This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. My name is Jessa. One of the things I love the most about working for United Healthcare is that everybody matters.
Every moment matters. There's a person behind every problem. I care because it's what I was put on this earth to do. I'm Ben and I work at United Healthcare. I am just one piece of a larger puzzle, but every piece matters.
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What you will hear is... Right? Because at Michelin, we innovate on the road and beyond by creating airless tires to equip robots in their exploration of new planets. And this robot is rolling in negative 88 degrees Fahrenheit. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.
And we love our listeners' stories. Send them to ouramericanstories.com. That's ouramericanstories.com. There's some of our favorite. Our next story was made into a 2014 motion picture.
Directed by Angelina Jolie, based on the 2010 non-fiction book By Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken, a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption. While some of the most remarkable parts of Zamporini's story were left out of the film, You will be hearing them told now. the man himself. We'd like to thank the folks at Vision Video for giving us access to the footage you're about to hear. Check out their selection of 1,900 video titles of uplifting, family-friendly videos at VisionVideo.com.
Let's take a listen. My name is Louis Zamparini. I was born January 26, 1917 in Oleam, New York. I moved to California for my health. I had pneumonia.
And um So ever since I was two years old, I lived in Torrench, California, just south of LA, about 20 miles. And uh I'm afraid I was in constant conflict with the Torch police. I was a A rascal and I think it all started with me I couldn't speak English. And the other kids were teasing me. They wanted to hear me swear in Italian.
You know, these were your bullies, they call them today.
So my dad got me some weights and a punching bag and I started getting in shape. And so then after a few months I started fighting back. And when I started fighting back, they stopped teasing me. But in the meantime, I continue with my errant ways. And I had been dissipating.
I started smoking when I was five.
Now I'm girl. During that time it was prohibition. But everybody made beer, wine, and other things, and we knew who made it. And when they're at the movies on Saturday night, we would hijack the stuff. And even if they knew we took it, they couldn't turn us into the police, or they'd go to jail.
And so that was my life as a teenager. Until my building got me on the track, what they call an interclass track meet. And uh The pains of exhaustion, that's the worst. And that was it, no more running.
So a week later we're having our first dual meet with Narbonne. Narbonne High School and everybody insisted I represent the school in this race. The same 660-yard run and they finally talked me into it. The first two runners from Narbonne had finished and their third man was ahead of me about 50 yards ago. And that wasn't about the passion, you know.
until the students, a thousand students from my high school started screaming, come on Louie.
Well, those were beautiful words to me because I had no idea that anyone at all knew my name. And here are a thousand students hauling Kaman Louie, and that tasted pretty good. And I just got up a little adrenaline, I suppose, and I finally nipped this guy up to tape about six inches. and came in third. Uh so after that I I thought about That recognition, that was important to me, and I think it's important to all athletes.
The the thing that inspires you and creates a desire to go ahead and become a champion is recognition. And so that night I had to make a decision. And that was no doubt the first wise decision of my life. I decided to go all out to become a runner. Considering my life, you'd think that was an impossibility.
My family thought it was an impossibility, my brothers thought, but I made up my mind and I became a fanatic trainer. No more dessert. I ran everywhere, no hitchhiking. Redondo on back, four miles, Saramosa back. I'd run like 12 miles on a Saturday.
I'd hit the mountains, run around lakes, jump on it, and I got to, I liked it. I was not getting. tired anymore and fatigued and uh enjoyed it. mainly not running around the track, but running in the wilderness. And jumping over streams, I can remember on a number of occasions chasing deer down a hill.
Now just for the fun of it. And so all that running, and in those days there were no stopwatches around.
So I had no idea how fast I was running. I didn't even care. I just started enjoying running. And finally, uh The end of summer. The first uh Running race was a far west AAU.
Cross country at UC LA, two miles. About 101 runners. When the race was over, I won by a quarter a mile or over a quarter. And I couldn't believe it. I said, no, I'm sure I cut a corner.
I wouldn't take credit for winning. And the officials said, no, all the tallys are in. You passed every checkpoint. And they said, by the way, you Broke all three records, Class A, Class B, and Class C and you ran the two miles in 957. which was comparable to college running when I was a sophomore in high school.
So that did it. I knew that hard work was the answer and from then on I never lost a race for three and a half years. The second best 5,000 meter runner in America was coming to California to run. to draw a big crowd and so forth and my brother said, I want you to train. You've got two weeks.
