Chapters 38 + 39 + Review

Watanabe had finally killed himself; he could no longer run and was found dead with a lover. The book introduces a final character – Billy Graham. He was the vice president for Youth for Christ International, and after a few speeches Louie was into the whole story. At first he didn’t like it but more and more as Graham gave reasoning and mentioned science here and there Louie had no choice but to accept the speeches. For the first time in ages Louie went to church, it was pretty astonishing to him what it was like. He “felt indignant rage flaring in hi, a struck match.  I am a good man, he thought.  I am a good man.” He couldn’t stand church and how it felt to be sitting in a room being told how bad a person everyone is. He was furious and he was just about to storm out for the second time when he remembered praying on the raft after the plane crash. He remembers saying “if you will save me, I will serve you forever.” He turned, enlightened, to Graham and stayed the whole service. When he got home he poured all of the alcohol that had plagued him down the sink, he woke feeling cleansed on the inside and he started reading more. Every morning he was a new creation, he intended to keep his outlook this way. Then he started his final journey, the killing of bird. To him he was still alive so he went to Japan and saw every man that had beaten him to a pulp and killed men he knew. He looked them each in the eye and was stunned to see that Watanabe was missing. As soon as he heard the news of Watanabe’s death the war was over for him. He had no reason to believe the bird a demon, he was a man. A cruel man but still a man, and now Louie was at piece. He came back to the people who had beaten him and looked at them with an outstretched arm and a smile on his face, he had finally learned the ability to forgive.

Review:
The author of this book is Laura Hillenbrand, the author of the bestselling book Sea Biscuit. She was born in 1967 and though an awesome writer she suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and spends most of her time in her home. Her essays have placed in many prestigious magazines and one has received the Eclipse Award for Magazine Writing. She is also the Co-Founder of Operation Iraqi Children – an volunteer effort to send school supplies to Iraqi children. A few main themes of the book are: persistence shown through constant hardships faced by Louie and many of his friends. Mind over matter, shown through Louie’s determination to get through any situation to stay alive and on top like in his Olympic placing. The biggest theme to me was Brotherhood, a sense that no man is left behind. People like Officer Fitzgerald (who stayed behind to make sure all of his men were rescued from the POW camp) was awarded the Navy Cross and the Silver Star for his heroism. Louie also received his fair share of decorations but the principal remains the same. The book is very interesting; I didn’t want to put it down because the voice was so good. I have a very hard time reading books with poor voice and this book had a perfect one. Out of everything I had a hard time finding weaknesses in the book but one that may be a weakness to some (but actually a strength to me) was the constant story-shifting. Though possibly more confusing than it’s worth I thought it was a great way to tie everything together without having boring chapters explaining everything. Voice is what makes this book so great, many reviews say so too, the New York Times reads: “Unbroken is gripping in an almost cinematic way.” The book was not as successful as its predecessor but is still a wonderful book nonetheless. I am not left hanging with any questions, the story was fully told and I enjoyed every part of it.

Chapters 34 + 35

Louie finally sets foot in his old home again, with many gifts and tons of food waiting for him. His family was ready to spend an eternity finding every detail in his story. After talking, the family put on a record of him announcing that he was alive – Louie couldn’t stand it and went mad. He then went to sleep and the Bird was waiting for him in his dreams. The Bird wasn’t only in his dreams though, he was still wandering Japan hiding from the allies; hiding from the death penalty. He was on the list of the worst offenders of war-crimes, he vowed to not be taken in. he elided the Japanese for long enough, though sentenced to death nobody could find him. The haunting Watanabe had given Louie was still all around him. In his sleep many chants from The Bird would shout at him, waking him, forcing him to think of all the people he knew who had died at the hands of the infernal guard. Louie however wouldn’t let this get to him too much as he began making strides to win over a woman by the name of Cynthia. She was an upper class woman but was just as defiant as Louie to scale. She found him very intriguing because of his experiences. This story follows a similar path of the beginning of Shakespeare’s Othello. With a hasty engagement after only dating for a little over two weeks Louie was in a mad dash to set up a wedding. Louie started building up his leg strength again and on May 25^th the wedding was held and the vows were made. Chapter 35 is mostly about the lives of the general POW Company after the war. This chapter says how many died, and many more were physically unable to do much else but lie down. To most of the men post-war peace-time was a time to rebuild dignity and to fall in love with the world. Though some weren’t so lucky as to have this outlook; filled with rage these few were bent on revenge. Louie had one final goal, the last thing he would do alive was not run in the Olympics; it was to kill The Bird.

