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From: Charles Roedema
Date: 7/4/2014 2:24:12 AM
Subject: Louis Zamperini, triumphant
'Unbroken' warrior, dies at 97
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Zamperini was the subject of one of my favorite books, “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand (who also wrote “Seabiscuit).” “Unbroken” will come out as a movie at Christmastime directed by Angelina Jolie. Chuck Roedema
Louis Zamperini, triumphant 'Unbroken' warrior, dies at 97
By Todd Leopold, CNN
updated
3:39 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2014
·
Louis Zamperini is the subject of bestseller and upcoming film
"Unbroken"
·
Zamperini survived plane crash, weeks on raft, Japanese POW
camps
·
After World War II, he became inspirational speaker
(CNN) -- Louis
Zamperini, the Olympic runner and World War II officer who survived a horrific
plane crash, a seven-week journey across the Pacific in a raft, near starvation
and unspeakable torture in Japanese POW camps, has died.
He was 97. The cause of
death was pneumonia, his family said in a statement from Universal Pictures,
which is making a film adaptation of "Unbroken," Laura
Hillenbrand's bestselling chronicle about Zamperini's life.
"Having overcome
insurmountable odds at every turn in his life, Olympic runner and World War II
hero Louis Zamperini has never broken down from a challenge. He recently faced
the greatest challenge of his life with a life-threatening case of pneumonia.
After a 40-day long battle for his life, he peacefully passed away in the
presence of his entire family, leaving behind a legacy that has touched so many
lives," the Zamperini family said in a statement.
Louis Zamperini with "Unbroken" director
Angelina Jolie in October. The film, based on the bestseller about his life,
comes to theaters this Christmas.
"His indomitable
courage and fighting spirit were never more apparent than in these last
days."
On her Facebook page, Hillenbrand wrote, "Farewell to
the grandest, most buoyant, most generous soul I ever knew. Thank you, Louie,
for all you gave to me, to our country, and to the world. I will never forget
our last, laughing talk, your singsong 'I love you! I love you!' and the words
you whispered to me when you last hugged me goodbye, words that left me in
happy tears, words that I will remember forever. I will love you and miss you
to the end of my days. Godspeed, sweet Louie."
Angelina Jolie, the
director of the "Unbroken" film, added, "It is a loss impossible
to describe. We are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having
known him. We will miss him terribly."
Zamperini's tale is
one of those that would be dismissed as fiction if it weren't true.
A wild child who grew
up in Torrance, California, he was tamed by a love for running and an
unquenchable competitiveness. At 19, he ran the 5,000 meters at the 1936
Olympics in Berlin despite mere weeks of training at that distance. He missed a
medal but, in his determination to catch the leaders, ran his last lap in an
astonishing 56 seconds.
With the 1940
Olympics canceled due to the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the Army
Air Corps prior to Pearl Harbor and eventually became a bombardier on the
sometimes unwieldy B-24 Liberator, nicknamed the "Flying Brick." In
late May of 1943, he and a crew took off on a search mission for a fallen
pilot. Somewhere over the open Pacific, the plane failed and crashed into the
ocean.
Zamperini and two
colleagues survived, but their troubles were just beginning.
He and the other crew
members had to survive 47 days on a raft, in scorching sunlight and often
without drinking water. They collected rain when it fell and killed albatrosses
who alit on the raft. Sharks constantly circled beneath them. One person died
on the journey.
When Zamperini and
his buddy, pilot Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips, finally washed ashore
on a Pacific island, they found they had drifted 2,000 miles -- only to be
taken in as prisoners of war by the Japanese.
Life only got harder.
The men were fed poorly and feared being killed by their captors. Zamperini was
singled out for abuse by one camp sergeant, nicknamed "the Bird," who
beat him regularly in psychotic fury.
Zamperini, a University of Southern California alumnus,
serves as a presenter at the Golden Goggle swimming awards in Los Angeles in
2011.
Zamperini was declared
dead by the U.S. military.
Yet he endured.
As documented in
"Unbroken," after the war, Zamperini struggled to adjust. He drank
heavily. He had trouble sleeping. He wanted revenge on the Bird. But, thanks to
a newfound faith -- inspired by visits to Billy Graham's Los Angeles Crusade in
1949 -- and an unshakable spirit, he overcame his troubles and became an
inspirational speaker.
He established a camp
for troubled youths called Victory Boys Camp. His wife, Cynthia, was a
cornerstone of his life. They were married for more than 50 years, until her
death in 2001.
He also forgave his
wartime tormenters, some of them in person during a 1950 visit to a Tokyo
prison where they were serving sentences for war crimes. He was willing to
forgive the Bird, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, though Watanabe refused to meet with
Zamperini when he had the chance, in 1998, when Zamperini returned to Japan to
carry the torch at the Nagano Winter Games.
Scott Blackmun, CEO
of the U.S. Olympic Committee, issued a statement offering condolences to the
family and saying, "We're proud to say that among his many accomplishments
and triumphs, Mr. Zamperini was an Olympian. His fighting spirit was a true
representation of Team USA and our country, both in Berlin and throughout his
life. His presence will be missed."
Hillenbrand's book
was released in November 2010. It remains on the bestseller lists almost four
years later.
Jolie's movie is
scheduled to be released Christmas Day.
"It will be hard
to make a film worthy of this great man," she told the Hollywood Reporter in 2013. "I am deeply
honored to have the chance and will do all I can to bring Louie's inspiring
story to life."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: Mike Harr <c190guy@gmail.com>
Date: July 9, 2014 at 6:30:45 AM EDT
To: Mike Harr <c190guy@gmail.com>
Subject: What's The Buzz? Buzz Aldrin's #Apollo45
Date: July 9, 2014 at 6:30:45 AM EDT
To: Mike Harr <c190guy@gmail.com>
Subject: What's The Buzz? Buzz Aldrin's #Apollo45
Be sure and watch the video at the end !
What's The Buzz? Buzz Aldrin's #Apollo45
Second Man On The Moon Celebrates The Landing's 45th Anniversary
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin
"Buzz" Aldrin is turning to social media to get people involved in
the 45th anniversary of man's first landing on the Moon.
It was July 20, 1969, when Aldrin and
Neil Armstrong touched down on the lunar surface. And Aldrin hopes he can
generate a conversation about the historic event using the hashtag #Apollo45
and establishing a #Apollo 45 YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is the home
of an anniversary video that features such celebrities as John Travolta and Tim
Allen, scientist Stephen Hawking, movie director J.J. Abrams, Sir Richard Branson,
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. All talk
about what the first landing on the Moon meant to them.
USA Today reports that Aldrin has two
iPhones and an iPad he is using in the campaign. But he refutes the assertion
that there is more computing power in an iPhone than the computers that guided
his spacecraft to the Moon. "Can it communicate with someone that can give
it its exact XYZ state vector? Can it land safely on another object? No, it's
gonna hit the floor and crash and probably stop working. We didn't have color
... but we certainly got the most out of our computers," he said during a
recent Skype meetup.
Aldrin is encouraging the public to
upload their recollections of the day to various social media sites using the
#Apollo45 tag.
Aldrin hopes that he can build momentum
during this 45th anniversary and keep it going to the 50th coming in 2019.
But "we need to start now," he said.
(Image captured from YouTube video)
FMI: Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=488wi-ziNo0&feature=youtu.be
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