker 1>his execution. And then he's transferred to another camp where

0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:12.360
<v Speaker 1>he meets his tormentor the bird. When we come back

0:27:12.400 --> 0:27:16.240
<v Speaker 1>more of this remarkable life story, Louise Amporini's story here

0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:39.320
<v Speaker 1>on our American stories, and we returned to our American

0:27:39.440 --> 0:27:43.360
<v Speaker 1>stories and to Louise Zamporini's story when we last left off.

0:27:43.400 --> 0:27:47.160
<v Speaker 1>In his story, he described a Japanese interment prison guard

0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:51.320
<v Speaker 1>known as the Bird. The Bird was so deranged that

0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:54.600
<v Speaker 1>General Douglas MacArthur named him as one of the most

0:27:54.680 --> 0:27:59.960
<v Speaker 1>wonted war criminals in Japan. Let's continue with Louise Zamporini.

0:28:00.560 --> 0:28:04.560
<v Speaker 3>Now he was the son of a wealthy family. He

0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:06.040
<v Speaker 3>thunked out our officers schools.

0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:09.959
<v Speaker 2>They had him for officers, and I can remember when

0:28:10.200 --> 0:28:12.800
<v Speaker 2>we have a be twenty nine ready, call all Americans out,

0:28:13.720 --> 0:28:16.600
<v Speaker 2>and he separated the officers from the enlisted men. And

0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:18.920
<v Speaker 2>then he had all the lost rank and listed them

0:28:19.080 --> 0:28:22.040
<v Speaker 2>just to shame us. Buck privates faced us and each

0:28:22.119 --> 0:28:24.520
<v Speaker 2>one had to punch us and off of down. Then

0:28:24.520 --> 0:28:26.240
<v Speaker 2>they wouldn't hit us hard. They'd hit us easy and

0:28:26.280 --> 0:28:30.040
<v Speaker 2>then mediate hit with the club. Hey hit us hard,

0:28:30.160 --> 0:28:31.600
<v Speaker 2>knock us down and get it over with. So we

0:28:31.600 --> 0:28:33.640
<v Speaker 2>had to take a full blow on the face, down

0:28:33.680 --> 0:28:36.560
<v Speaker 2>on the ground. And so that's the way he was.

0:28:36.640 --> 0:28:40.800
<v Speaker 2>He took it out our officers. Always officers got the punishment.

0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:45.560
<v Speaker 2>But about another week when Di and I believe there

0:28:45.560 --> 0:28:47.320
<v Speaker 2>were six or seven us lined up put in a

0:28:47.440 --> 0:28:51.160
<v Speaker 2>train and now we're crossing Tokyo. But see, in the

0:28:51.200 --> 0:28:53.840
<v Speaker 2>meantime they had the big fire rate on Tokyo, which

0:28:53.880 --> 0:28:56.760
<v Speaker 2>we saw from our vanish point. We saw the sky

0:28:56.840 --> 0:29:01.400
<v Speaker 2>at blow all night and half the next day, and

0:29:02.560 --> 0:29:04.160
<v Speaker 2>to come on the train and we go right to

0:29:04.240 --> 0:29:07.160
<v Speaker 2>that charred ways and all we could say for miles

0:29:07.240 --> 0:29:10.640
<v Speaker 2>nineteen square miles of charred you know, mambu huts or whatever,

0:29:10.680 --> 0:29:13.440
<v Speaker 2>wooden shacks. But the only thing we were able to

0:29:13.480 --> 0:29:18.120
<v Speaker 2>identify were the hundreds of LAIDs that the Japanese did.

0:29:18.200 --> 0:29:19.240
<v Speaker 3>They did like the Germans.

0:29:19.240 --> 0:29:21.680
<v Speaker 2>The factory was bombed, but it didn't slow them down

0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:25.080
<v Speaker 2>because the big factory in the industrial complex at the

0:29:25.080 --> 0:29:28.680
<v Speaker 2>point of Tokyo, they only had part of their machinery there.

0:29:28.680 --> 0:29:31.200
<v Speaker 2>The rest of it was in the civilian homes. And

0:29:31.280 --> 0:29:34.680
<v Speaker 2>I remember going to the slaughterhouse to pick up our meat.

