I  finished reading the book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand this past week, the story of Louis Zamperini — an Olympic athlete then military hero and prisoner of war, then crusader for forgiveness. 

 

I remember turning to my wife, Terri, about halfway through the book and saying, “to have just one of these circumstances happen to me would have been enough to make my life a story worth telling.”

 

And I hadn’t even got to the second half of Louie’s life story.

 

Upon finishing the book, I now stand with a much greater appreciation for those who served during the World War II conflict and all wars our country has participated.

 

It’s peculiar — up until now whenever I thought of WWII, my mind immediately registered thoughts of Hitler, the Jews and the Holocaust.

 

Pearl Harbor and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were always acknowledged as being part of the war, but to me the second world war was identified by the European campaign.

 

Not anymore.

 

My father fought as a marine in WWII as a 19-year-old soldier on the island of Peleliu, one of the Palau Islands of the western Pacific. He rarely gave any of us kids more than a glimpse into the horrors he faced and I always wondered why he kept that part of his life so secret.

 

After reading Unbroken, I have a better understanding of his silence.

 

Though my dad never became a POW nor endured the kind of mental, emotional and physical torture Zamperini encountered, the involvement in this conflict must have been something you’d want to erase from your memory as soon as you possibly could. Pretend it never happened. Imagine it was a nightmare, no more.

 

Never speak of its horrors again.

 

Sept. 15, 1944, U.S. Marines fighting in World War II (1939-45) landed on Peleliu and over the next several weeks, ferocious Japanese resistance inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. troops before the Americans were finally able to secure the island.

 

The attack on Peleliu resulted in a higher death toll than any other amphibious assault in U.S. military history; Of the approximately 28,000 Marines and infantry troops involved,  40% of the Marines and soldiers who fought for the island died or were wounded, for a total of some 9,800 men (1,800 killed in action and 8,000 wounded).

 

In the book, Unbroken, it was noted the American soldiers were well aware of the potential horrors they could face should they ever fall into the hands of the Japanese enemy. Zamperini and his comrades knew of the potential hazards of being captured. I’m pretty sure my dad was privy to it too.

 

My father, William Sr., told me of a time he was on Peleliu and he and his platoon were assigned to overtake a bridge on the island. He skipped most of the details but managed to speak of the time he was nearly captured when upon nearing a bridge. Enemy soldiers arrived and the group of Marines my dad was with had to submerge themselves in shallow water and lay still for what seemed like an eternity, until the enemy departed — ambiguous to their presence.

 

Pretty scary stuff.

 

He also told us kids of the time he was carrying an ammunition box and an enemy bullet hit directly in the front of the container — and had he not been carrying it in front of his body, he most assuredly would have been hit somewhere in his lower torso, possibly critically.

 

A few years ago, a B-17 WWII plane arrived at St. Cloud Airport and ground tours and flight experiences were offered to the public and the press. I accepted an invitation to board the mammoth airplane for a short tour of central Minnesota that summer day.

 

I remember looking at the “shell” of the plane from the inside, where the walls of the plane were thin and the bomb bay doors were not butting together so the ground from thousands of feet up could be seen just below your feet. It was awfully cramped inside and I remember the “greenhouse” just below the pilots where gunners could take in a nearly 180º view of any incoming planes.

 

In Unbroken, the planes Zamperini and his comrades flew in were very much the same in description, so my experience aboard that rickety flying machine made the reading come to life. 

 

I’m grateful my wife introduced me to the book, Unbroken, which opened my eyes to the atrocities of the war that my dad dared not subject us kids to.

 

Another part of the book that amazed me was when Zamperini recommitted his life to Christ years after the war, and launched a new career as a Christian inspirational speaker. One of his recurring themes was forgiveness and he visited many of the guards from his POW days to let them know that he had forgiven them.

 

That’s when I fully understood the title of the book.

 

I plan to see the movie this weekend and I’ve heard the film leaves out some major parts of his story — but it’s still supposed to be a good film.

 

For those who want to soak in the whole story, read the book. It’ll change your life.