The Mile That Caught Hitler’s Eye
At just 19 years old, Louis Zamperini made the U.S. Olympic team and competed in the 5,000-meter race at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Despite finishing eighth, his final lap—clocked at an astonishing 56 seconds—was so impressive that Adolf Hitler reportedly requested to meet him afterward.
Hitler shook his hand and remarked, “Ah, you’re the boy with the fast finish.” Zamperini, who had grown up fighting bullies in Torrance, California, had run his way to global attention—only to be drawn into a far greater fight within a few years.
From the Sky to the Sea
After the U.S. entered World War II, Zamperini joined the U.S. Army Air Forces and served as a bombardier. In April 1943, his B-24 bomber “Super Man” was badly damaged during a mission over Nauru. Reassigned to a new aircraft—the unreliable “Green Hornet”—he was sent on a search mission that ended in disaster.
On May 27, 1943, the plane crashed into the Pacific. Only three of the eleven crew survived: Zamperini, pilot Russell Phillips, and tail gunner Francis McNamara. Drifting for 47 days in a lifeboat, they endured starvation, dehydration, sharks, and Japanese strafing runs. McNamara died after 33 days. Zamperini and Phillips reached the Marshall Islands, only to be captured by the Japanese Navy.
A Famous Name in Captivity
Zamperini was taken to multiple Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. His Olympic fame made him a target for abuse, particularly by guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe, known as “The Bird,” who later became one of General Douglas MacArthur’s most wanted war criminals.
Zamperini was beaten regularly and used for propaganda. He was held in camps including Ofuna, Omori, and finally Naoetsu, where he worked in a coal yard under brutal conditions. Declared dead by the U.S. military, he was presumed killed in action until his liberation in late 1945.
Return, Recognition, and Final Years
Zamperini received a hero’s welcome upon returning home but struggled with post-traumatic stress and alcoholism. He married Cynthia Applewhite in 1946. After attending a Billy Graham crusade in 1949, he committed himself to Christianity and publicly forgave his former captors.
He later traveled to Sugamo Prison in Tokyo to tell imprisoned war criminals he had forgiven them. He ran a leg of the Olympic Torch relay in 1998 near one of the POW camps where he had been held. Louis Zamperini died of pneumonia on July 2, 2014, in Los Angeles, at the age of 97—70 years after he had first been declared dead in wartime.
Louis Zamperini ran at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, met Hitler, was shot down over the Pacific, drifted 47 days at sea, and was tortured in multiple POW camps during WWII.
Declared dead by the U.S. military, he returned home alive, sparking a story that defied belief…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/DfytfuQxr1
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) July 5, 2025