0:29:34.800 --> 0:29:37.840
<v Speaker 2>Was was horse guts in a wheelbarrow, and they used

0:29:37.880 --> 0:29:40.520
<v Speaker 2>to see these transformers, and so my golly, to this

0:29:40.560 --> 0:29:42.520
<v Speaker 2>little house. I'd looked back and I'd see a laid,

0:29:43.000 --> 0:29:45.320
<v Speaker 2>great big twenty five thousand dollars laid, and the guys

0:29:45.360 --> 0:29:49.560
<v Speaker 2>working making parts and all down the street. That it

0:29:49.600 --> 0:29:52.520
<v Speaker 2>was really strange to see the only thing not burnber

0:29:52.680 --> 0:29:56.640
<v Speaker 2>all those machines, and that was the raising Truman had

0:29:56.640 --> 0:29:59.200
<v Speaker 2>the fire bombing of Tokyo was because that was the

0:29:59.240 --> 0:30:03.160
<v Speaker 2>industrial com So I were going north twelve hours to

0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:07.160
<v Speaker 2>right to Nagano and down to the ocean to the Lectu.

0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:10.400
<v Speaker 2>And we get to the prison compound. We have to

0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:14.400
<v Speaker 2>stand there attention and wait for further order. And we

0:30:14.520 --> 0:30:16.840
<v Speaker 2>waited and watched the front door of the guard shack,

0:30:16.920 --> 0:30:19.240
<v Speaker 2>and whoever was in there was making us wait purposely,

0:30:20.080 --> 0:30:23.960
<v Speaker 2>and we waited and waited and waited, and the door opened,

0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:27.640
<v Speaker 2>the house shuts the bird. Well, my knees buckled. I

0:30:27.720 --> 0:30:29.440
<v Speaker 2>just I just couldn't believe. I just thought, you know,

0:30:29.640 --> 0:30:32.080
<v Speaker 2>my guide, it never gives up. When I got to

0:30:32.120 --> 0:30:35.040
<v Speaker 2>the point, I just thought, it's hopeless, hopeless. I can't

0:30:35.120 --> 0:30:40.400
<v Speaker 2>escaped this guy. So I got back to attention, and

0:30:40.440 --> 0:30:41.760
<v Speaker 2>then I had to pull up him.

0:30:41.600 --> 0:30:47.720
<v Speaker 3>All over again. So then about eight days before the

0:30:47.720 --> 0:30:49.000
<v Speaker 3>war's over, we get.

0:30:50.320 --> 0:30:53.720
<v Speaker 2>One of the guards came to me and and said,

0:30:55.040 --> 0:30:58.240
<v Speaker 2>a sad thing happened in Japan, a city call Hiroshima.

0:30:59.000 --> 0:30:59.920
<v Speaker 3>Power broke out.

0:31:00.200 --> 0:31:03.040
<v Speaker 2>No one's allowed to go in this quarantine.

0:31:03.160 --> 0:31:05.960
<v Speaker 3>And yeah, we thought that was sad.

0:31:06.040 --> 0:31:10.080
<v Speaker 2>So the whole nation of Japan knew that Hiroshimo was

0:31:10.200 --> 0:31:14.960
<v Speaker 2>a city quarantine with collar. And then about eight days

0:31:15.000 --> 0:31:18.000
<v Speaker 2>later we're told a paint p w on the rope

0:31:18.800 --> 0:31:20.760
<v Speaker 2>that we'd heard rumors about the war being over for

0:31:20.800 --> 0:31:24.840
<v Speaker 2>two years, so it didn't mean much, but we wouldn't

0:31:24.840 --> 0:31:26.880
<v Speaker 2>believe it until we saw a TVF fly over the

0:31:26.960 --> 0:31:29.800
<v Speaker 2>river and they saw all the pregnants in the river

0:31:30.360 --> 0:31:33.160
<v Speaker 2>and they flashed on the red light dah da dad,

0:31:33.640 --> 0:31:36.120
<v Speaker 2>and the radio man picked it up. The war's over.

0:31:36.320 --> 0:31:38.360
<v Speaker 2>So then we rushed up to the compound and began

0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:40.240
<v Speaker 2>to wave with the plane. He circled and circle.

0:31:40.800 --> 0:31:42.120
<v Speaker 3>Then they drop the red ribbon.