I want you to run against this guy. We have no hopes of the Olympics. Just run against him to see how close. You can get to a fellow who's going to make the Olympic team. And that would have been a victory in itself.
And I got, I caught him at the tape about two inches.
So I knew that I could beat him. The second best runner in America. And this gave me the possibility of making the team.
Now I didn't think about the team at that time. until the next day when I got a call from the newspaper that The Olympic Committee had called tornch. To tell them that I qualified for the Olympic trials at Randall's Island, New York. And again, it wasn't important to win. I made the team.
And it's a trell, and I'm on this ship now with all these great athletes, and they were all my heroes, you know, and I'm going around meeting all the athletes. And uh Go off the ship at Hamburg and off to Berlin. And then they took us into the most beautiful Olympic village ever made. And it was gorgeous. Fenced in, animals running loose, lakes.
Stormtroopers walking through and we'd give them the Heil Hitler salute with a big laugh on their face. They knew we were kidding. They'd salute back. If we said Heil Aid off, they'd say Heil Hitler, or vice versa. And so they were a lot of fun.
And you're listening to the voice of the one and only Louis Zampurini, raised in Torrance, California, as he said, a self-proclaimed rascal in his youth. But hearing those words, come on, Louis, It chanted by students that recognition Well that was all the fuel he needed. It lit a fire in this young man. And he said, it was the first wise decision in my life. to become a runner.
When we come back, more of this remarkable life story. Louise Amperini's story here on Our American Story. Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It helps us keep these great American stories coming. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter.
Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Hi, I'm Steph and I work at United Healthcare. When I think about United Healthcare's members, I think of my own family. My niece was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic disorder.
I know how hard it is, or families, at United Healthcare. We can make it easier. I'm Brian. I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy.
Health insurance is complicated. I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UXC members. I work for United Healthcare. I'm committed to care. This is Ashley Aikeneti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Samus podcast.
Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us. Yeah, it's pretty wild. They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions. But the planning.
Is where things get real. That's why Klarna stands out. Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay, cash back that builds automatically, everything in one place, and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming. Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit Klarna.com to learn more.
California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license, NMLS number 1353190. Klarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points. Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. IceCube's big three season is heating up. The most competitive basketball league on earth is on CBS this Sunday.
The two best teams go head to head as Coach Nancy Lieberman and Greg Monroe's Dallas Power take on the one-seed Chicago Triplets, led by Coach Dr. J and Captain Montrez Harold. Then Coach Gary Payton and the Boston Ballhawks battle Nasir Corps and the Detroit Amps in a must-win game for Boston. The game played the way you love. Watch live Sunday, August 9th on CBS at 1 p.m.
Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET. Presented by iHeart. And we're back with our American stories. Let's return to Luis Zampurini.
And where he left off with his arrival to Berlin, Germany, to compete as a 19-year-old distance runner in the 1936. Summer Olympics, also known as the Nazi Olympics.
So I got into the semifinals and Fortunately, I made the final. And the last lap comes and I'm 50 yards behind the leaders.
Something my brother taught me when I was I used to complain about the third lap of the mile being um Tired. And he said, well, so are the other brothers. They're all human beings. They're all tired. But think of it this way, you've got a lap to go, about one minute.
Isn't one minute of pain worth a lifetime of glory? And I never forgot that. And so I opened up the last lap. And I caught the leaders coming down the home stretch, so I did come in with the leaders. And in doing so, the coach said you just ran your last quarter in 56 seconds, which was considered impossible for a distance runner.
And uh That evidently caught the attention of Adolf Hitler. He was there every day. And I go back to my box after my shower. And an officer comes over and says, Pepper wants to meet you. Firstly, ask for my name.
I said, I didn't win anything. You know, he was shaking hands with the gold medaler. He said, well, he wants to meet you.
So I went over to him and he just reached down, shook my hand, and simply said, the boy with, ah, he said, ah, yeah, the boy with the fast finish. And that was it.
So methophur didn't mean anything. But um My opinion of him was the same opinion that Marty Luckman had and all the others. He looked like a comedian in the way he acted, stomping his feet, pounding his legs. face or mustache and all that.
