She said everyone in the group took a turn on recommending a book to be read (they had an agreement with the library - that ordered enough copies of the book for everyone in the club; they did so by borrowing from other libraries and each member could borrow the book for 3 weeks). She said when it was her turn, as she was new in the group, she felt a little scared to make a recommendation, but she had just read a wonderful book by Laura Hillenbrand named "Unbroken". Even as early as a week later people in the group who happened to bump into her said "I CAN'T put this book down! It's possibly the best book I've ever read!"
Laura Hillenbrand had written the book "Seabiscuit" about a winning race horse, and has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so it's very difficult for her to be well enough to write a second book. Here is the official website of "Unbroken" and it can be purchased or downloaded at Amazon.com:
http://laurahillenbrandbooks.com/
The story is about an Olympic runner named Louis Zamperini. He was a teenager when he competed at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. World War II broke out and he suspended his running career to become an Army Air Corps bombardier, surviving several harrowing combat missions flown out of his base in Hawaii. On May 27, 1943, Zamperini’s bomber crashed in the Pacific, leaving Zamperini and two other survivors stranded on a raft surrounded by sharks. This is a TRUE story.....Louis Zamperini is still alive, in his 90's.
The lady in the swimming pool (named Carol) told me more and I felt enraptured by the story and vowed to read the book soon. The officer who sent him (as the mechanic) and 2 others on this mission KNEW the plane was unfit but sent them anyway. It crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He and 2 others survived on a raft. They had managed a small ration of food and potable water. Soon, they were encircled by vicious sharks who circled the raft day and night. They had very little food and water and knew they had to share it sparingly. One night...one of the other 2 men ate all the food and drank all the water while the others were asleep. They spotted what they thought was a rescue plane, but it turned out to be a Japanese plane that fired upon them. The raft deflated and the sharks began to snap at them. Somehow, one of the 3 make a homemade "bat" and managed to beat off the sharks one by one. With all water and food supplies gone, dehydrated and sunburnt they floated some 47 days, until they found land. Alas, it was an island under Japanese control and the 3 were immediately taken as prisoners of war.
There would be one prison guard in particular who would make Zamperini's life a living hell:
Mutsuhiro Watanabe, “the Bird.”
Known by prisoners as “the Bird,” this POW camp guard was consumed in bitterness over his failure to become an officer. An ardent sadist, he was especially provoked by POWs who were officers, who were successful in civilian life, or who refused to grovel before him. When he encountered Louis Zamperini, a lieutenant, a world-famous Olympian, and a ferociously defiant man, Watanabe was immediately obsessed with breaking him. The two men began a yearlong battle of wills. This guard was so sadistic and so cruel that the other guards begged for him to be transferred to another prison (and he was, after a year).
As the War came towards the end, all the Allied prisoners of war were sent to one prison and as luck would have it.....who would be the guard there....none other than Mutsuhiro Watanabe - only delighted with glee to have Louis Zamperini as his captive prisoner again. He tortured Zamperini to near-death conditions.
When the War ended, Zamperini and the others were released, but he suffered PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) - which was not even recognized as an illness in those days. He met a lovely woman named Cynthia and wanted to marry her....however, he decided against that when he would (alone) wake up in the middle of the night (due to PTSD) strangling his pillow thinking it was Cynthia. He had fantasies of killing someone and in the dreams he would see the face of Watanabe and Cynthia as one and the same. He started drinking and was going on a downhill slide. Still, Cynthia liked him enough as a friend to invite him to accompany her to a talk being given by world-famous Evangelist, Billy Graham. Louis went and did not like it. He thought it was all a bunch of rubbish. HOWEVER.....the next night Louis decided to go (alone) to the Billy Graham talk and his life was turned around. He began to understand the power in forgiveness; he quit drinking and worked on improving his "forgiveness". He knew immediately WHOM he needed to forgive: the cruel guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe......and began writing letters FORGIVING him. As no-one knew where in Japan Watanabe was hiding, Zamperini began to send the letters to the newspapers in Tokyo and they published them each time.
Mutsuhiro Watanabe, however, was to spend a lonely, bitter life in Japan always in hiding. He was then wanted by War Crime Tribunals, so he spent his life in hiding.
There came a point MANY years later when Louis Zamperini went to Japan with a crew from "60 Minutes".....his one desire was to meet with Watanabe face-to-face and tell him that he FORGAVE him. Watanabe would not agree to the meeting, but was interviewed separately (so long as his location was not disclosed). He was still (some 50 years later) an ANGRY man consumed by hatred. A few years later, Watanabe died, bitter and alone.
SO - I really appreciated Carol telling me about this book and plan to read it soon. It is amazing how some people complain about life and receive no more than a mosquito bite, whereas others who have been beaten, starved, hopeless, circled by sharks, lost at sea, tortured.....can have an amazing resilience and even can forgive.
Carol told me they will be making a film of this story and hopes Louis Zamperini will still be alive to attend the premiere.
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