0:31:42.680 --> 0:31:44.760
<v Speaker 2>On the end of it was a candy bar with

0:31:44.840 --> 0:31:47.680
<v Speaker 2>a bite out of it, and the pack of siagarettes

0:31:47.680 --> 0:31:50.840
<v Speaker 2>were two cigarettes gone, and yet three hundred and fifty

0:31:50.840 --> 0:31:52.800
<v Speaker 2>men got a puff of cigarette and we all had

0:31:52.800 --> 0:31:56.840
<v Speaker 2>a shiver of candy pretty good that evening. He came

0:31:56.920 --> 0:31:59.160
<v Speaker 2>back and we looked like a body folly. It was

0:31:59.200 --> 0:32:01.800
<v Speaker 2>a pair of names. The pants tied at the bottom

0:32:01.880 --> 0:32:06.800
<v Speaker 2>on top and carton with cigarettes and candy, and Commander

0:32:06.840 --> 0:32:12.880
<v Speaker 2>Fitzshaal of the Grenadear Submarine, the ranking officer. He opens

0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:15.080
<v Speaker 2>the pants and right on the top was a magazine

0:32:15.640 --> 0:32:18.719
<v Speaker 2>and he just stood there silently looking at that picture

0:32:18.720 --> 0:32:21.800
<v Speaker 2>of the toomic bomb because we'd never heard of it,

0:32:22.160 --> 0:32:23.880
<v Speaker 2>and he kept looking at it, and the other officers

0:32:23.920 --> 0:32:25.800
<v Speaker 2>walked up. We all looked over his shoulder and looked

0:32:25.800 --> 0:32:28.920
<v Speaker 2>at that picture. And then I realized the date of

0:32:29.080 --> 0:32:33.200
<v Speaker 2>the collar as Hiroshima with the same dates for actually

0:32:33.200 --> 0:32:37.120
<v Speaker 2>what happened with the bomb, and the Japanese pulled the

0:32:37.160 --> 0:32:39.720
<v Speaker 2>eyes over the general public by telling him up with

0:32:39.720 --> 0:32:41.840
<v Speaker 2>his collar, which was the best thing he could have done.

0:32:42.800 --> 0:32:50.840
<v Speaker 2>So finally, the bird two days before we knew, actually

0:32:50.880 --> 0:32:51.160
<v Speaker 2>knew the.

0:32:51.120 --> 0:32:51.720
<v Speaker 3>Wall was over.

0:32:51.800 --> 0:32:56.120
<v Speaker 2>The bird disappeared, and because we had a seventy pound

0:32:56.200 --> 0:32:59.120
<v Speaker 2>walk on the second floor right over the river and

0:32:59.200 --> 0:33:01.840
<v Speaker 2>a rope we had hidden away in the bulk of

0:33:01.880 --> 0:33:05.600
<v Speaker 2>the building, and we were going to grab him, tie

0:33:05.680 --> 0:33:07.480
<v Speaker 2>the rock on him and throw him over into the river.

0:33:07.600 --> 0:33:10.960
<v Speaker 2>That was our intention, but he flew the coops, so

0:33:11.080 --> 0:33:14.480
<v Speaker 2>we didn't see him again. Near The guards all started

0:33:14.480 --> 0:33:18.640
<v Speaker 2>bounding and scraping, and we talked far for him, and

0:33:19.680 --> 0:33:22.200
<v Speaker 2>we knew that family got home that weren't eating too well,

0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:25.480
<v Speaker 2>and typical American we started giving the guards food to

0:33:25.560 --> 0:33:28.040
<v Speaker 2>take home to their children and stuff like got candy.

0:33:28.560 --> 0:33:31.400
<v Speaker 2>In fact, when the war was over, sleeping in tenth

0:33:31.480 --> 0:33:34.160
<v Speaker 2>on the way home, I still had nightmares about the bird.

0:33:35.000 --> 0:33:36.360
<v Speaker 3>I'm a Italian. I have to have.

0:33:36.320 --> 0:33:39.480
<v Speaker 2>Revenge, and when he's torturing me and punishing me, booing

0:33:39.560 --> 0:33:41.680
<v Speaker 2>revenge in my heart and my hands are cunched, I

0:33:41.720 --> 0:33:44.000
<v Speaker 2>got him by the throat. And that was in my

0:33:44.080 --> 0:33:47.000
<v Speaker 2>dreams every night, every night. Every night I got home,

0:33:47.120 --> 0:33:49.760
<v Speaker 2>it was the same thing at home. I got married,

0:33:49.840 --> 0:33:53.000
<v Speaker 2>I still had the nightmares. In the meantime, I started

0:33:53.080 --> 0:33:55.960
<v Speaker 2>drinking because of that. But before I started drinking heavily,

0:33:56.000 --> 0:33:58.560
<v Speaker 2>I started training for the forty eight Olympics, and I

0:33:58.560 --> 0:34:03.200
<v Speaker 2>did get in good shape. And then when I had

0:34:03.760 --> 0:34:07.040
<v Speaker 2>my knee give out, my ankle and a muscle spasm

0:34:07.160 --> 0:34:10.359
<v Speaker 2>or like an explosion in my cap, I couldn't train

0:34:10.400 --> 0:34:12.400
<v Speaker 2>anymore and I gave that up, and that really hurt me.

