Unbroken

Unbroken is a biography about World War II survivor and hero Louis Zamperini. The biography begins with Zamperini’s childhood as a trouble maker and follows him through his years as a prisoner of war and then his struggles upon returning to freedom. The focus of the book is his journey of survival and the suffering that continues to affect him after he gains freedom.

Louis copes with the memory of his suffering with alcohol and nearly loses his family over this behavior. Ultimately, he is able to regain his faith and move past his own grief and traumatic memories. He even forgives his Japanese captors, including a notoriously sadistic guard named “the bird”. When Zamperini learns that “the Bird” is still alive he requests to meet him however the bird refuses, instead Zamperini writes him a letter. The end of the book concludes by showing the true extent of his forgiveness describing a moment in 1998, when he carries the Olympic torch past Naoetsu, one of the locations where he was once imprisoned.

This book honors the trials and tribulations of a World War II veteran. The book enables his personal memories of World War II and how they affected him to become a collective memory. Zamperini’s own personal forgiveness of his captors inspires another kind of collective forgives among human beings who have fought countless wars and might still hold animosities toward one another. I included this book because it’s story of hardship and then forgiveness is a memory I wish to emphasize in the collective memory of World War II. The World War II Memorial while centered on the sacrifice made by Americans during the war, is also a space for anyone of any nationality to visit, remember and forgive.