4/2/2023 0 Comments Bomber crew traits![]() ![]() At age 22, in 1943, he was killed by enemy fire during the raid on Nauru. Harry Brooks Radioman and waist gunner on Louie’s B-24 flight crew. His Japanese captors amputated much of his leg in unnecessary surgery. A friend of Louie’s, they plotted an escape that was unsuccessful.įred Garrett An American B-24 pilot from Burbank, California, whose plane was shot down. He was cruelly tortured-his fingernails were ripped out by Japanese interrogators-and was later imprisoned with Louie in the Omori and Naoetsu POW camps as well.įrank Tinker An American dive-bomber pilot (and opera singer) imprisoned with Louie at the Ofuna interrogation center and at the Omori and Naoetsu POW camps. Louie and Cynthia remained married to each other for the rest of their lives.įrancis “Mac” McNamara The tail gunner on the Green Hornet’s ill-fated search-and-rescue mission, he survives the crash but later dies adrift with Louie and Phil.īob Martindale The American commander imprisoned and forced into slave labor with Louie in the Omori POW camp.Ĭecile “Cecy” Perry The fiancée of Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips, who sang in the choir at Phil’s father’s church and married Phil at the war’s end.Ĭommander Arthur Maher The highest-ranking POW and commanding officer of the prisoners at the Ofuna interrogation center.Ĭommander John Fitzgerald The second-ranked commanding officer among the POWs at the Ofuna interrogation center. She was responsible for bringing Louie to hear Billy Graham, where he, too, underwent a religious conversion that saved their marriage. However, she changed her mind about the divorce after a religious conversion at a Billy Graham crusade. She became a victim of domestic violence, which resulted from Louie’s struggle with PTSD, and decided to divorce Louie. It’s assumed that he died as a POW in Korean captivity.Ĭynthia (Applewhite) Zamperini Following WWII, when she was 20, Cynthia met Louie and married him against her family’s wishes. He disappeared during battle and was never seen again. After WWII, he fought for America again in the Korean Conflict. A war hero, he was rescued from Omori and stood at General Douglas MacArthur’s side when Japanese officials signed the documents of surrender. At Ofuna, he was beaten so severely that he almost died. Along with Louie and Frank Tinker, he plotted an escape that never came to fruition. William “Bill” Harris A marine and fellow prisoner with Louie at the Ofuna interrogation center and the Omori POW camp, Harris often encouraged POWs by making clandestine war maps copied from stolen newspapers. In postwar Japan, he made millions as a business owner, married, had children, and lived comfortably until his death in old age. After WWII, Watanabe went into hiding until the United States finalized amnesty for all war criminals. Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe A psychopathic, mentally unstable guard given free reign over POWs as the Omori POW camp’s designated “disciplinary officer.” A sadist who freely admitted that beating prisoners aroused him sexually, Watanabe administered crippling punishments on a whim, delighting in devising new ways to degrade and torture the prisoners. He was liberated at the war’s end and returned to America, where he married Cecile “Cecy” Perry and became a high school teacher in Indiana. Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips The pilot on Louie’s bomber crew in WWII and one of Louie’s best friends in the army, Phil was captured with Louie by Japanese forces and enslaved in POW camps. He married, raised three children, and lived to be 92. After WWII, he had a long, successful career as a football and track coach in California. During WWII, Pete served stateside as a navy training officer. He helped rescue Louie from juvenile delinquency by forcing his little brother to join the high school track team. In high school, Pete was an avid athlete. He lived into old age, running a nonprofit organization and traveling worldwide as an inspirational speaker. He struggled with alcoholism and PTSD until a religious conversion helped him to recover. After the war, he returned to California, where he married and raised a family. He survived being lost at sea and years of horrific abuse as a POW in Japan. He became an Olympic runner and military aviator in WWII. Louis “Louie” Zamperini The son of Italian immigrants, Louie grew up in Torrance, California. Part V Chapter 36: The Body on the Mountain.Part IV Chapter 32: Cascades of Pink Peaches.Part IV Chapter 29: Two Hundred and Twenty Punches.Part IV Chapter 20: Farting for Hirohito.Part IV Chapter 19: Two Hundred Silent Men.Part IV Chapter 18: A Dead Body Breathing.Part III Chapter 16: Singing in the Clouds.Part III Chapter 15: Sharks and Bullets.Part II Chapter 11: “Nobody’s Going to Live Through This”.Part II Chapter 9: Five Hundred and Ninety-four Holes. ![]() Part II Chapter 8: “Only the Laundry Knew How Scared I Was”.Part I Chapter 1: The One-Boy Insurgency. ![]()
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