Chapters 31 + 32 + 33

Once the POWs caught wind of this they were in disbelief, they had never heard of the words “atomic” or “electronic” being used with a bomb before. The bird was sent on a job to ready the new POW camp that the prisoners would head for their actual execution, with one week away this was startling. On August 15^th the war was over for the Japanese, this sent the prisoners into a whirl of sorrow knowing that their fate was so close. The day never came thanks to an American torpedo bomber, it sent the officials into a blaze of confusion and the prisoners into waves of happiness and thoughts of freedom. The next few days were full of air drops of food for the POWs, the men were so happy and they ate to their hearts content. On September 5^th the men were taken home, finally after so many years of suffering the men had been able to go home. The best part about this to me was the fact that the Japanese captors (at least the ones who were nice to the prisoners) were saluting them as they left for home. What a change in character, or moreover role; from disciplinary guard to respecting officer. I enjoy the fact that something can draw people together as to live better. Once Louie reached the states he saw a doctor who had grim news, he wouldn’t be able to continue his running career because of all the abuse he had taken during imprisonment. Though this had been bad news he bumped paths with many of his friends met throughout the various camps, this was a great sign of relief for him knowing that his friends were alright. Him and Pete finally meet up and they were amazed to see each other, Pete was worried about Louie’s mentality and hoped that he wouldn’t have PTSD; his worries were put to rest because with every joke they had, Louie’s fears faded further and further away. They both board a plane and head over to Long beach, Louie jumps out of the plane and hugs someone he hasn’t seen in years, his mother and him were crying together.

Chapters 29 + 30

This is now the turning of the tides for the US; with Germany fallen the entirety of the allied military was pushing to defeat Japan. But back at camp the bird was trying to be murdered in order to save the lives of the officers he was pummeling. After several attempts one Officer managed to get him sick with diarrhea and a fever of a stunning 105 degrease. This plan had also failed to put him under, the camp thought The Bird “unmurderable”. Then the officials noticed a stolen fish, they ordered the thieves to show themselves. The men did and Louie among other innocent officers was ordered to stand out with the thieves. Then back at the camp Watanabe told every enlisted man to punch the officers and thieves as hard as they could in the face – anyone who refused would be put to the same punishment.  Air raids would continue and the kill all rule became the closest its ever been to Louie, told to him barely after September the kill all order was set for August 22^nd. Brought to their execution camp they were told to work. Louie however was taken to a special place where he would hold a heavy beam for as long as he could. Though tired and wasted physically he managed to hold the beam for 37 minutes through mental determination, mainly for his hatred of the Bird. Then came in the night of August 1^st the largest air raid to date with over 6,100 tons of explosives, civilians thought it was raining; but it wasn’t water – it was napalm. The final attempt to murder the Bird would be conspired – they would subdue him, tie him to a rock and hurl him out a window down to the bottom of a large body of water. Meanwhile the last bomb was dropped on Hiroshima; the atomic bomb was armed and detonated mid air scorching all of Hiroshima. 

Chapters 27 + 28

With the bird sent away to another camp Kano took over, the men were the happiest they’d been in years. The men were finally allowed to write home and Louie took full advantage of this by writing to everyone he knew. A few new men came to the camp, but they weren’t new to Louie: the men were Commander Fitzgerald and Harris. More Red Cross crates were handed out; Louie gave his to Harris who was in grave condition. The b-29s continued to shower over Japan, and as they drew closer another “kill all” order was written and 139 prisoners died the night of December 15. 11 escaped and by some miracle met up with guerilla fighters who brought them to the US forces. On February 16^th the biggest battle yet over Japan was being fought, with hellcats flying everywhere to combat the zeros. The men were then put in their cells and told to wait for the fight to be over, after the destruction Louie and many of his friends were being transferred to Naoetsu, yet another POW camp. This is ridiculous! Why are the men going through so many camp changes? It seems to me that the Japanese may be using Louie because of his Olympic status. Though I thought Louie would never see The Bird again, I was far off. The new POW camp was where Watanabe was sent away, and Louie called it “the darkest moment of his life.” After hiking over a mile in deep snow they get this as their just rewards? I guess all is fair in love and war though. Just like at Ofuna the Bird would beat on Louie for any which reason he felt necessary, the Officers were lucky because they didn’t have to work the painful duties of those with less rank. They were spared of the tragedies of the enlisted men that were working themselves to death quite literally. And once the officers were at work they were outside the camp, where there they would get full rations. This “liberty” was not to last as one of the officials jokingly told the bird that the officer POWs were lazy. The Bird saw this as no joke and ordered the officers to work alongside the enlisted at the coal mines under threat of execution. Here too was a guerilla war; the items themselves that were stolen weren’t so much as important as the mental satisfaction of out-witting their captors. One day while working in the coal mines he slipped and fell, then he seemed to have broken his ankle and knee; this would prevent him from working there but it would half his rations as he had no work. He found work after finally pleading to the Bird for some, the work – maintaining the pig. The catch however was that he couldn’t use any tools but his bare hands, and with such a life devoted to cleanliness he thought “if anything is going to shatter me, this is it.”