So that was my opinion of him. Uh well the games are over. And uh We collected souvenirs, all the Olympians did, to remind them of their They're uh Olympic uh trip and uh now I'm Back home entering USC as a freshman. And now 1940 Tokyo Olympics, we're all aiming for that. And then suddenly we get the announcement.
Headlines in the papers, the Olympics are canceled.
Well, it was quite a blow, you know. Adults really couldn't understand it, but for a kid who's been Aiming for four years for one race, And you're going to hit your peak of your life at that particular year. That was hard to take. Until Pearl Harbor was hit and of course we forgot all about being athletes and Like all other Americans, we are one mind of one accord, one purpose, get in the war quickly, get it over with as soon as possible.
However, I did run in Hawaii to keep in shape. And even though General Arnold in charge of the Air Force Through a friend, he was a friend of mine indirectly. But they wouldn't allow me to go back because our bomb group was a special bomb group and experimental. We were the first to use the heaviest bomb of the war for dive bombing.
So we had a lot of missions up and down the Marshall and Gilberts, bombing Macon and Tarawa and Wojee and all those islands in and out. We had a few local search missions. Looking for submarines. And then we're We came back and after a mission you get a couple of days off. And we're heading for the main gate on the way to Honoroon.
and the operations officers come skidding up in the Jeep. And says, uh We just got a report of B-25 has gone down 200 miles north of Palmyra.
Now the cloud cover broken houser at a thousand feet. That's our search mission height. And uh swinging here and here and there looking for debris in the water. ripe brass, anything we could find and uh Suddenly the RPMs dropped on one motor, oil pressure to zero. And uh The pilot immediately called the new engineer and he was so excited to do his job, he came up and nervously feathered the wrong motor now this plane Good morning.
Fly. Normally, on four motors. You couldn't get off the ground with a bomb load. It was the Greenhorn, it was a. A lemma.
And with one motor out the plane was having trouble. And now when he feathered the wrong motor, the plane just heeled over and went down left wing first, 45 degrees hit the water and exploded. Um The pilot and tail gunner were fortunately blown free of the wreckage. And then as the tail snapped off, The control wires, which are heavy wires that are uh springing so when the wires break they coil up and they So when they snap, the wires coil around. The tripod, I'm in the middle, I can't get loose, and now with the wires there, it's no hopeless situation.
And so I just thought, well, this is it. This is it. I'm dead. And uh so I start second. My ears popped, and that usually happens around 25, 30 feet.
And then as I sank deeper, Something I never had happen before, I felt like someone being a scientist with a sledgehammer. And uh Then I lost consciousness. And of course I'm thinking, I'm still thinking, so the pressure has got to be getting greater. And uh When I then I lost consciousness. And if for some unknown reason I'm conscious again, I'm freed, I'm loosened from that section of the ship.
I'm trailing around with my arms trying to find something to grab onto. And fortunately my USA ring, which was on this finger, which bears the white star, is still there. Snagged onto the waste window. And I knew that was the waste window by the feel. I got with another hand.
Watched my back out of the window and flated my life jacket and top to the surface. And there I saw my two buddies. Uh who are now hanging onto a gas tank. They were both in a state of shock, screaming help. and the pilot's head was bleeding.
uh profusely with uh cut ivory. And there's no way I can help them. If I swim over to help them, we're all dead. But I saw a life raft that had ejected from the plane automatically. And so there's a 100-foot core dragging behind the life raft.
So I'm trying to swim to the life raft with Shoes on, clothes, and it's impossible. Even in a swimsuit, I couldn't have caught that light that the currents were that vicious. But as I almost gave up swimming, this cord was drawn by my face. Couldn't see it in the water. And I grabbed the last two or three feet and I reeled in the raft and...
And I got to uh the pilot, co-pilot, pull them aboard. Um Probably uh I took two t-shirts made of wet compress, put on the Cuts, tied it with the other t-shirt. very tightly so I wouldn't breathe anymore and I laid him back. And uh Then I started thinking about that escape. That really bugged me.
I kept thinking of any kind of a logical answer for my escape and I just couldn't find one.
So I gave up. thinking about it. Instead I started praying and thanking God for sparing my life.
Well, my buddies saw this, they started to pray with me. And then it wasn't long after that the tail gunner panicked. and began to scream and it suddenly dawned on him what happened. We're all going to die, he said. I said, Mac, nobody's going to die.
