07-04-2014, 10:22
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#1
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Area Commander
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cochise Co., AZ
Posts: 6,200
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Louis Zamperini, triumphant 'Unbroken' warrior, dies at 97
Quote:
The government announcement of Louis Zamperini's death in World War II made headlines.
Zamperini was the "Torrance Tornado," the tough kid turned track star who set a national high school record for running the mile. In 1936, he was known as "The Zamp," the 18-year-old USC standout who ran at the Berlin Olympics, where his roommate was Jesse Owens. In 1943, he was Lt. Zamperini, a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator, who, along with 10 other crew members, fell off the map on a May 27 mission over the Pacific.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent his parents a formal condolence note in 1944, he had no idea that Zamperini was still alive and living a nightmare in a Japanese prison camp. For 47 days, Zamperini had drifted on a life raft, fighting off sharks and starvation with two other crew members, one of whom died. Picked up by a Japanese patrol boat, the two survivors were beaten, tortured and humiliated for more than two years.
After the war, Zamperini was told by an Army superior that his raft trip qualified him for $7.60 a day in reimbursement. But someone higher up in the command rejected it: “Request denied,” the letter said. “Travel unauthorized.”
Full LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/local/obituar...ry.html#page=1
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Rest in Peace, Zamp!
Pat
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"Hector Lives!"
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass
"The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." -- Dennis Prager
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PSM is offline
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07-04-2014, 12:14
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Georgetown, SC
Posts: 4,204
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Rest In Peace, Sir!
I await, with cautious optimism, the movie made about the book.
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"I took a different route from most and came into Special Forces..." - Col. Nick Rowe
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ZonieDiver is offline
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07-04-2014, 12:29
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#3
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 5,290
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RIP Zamp
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PRB is offline
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07-04-2014, 12:47
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#4
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Area Commander
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Pinehurst,NC
Posts: 1,091
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Incredible story; very courageous man. RIP.
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Let us conduct ourselves in such a fashion that all nations wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies. The Virtues of War - Steven Pressfield
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dennisw is offline
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07-04-2014, 13:05
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,810
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I was just re-reading his story two days ago.
RIP, Sir.
Thank you for your service, and for your example. You set a high standard.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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07-06-2014, 15:08
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#6
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: State of Jefferson
Posts: 560
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Just watched a short film about Zamparini's 47 days at sea on Discovery channel titled 'Adrift- 47 Days With Sharks'. RIP Sir.
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Lan is offline
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