0:34:12.440 --> 0:34:15.520
<v Speaker 2>And TRUST started drinking more and more, and my wife

0:34:15.600 --> 0:34:20.400
<v Speaker 2>decided time for a divorce. And somebody in our apartment

0:34:20.400 --> 0:34:23.840
<v Speaker 2>house was telling us about a fellow.

0:34:23.640 --> 0:34:25.200
<v Speaker 3>Named Billy Graham. We never heard him.

0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:28.160
<v Speaker 2>They talk my wife into going down and here Billy Graham,

0:34:28.400 --> 0:34:30.799
<v Speaker 2>the made a decision for the Lord. Came home that

0:34:31.000 --> 0:34:33.680
<v Speaker 2>night try to talk me into it, and I said,

0:34:33.840 --> 0:34:35.680
<v Speaker 2>cable wife, I don't want to hear any more about

0:34:35.719 --> 0:34:39.640
<v Speaker 2>religion and h But she said something that really struck

0:34:39.680 --> 0:34:42.120
<v Speaker 2>me in the heart, and that was and because of

0:34:42.160 --> 0:34:44.279
<v Speaker 2>my decision, I'm not going to get a divorce. So

0:34:44.320 --> 0:34:47.440
<v Speaker 2>that was good news. And but the next day she

0:34:47.600 --> 0:34:50.480
<v Speaker 2>was all over me and I refused to go. Finally

0:34:50.520 --> 0:34:52.360
<v Speaker 2>they more or less tricked me into going down to

0:34:52.400 --> 0:34:55.160
<v Speaker 2>here Billy and there he's preaching, you know, for all

0:34:55.200 --> 0:34:58.480
<v Speaker 2>of sin. Well I knew I was a sinner. Well,

0:34:58.520 --> 0:35:01.600
<v Speaker 2>I didn't like you idea of him reminding me, and

0:35:01.640 --> 0:35:03.759
<v Speaker 2>it just gave you and give me the shoes to leave.

0:35:03.800 --> 0:35:06.440
<v Speaker 2>I got mad, grabbed my wife, poled her home, and

0:35:06.680 --> 0:35:09.640
<v Speaker 2>the next day should go all over me again. And

0:35:09.680 --> 0:35:13.520
<v Speaker 2>so I finally consented on a return trip. And I said, well,

0:35:13.560 --> 0:35:17.120
<v Speaker 2>when he finishes his shorm and says everyhow hit bowed,

0:35:17.120 --> 0:35:17.799
<v Speaker 2>I'm getting out.

0:35:17.880 --> 0:35:20.120
<v Speaker 3>Okay, So back we went, and.

0:35:21.880 --> 0:35:26.160
<v Speaker 2>I kept quoting scripture from the Bible, and uh, I

0:35:26.200 --> 0:35:28.200
<v Speaker 2>knew what I should do, but I didn't want to

0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:31.160
<v Speaker 2>do it. And uh then as I started to leave

0:35:31.239 --> 0:35:34.400
<v Speaker 2>the camp, I started thinking back on the on the

0:35:34.480 --> 0:35:37.799
<v Speaker 2>raft when our lives were spared, we did pray morning, noon,

0:35:37.840 --> 0:35:40.440
<v Speaker 2>and night, and we prayed constantly on the raft. Uh.

0:35:40.640 --> 0:35:43.839
<v Speaker 2>My prayer was always God saved my life, and I'll

0:35:43.880 --> 0:35:44.960
<v Speaker 2>seek you and serve you.

0:35:46.200 --> 0:35:47.840
<v Speaker 3>And here I am home alive.

0:35:48.440 --> 0:35:51.680
<v Speaker 2>My prayers were answered, and they completely turned my back

0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:52.640
<v Speaker 2>on those promises.

0:35:53.120 --> 0:35:54.200
<v Speaker 3>That hit me pretty hard.