Chapters 25 + 26

Louie was sent to push rations into Tokyo, but it was a grim sight. Despite all of the lights and seemingly busy towns from the view of the POW camp there weren’t any young men to be found. When back at the camp new plane flew over as a sign of hope. A B-29, the new kid on the block and it was to the POWs “not their messiah, but ours.” It wasn’t going to liberate the camp alone but it gave the men even more to hold on too. What the men are thinking though in the back of their heads is the “kill all” rule. Louie was dead – to his family back home anyways; Louie got the paper confirming his death, and actual transcript with his death declaration on it. The people from Radio Tokyo were very upset with this and allowed Louie to write a speech to get to his family, he hesitantly accepted because he feared that they were lying. The news reached the US and the Zamperini family was notified, then with the excitement ten times that of when Louie placed in the Olympics – Louie was alive again.  On November 24^th Liberation was coming in the form of one hundred and eleven of the B-29 bombers. After that moment the prisoners knew that rescue was coming even more quickly, but the Bird didn’t see it that way. He became a crazy tyrant ordering the men to put out imaginary fires, and get water in ditches miles away to put out said “fires”.
Phil and Allen, both of which people Louie had met on this journey were still alive. This was a beacon of hope for Louie though his mind was being shaken from the constant beatings from the Bird. And after the months of keeping the Red Cross boxes to the officers ONE was finally allowed to be handed out to the POWs. That was a tremendous day for them all, Louie getting an 11 pound crate to himself which was opposite of the usual limited rations. With the Red Cross coming in more and more often one man – a Prince Yoshitomo Tokurugawa – would talk to one of the POWs about how things were in the camp. The man despite beatings would tell the prince of Watanabe’s cruelty. After enough times of hearing this “the Bird” was sent away. There were no more beatings for Louie, and there was a celebration in the whole camp. 

Chapters 23 + 24

The new POW camp was astonishingly bland, ash covering every inch of the camp. The officer of the camp was very dogmatic and didn’t allow eye contact; this man was in Tinker’s mind a psychopath. With a few blows to Louie’s head, then more after starting a fire to keep warm Louie knew that the officer would try his hardest to shatter him. Watanabe, the leading disciplinary officer was a sexual sadist; he would do unthinkable things to the POWs and would take great pleasure in doing so. The most incredible thing about Watanabe to me was his inconsistency, he would break the bones and the psyche of POWs and sometimes apologize in tears. But then would resume beatings in a matter of minutes. Such a bipolar nature, why would the Japanese allow him to serve in any type of command?
the men in the POW camp were not “passive captives” they were soldiers. They raged guerilla warfare against their captors by crafting goods that were of poor quality, stitching leather wrong, and stealing sugar and fish. These men were invigorated by how if death was a possibility they weren’t going to die without a fight. And with this thievery, thieving school was born. More inept thieves would teach new ones how to steal. And the final exam was a heist, the only way to fail – get caught. And so a network of black-market goods that were stolen opened up in Omori with sugar being the currency. With Watanabe beating everyone and anyone even some of the Japanese guards were helping the POWs. One in particular was Yukichi Kano. He would distract men while the prisoners stole, when winter was coming he would hang blankets in the infirmary, and when someone was sick – instead of taking them to the sadistic official doctor, he would take them to one of the POWs that was a physician.  I think Louie’s childhood was creeping up on him again; every beating he got from Watanabe was more incentive for him to hate “the Bird”. The rising hatred in Louie must have been from not being able to hit back – it must have been really hard on him mentally even more so then it was physically.