We're gonna die all gun. I said Mac, nobody's gonna die. And then I told him to shut up. I said, if you don't shut up, I'm going to... make a report on you to the military when we get back.
And he still kept screaming, so I tried to use child psychology on him, and that didn't work. But I thought I'd give him a double shock. And this is the last resort, a good shock treatment.
So I turned my back on and I came around with the back of my hand and cracked him hard across the face. You laid back in the raft, content. And it was okay for maybe five days or a week, and then I had to do it again. But it always seemed to work. And he never griped him.
He just lay back and seemed to enjoy it.
So uh Our menu of course now is for the next 47 days is what birds, fish, and water we could catch. And of course the birds and the fish we simply ate raw. Three albatross, well we actually caught four albatross. We caught the first one we caught, we just ripped it open and the smell was enough, we threw it overboard. The second one we tried, I said, we've got to eat some part of it, you know.
And uh so we took the breast, we tried to Take a bite out of the breast of pieces and try to chew it up and swallow them. We just barely swallow one mouthful, and again we.
Well, you threw it overboard and used parts of it for bait. And we did catch a small fish. We divided that in three ways, and that wasn't bad, raw fish. And then uh A lot of time went by before we got another albatross. Nothing, oh yeah, there's another albatross.
We opened it up and man, I'll tell you it was like a hot sprig sunny with nothing on it. We ate everything, eyeballs. And what a story you're hearing Luis Amperini tell Hitler wants to meet you, he was told after that last final burst of speed. And by the way, he did not tell the story here of him seizing the Nazi flag and stealing it and taking it home. It's a heck of a story.
We couldn't tell every bit and part of this story. But he did it. And he did it because, well, why not? He was still.
Well, a rascal in the end. He goes to USC. He wants to compete in the 1940 Olympics. That doesn't happen, they're cancelled. Then comes Pearl Harbor.
His life is changed. He takes on dangerous missions and soon finds himself Stranded in the Pacific with a few buddies. 47 days hanging on. For dear life to be rescued. When we come back, more of this remarkable life story: the voice of Luis Amperini from the grave.
He's in heaven now, he's smiling. loving this story here. on our American stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S.
and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Hi, I'm Steph and I work at United Healthcare.
When I think about United Healthcare's members, I think of my own family. My niece was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic disorder. I know how hard it is for our families at United Healthcare. We can make it easier. I'm Brian.
I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy. Health insurance is complicated. I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UXC members. I work for United Healthcare.
I'm committed to CIP. This is Ashley Aykinetti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Samus podcast. Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us. Yeah, it's pretty wild. They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes.
Every stage comes with new decisions. The milestones are the fun part. But the planning. Is where things get real. That's why Klarna stands out.
Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay, cash back that builds automatically, everything in one place, and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming. Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit Klarna.com to learn more. California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license, NMLS number 1353190. Klarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points.
Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. Ice Cube's big three season is heating up. The most competitive basketball league on earth is on CBS this Sunday. The two best teams go head to head as Coach Nancy Lieberman and Greg Monroe's Dallas Power take on the one-seed Chicago Triplets, led by Coach Dr. J and Captain Montrez Harold.
Then Coach Gary Payton and the Boston Ballhawks battle Nasir Corps and the Detroit Amps in a must-win game for Boston. The game played the way you love. Watch live Sunday, August 9th on CBS at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET.
Presented by iHeart. And we return to Our American Stories and to Louis Zampurini's story. The year is 1941. While serving as a Bombardier on a search and rescue mission in a B-24 Liberator in the Pacific, D'Ampurini's plane experienced mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. Let's pick up where we last left off.
Before we went seven days without water, On the 27th day we heard motors. And you can imagine our excitement. We shot flares through woody dye in the ocean, flickered our mirrors, the plane came down. And um Threw Lowell as they came towards us. We had our shirts off, you know, waving our shirts.
Tears in our eyes while we're going to be with the Marines tonight on Palmyra. And then machine gunning, water splash up, you know, coming out of it, and just missed us. And then I saw the red circle. And I knew it was a Sally bomber, which was comparable to our B-25. And um So that went on, they stretched us for about 30 minutes.
I was in the water with two sharks while the other two stayed in the raft. And every time I came up I knew they were dead. But they were alive and they weren't touched, missed by an eighth of an inch, quarter inch, half inch. And this was just unbelievable. And I'm in the water with two sharks and of course I'm ta taught how to evade sharks.
