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

to understand the war from the Japanese perspective, and offering their thoughts on my manuscript. Because the war remains a highly controversial issue in Japan, they have asked me not to identify them, but I will never forget what they have done for me and for this book.
    If I had a firstborn, I’d owe it to my editor, Jennifer Hershey. Jennifer was infinitely kind and infinitely patient, offering inspired suggestions on my manuscript, making countless accommodations for my poor health, and ushering me from first draft to last. I also thank my spectacularly talented agent, Tina Bennett, who guides me through authordom with a sure and supportive hand, and my former editor, Jon Karp, who saw the promise in this story from the beginning. Thanks also to Tina’s assistant, Svetlana Katz, and Jennifer’s assistant Courtney Moran.
    In the many moments in which I was unsure if I could bring this book to a happy completion, my husband, Borden, was there to cheer me on. He spent long hours at our kitchen table, poring over my manuscript and making it stronger, and, when illness shrank my world tothe upper floor of our house, filled that little world with joy. Thank you, Borden, for your boundless affection, for your wisdom, for your faith in me, and for always bringing me sandwiches.
    Finally, I wish to remember the millions of Allied servicemen and prisoners of war who lived the story of the Second World War. Many of these men never came home; many others returned bearing emotional and physical scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they sacrificed, for the good of humanity. It is to them that this book is dedicated.
    ——

    Laura Hillenbrand
    May 2010

NOTES

    All letters to or from Louis Zamperini, or to or from his family members, as well as diaries, are from the papers of Louis Zamperini, except where noted otherwise.
    All letters between Phillips family members, as well as Kelsey Phillips’s unpublished memoir “A Life Story,” are from the papers of Karen Loomis.
    All interviews were conducted by the author, except where noted otherwise. As some seventy-five interviews were conducted with Louis Zamperini, citations of these interviews are not dated.

ABBREVIATIONS

AAFLA
Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles
AFHRA
Air Force Historical Research Agency
BGEA
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
HIA
Hoover Institution Archives
NACP
National Archives at College Park, Maryland
NHC
Naval Historical Center
NPN
No publication named
NYT
New York Times
RAOOH
Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters
RG
Record Group
SCAP
Supreme Commander of Allied Powers
Preface
1 Raft: “42nd Bombardment Squadron: Addendum to Squadron History,” September 11, 1945, AFHRA, Maxwell AFB, Ala.; Louis Zamperini, telephone interview;Robert Trumbull, “Zamperini, Olympic Miler, Is Safe After Epic Ordeal,”
NYT
, September 9, 1945.
2 Four-minute mile: Charlie Paddock, “Sportorials,” April 1938 newspaper article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN; George Davis, “For Sake of Sport,”
Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express
, undated 1938 article from Zamperini scrapbook; George Davis, “Cunningham Predicts Zamperini Next Mile Champ,” undated article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN; Paul Scheffels, “4 Minute Mile Run Is Closer,”
Modesto
(Calif.)
Bee
, February 14, 1940.

PART II

Chapter
6:
The Flying Coffin
1 Pancakes: Ken Marvin, telephone interview, January 31, 2005.
2 “
Calm!”:
William Manchester,
The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972
(New York: Bantam Books, 1974), p. 258.
3 Eleanor Roosevelt writes Anna: Doris Kearns Goodwin,
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt—the Home Front in World War II
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), p. 289.
4 Butler overheard president: Ibid., p. 290.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    L AURA H ILLENBRAND is the author of the #1
New York Times
bestseller
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the Book Sense Book of the Year Award and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, landed on more than fifteen best-of-the-year lists, and inspired the film
Seabiscuit
, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Hillenbrand’s
New Yorker
article, “A Sudden Illness,” won the 2004 National Magazine Award, and she is a two-time winner of the