0:35:54.239 --> 0:35:56.239
<v Speaker 2>Before I got to the aisle where I decided to

0:35:56.280 --> 0:35:59.759
<v Speaker 2>turn out, no, I stopped momentary, made my decision, went

0:35:59.800 --> 0:36:03.200
<v Speaker 2>back to the prayer room, and made my confessional faith

0:36:03.200 --> 0:36:06.799
<v Speaker 2>in Christ. And there a miracle took place. My life

0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:11.040
<v Speaker 2>completely changed. I had to turn about. I knew that

0:36:11.120 --> 0:36:14.440
<v Speaker 2>I was true getting drunk. I knew it obviously for myself.

0:36:14.920 --> 0:36:17.239
<v Speaker 2>I knew I'd forgiven all my guards. I knew I'd

0:36:17.239 --> 0:36:20.200
<v Speaker 2>forgiven the bird. And I think proof of that was

0:36:20.200 --> 0:36:21.960
<v Speaker 2>that that night I didn't have a nightmare for the

0:36:22.000 --> 0:36:24.480
<v Speaker 2>first time. And it's been two and a half years

0:36:24.480 --> 0:36:27.440
<v Speaker 2>and I haven't and sent the war and I had

0:36:27.440 --> 0:36:32.359
<v Speaker 2>a nightmare every night, And now from nineteen forty nine

0:36:32.440 --> 0:36:34.560
<v Speaker 2>till this day, I still never had a nightmare, or

0:36:34.680 --> 0:36:36.720
<v Speaker 2>even the spy just ankling of a nightmare.

0:36:37.440 --> 0:36:39.680
<v Speaker 3>And so when I met with.

0:36:39.640 --> 0:36:43.480
<v Speaker 2>The studio to make the movie with Universal, the producer

0:36:43.560 --> 0:36:45.200
<v Speaker 2>was hearing all the things the bird did to me.

0:36:45.320 --> 0:36:47.440
<v Speaker 2>I'm fit at this meeting like this, listening to these

0:36:47.480 --> 0:36:50.200
<v Speaker 2>fellows talk. And finally he's getting really up tight and

0:36:50.200 --> 0:36:53.040
<v Speaker 2>he jumped up and said, Louis, how could you forgive that?

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<v Speaker 2>So and so? Then I stood up and I said, well,

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<v Speaker 2>I can only give you one version of the Bible.

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<v Speaker 2>Why I could forgive him? Therefore, if any man be

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<v Speaker 2>in Christ, he is a new person. All things are

0:37:04.040 --> 0:37:05.719
<v Speaker 2>passed away, the whole, all things, you.

0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:06.480
<v Speaker 3>Will become new.

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<v Speaker 2>And Hey looked at me. I didn't know what is

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<v Speaker 2>your doing. Hey rushed over and grabbed me around the ways,

0:37:13.480 --> 0:37:15.279
<v Speaker 2>picked me up and said, we're going to make this

0:37:15.320 --> 0:37:18.720
<v Speaker 2>interer all measure film. So I thought that was pretty

0:37:18.760 --> 0:37:21.240
<v Speaker 2>neat him. They're Jewish, and I'll mention it in Christ.

0:37:21.239 --> 0:37:23.840
<v Speaker 2>So that was the climash. That was just beautiful.

0:37:24.480 --> 0:37:25.080
<v Speaker 3>Tell us my.

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<v Speaker 1>Story and what a voice you just heard. That is

0:37:28.040 --> 0:37:31.760
<v Speaker 1>Louis Zamparini from the grave in heaven sharing his story

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<v Speaker 1>for all to hear about how Jesus saved his life,

0:37:35.840 --> 0:37:41.320
<v Speaker 1>made those nightmares disappear, and renewed his life and his marriage.

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<v Speaker 1>And a special thanks to Greg Hangler as always for

0:37:44.440 --> 0:37:46.840
<v Speaker 1>the editing on that piece, and thanks to Vision Video

0:37:47.239 --> 0:37:52.200
<v Speaker 1>they have nineteen hundred video titles of uplifting, family friendly content.

0:37:52.480 --> 0:37:55.879
<v Speaker 1>Go to Vision Video dot com. God saved my life

0:37:56.080 --> 0:37:58.920
<v Speaker 1>and I will seek and serve you. He prayed on

0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:02.600
<v Speaker 1>that boat. I turned my back on God, on my promises.

0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:05.960
<v Speaker 1>But then I came to Christ. My life completely changed.

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<v Speaker 1>I forgave the bird. My nightmares ended. A beautiful story.

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<v Speaker 1>Louis Zamparini's here on our American Stories