In his youth in the 1930’s, Zamperini was an incorrigible troublemaker
and school bully but he could run like the wind. He became a champion runner
and competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and so impressed Adolph Hitler and Nazi
propagandist Joseph Goebels they asked for a personal meeting. In September
1941, he joined the US Army Air Corps and flew a number of combat missions in
the Pacific as a B-24 bombardier.
Then in May 1943, his plane crashed on a routine search mission in the
Pacific, and Zamperini and one other survivor drifted on a raft some 2.000
miles over 47 days before being taken prisoner by the Japanese. He spent the next
two and a half years in several brutal prison camps undergoing horrendous
torture, abuse and starvation.
After the war, he returned to California angry and bitter with what we
now call Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He experienced haunting
nightmares and severe alcohol abuse. His wife Cynthia who had become a Christian
decided not to divorce Zamperini. Instead she insisted he join her at Billy
Graham’s historic 1949 Los Angeles Crusade. There he came to faith in Christ and
his whole life changed immediately. Of that night Zamperini wrote this:
[Graham] quoted Scripture: ‘For all have sinned’ and so forth. And I
thought, I don't
need him to tell me I'm a sinner. I know I am. I started to get up to leave, and he said, ‘When people come to the end
of their rope and there's nowhere to turn, they turn to God—no matter who they
are.’ I thought, Yeah, I made thousands of
promises on the raft and in prison camp. He kept His promises, but I didn't
keep mine. So I went back
to the prayer room and made a confession of faith in Christ. While I was still
on my knees, I knew my whole life had changed. I knew that I was through
getting drunk—that I'd forgiven all my guards, including the Bird. I just
couldn't believe it was happening.”
He went on to share the gospel around the nation and world and
endlessly told his story of rescue and redemption. In 1950 he returned to Japan
to meet and forgive his Japanese captors.
Zamperini recently said the book “Unbroken
has had a tremendous influence, and it has turned into a God-given opportunity
to share the Gospel. The book has yielded an unbelievable ministry.”
The movie Unbroken will bring
Louie Zamperini’s powerful story of courage, faith and endurance to even more millions
of people around the world. What remains unclear at this time is how much of
Zamperini’s faith in Christ will the film’s producer Angelina Jolie will put on
the screen. We will be following future developments about the movie and will
report them to you in our monthly e-newsletters.
By the way, the 97 year old Zamperini resides in Los Angeles and will
be grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade.
Check Them Out:
Dave Brown, Director and Pastor-at-Large, Washington Area Coalition of Men's Ministries (WACMM)
