Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival As a Japanese Pow in World War II

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational!
Review: This is a great book on its own. It's a wonderful story of perseverance, forgiveness and redemption. Plus it touches on one of the most critical events of the 20th Century. It's just a really good read (as the other reviews indicate).

But it was also an excellent Christmas gift this year for my grandfather because he ran track at USC in the late 30s. He was a Freshman sprinter when Lou was a Senior, so they only met a few times, but he still (~65 years later) remembers talking and running together. And my grandfather went into the USAF after graduation, so he felt a real affinity with some of Lou's experiences. So it was an ABSOLUTE treat for him to get the book.

Thanks for the great book Lou ... it was a blessing.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing WWII Memoir
Review: Zamperini was an intractable troublemaker of a youth who became a champion runner. He competed in the 1936 Olympics and shook hands with Hitler and Goebbels. Shortly before war broke out, he joined the Army Air Corps and flew a number of combat missions in the Pacific as a B-24 bombardier. In May of 1943, on a routine search mission, his plane crashed. Zamperini and two survivors floated on a raft for forty-seven days, before being taken prisoner by the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war in prison camps undergoing, as did many prisoners in Japan, terrible abuse. After the war, disaffected and rootless, he attended an early Billy Graham revival and found religion. He became an inspirational speaker and returned to Japan to confront and forgive his captors. He has spent the rest of his life spreading Christianity and supporting various Christian endeavors. His memoir is inspirational, but is also a well-written WWII personal narrative. Zamperini's positive attitude, resilience, and narrative strength make this absorbing reading.