Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

flew back to Guam. John Weller described the fearfully complex job of a B-24 navigator.
    I am deeply indebted to several Japanese people who spoke candidly of a dark hour in their nation’s history. Yuichi Hatto, the Omori camp accountant and a friend to POWs, was an indispensable sourceon the Bird, Omori, and life as a Japanese soldier, answering my questions in writing, in his second language, when we were unable to speak on the telephone. Yoshi Kondo told me about the founding of the Joetsu Peace Park, and Shibui Genzi wrote to me about Japanese life in Naoetsu. Toru Fukubayashi and Taeko Sasamoto, historians with the POW Research Network Japan, answered my questions and pointed me toward sources.
    The delightful Virginia “Toots” Bowersox Weitzel, Louie’s childhood friend, made me cassette tapes of the most popular songs at Torrance High in the 1930s, narrating them with stories from her days as a school cheerleader. Toots, who passed away just before this book went to press, told of tackling Louie on his sixteenth birthday, cheering him on as he ran the Torrance track with Pete, and playing football with him in front of Kellow’s Hamburg Stand in Long Beach. She was the only ninetysomething person I knew who was obsessed with
American Idol
. Olympians Velma Dunn Ploessel and Iris Cummings Critchell vividly described their experiences aboard the USS
Manhattan
and at the Berlin Games. Draggan Mihailovich told me of his remarkable encounter with the Bird. Georgie Bright Kunkel wrote to me about her brother, the great Norman Bright.
    ——

    As I traced Louie’s path through history, many people went out of their way to help me find information and make sense of it. With the assistance of former USAAF bombardier Robert Grenz, William Darron of the Army Air Forces Historical Association brought a Norden bombsight to my house, set it up in my dining room, put a rolling screen of Arizona beneath it, and taught me how to “bomb” Phoenix. As I worked on my book, Bill was always happy to answer my questions. Gary Weaver of Disabled American Veterans climbed all over a B-24 to film the interior for me; thanks to Gary Sinise for putting me in contact with Mr. Weaver. Charlie Tilghman, who flies a restored B-24 for the Commemorative Air Force, taught me about flying the Liberator.
    When I was too ill to get to the National Archives, Peggy Ann Brown and Molly Brose went there for me, wading into voluminous POW and war-crimes records and coming back with some of my most critical material. John Brodkin typed up my citations to save me from my vertigo and climbed on my dining room table to photograph images out of Louie’s scrapbook. Nina B. Smith translated POW documentsfrom Norwegian, and Noriko Sanefuji translated my letters to and from Japanese sources. Julie Wheelock transcribed many of my interviews, straining to hear elderly voices taped on my nearly-as-elderly recorder. Gail Morgan of the Torrance High School Alumni Association dug through the school archives in search of photographs of Louie.
    I also want to send thanks to Draggan Mihailovich, Christopher Svendsen, and Sean McManus of CBS, who kindly got me permission to view unaired videotape from CBS’s 1998 feature on Louie. Roger Mansell’s Center for Research, Allied POWs Under the Japanese ( http://www.mansell.com/pow-index.html ) was a comprehensive source of information on POW camps; thanks also to historian Wes Injerd, who works with Mansell’s site. Jon Hendershott, associate editor at
Track and Field News
, helped me decipher confusing 1930s mile records. Paul Lombardo, author of
The One Sure Cure: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell
, and Tony Platt, author of
Bloodlines: Recovering Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws
, taught me about eugenics. Rick Zitarosa of the Naval Lakehurst Historical Society answered questions about the
Graf Zeppelin
. Janet Fisher of the Northeast Regional Climate Center, Janet Wall of the National Climatic Data Center, and Keith Heidorn, PhD, of the Weather Doctor ( http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/doctor.htm ), answered weather-related questions. Fred Gill, MD, helped me understand Phil’s head injury. Charles Stenger, PhD, cleared up my confusion on POW statistics.
    Working with Yvonne Kinkaid and Colonel J. A. Saaverda (Ret.) of the Reference Team, Analysis and Reference Division, Air Force Historical Research and Analysis, Bolling Air Force Base, the wonderfully helpful Colonel Frank Trippi (Ret.)