The last resort is straight on the issue. Stay there, they'll come up. Shortly they'll stop. size you up and then they'll come at you. And you've got plenty of time to get your hand up there and catch them on the end of the nose and they usually just take off.
And that worked. And uh but after about thirty minutes we decided we were In a hopeless situation, the raft is now wrinkled, laying flat in the water. There's no chance. We gotta pretend we're dead.
So we pretend we were dead. And the plane evidently bypasses that round, but made a big circle. And we thought they were going back to base, but they decided on one more run. And this time If they came directly on course this time instead of off course, I looked out of the corner of my eye and I saw the bomb bay door open and I thought, oh no, this is it. They dropped the dep charge.
It was a canister.
Now we dropped bombs on submarines. They dropped a canister and it lit. About that day. which would have killed us, but The canister was improperly armed. and sank to the bottom harmlessly.
They did turn around then and leave us. What a relief. And then we had to start pumping that raft. With sharks around, we're right level with the water. They're pumping like mad, taking turns.
and barely got the raft up again. And uh now the holes are About the size of a 22-hole, that's a 7.7 millimeter, I think. And if you saw that inner tube full of holes in the swimming pool, it would not sink. And that was our situation. Then, as we settled back in the raft after eight days, which it took us about eight days to get the raft.
A decently patched stub. Uh damn problem. The only real big storm we had during the entire time, and it was monstrous, the waves were like 25 to 40 feet. And that was far more frightening than the Japanese airplane and far more frightening than the sharks. And uh we survived that uh But I should say the two of us survived that.
The tailgunner died on the 33rd day. and we made a machine. And so the next day, of course, there are big swells, and we're on top of the swell, and I see lamb for the first time. And we knew we were going to drift into the islands, but we also knew these were held by the Japanese, so we had to be real careful and try to find a deserted island. And we were about to land on one island when the Japanese patrol boats came around a point.
And spotted us and um You know, and you got about 25 guys with rifles aimed at you, one guy with a machine gun. Yeah. You know, we were so bushed that we couldn't really laugh, but inside we were laughing. Then they threw us a rope. and pulled us aboard.
We couldn't even crawl. We were that weak. And uh Satis on the deck of the ship and he was with a pistol in the face. but they did get us a drink of water and a biscuit. Mean we're taking the wooji in there.
weight in a thirty kilo about I don't know, 65 pounds.
So I'm lost about almost 100. And there we were treated decently. They pulled the raft out of the from the boat and counted the holes, 48 holes. And I told him. I told him the day.
The 27th day on the left, the date that the Japanese pilot straped us. You should be able to find out who that pilot was, all at all. Japanese pilot wouldn't do that, but he did it. They wouldn't accept that. Even with the evidence.
Two days later, we're told we're going aboard a steamer. Heading for another island. And after you leave this island, we cannot guarantee your life.
So we're heading for Quadj. And when you know You're the uh Scarlet but that it was considered Execution Island. We were blindfolded. The ocean, 47 dates out there, all just fall with that endless sky. And the Pacific Ocean is what, 65 million square miles of endless ocean.
Now I'm blind folder. And when I'm inside that cell, which is two feet inches wide by six feet deep and six feet long, they take my blind poles off. My eyes just jumped all over the place. I couldn't believe where I was. And this had a terrible effect on me.
I just... Uh in the corner of that cell just sat there and Now look at my sterile frame and just started to cry. And if it's, if it's, no, here I am on. Two months ago I was uh a vigorous athlete and here I am a skeleton. And then A new guard came on duty after about a week and He simply looked in and said, You Christian, me Christian, so we can say, well, in Japan at that time, you didn't admit you were a Christian, not in Japan.
And um Of course I thought I was nice. Oh me, Christian, Christian.
So we started to chat on paper. We draw a picture, put a name, so and so forth. And two days later, he got his monthly candy ration, shared it with me. Unbelievable. Uh every day of course we'd In the morning we would think about execution.
Will this be the morning? Will this be the morning? And then uh An officer came to me one day and said, You will go to Yokohama's prisoners' war with the Japanese fleet. up to Shakert's camp in the hills of Ofuna. And there I'm shoved into a room and told to stay and wait for further orders.
So I stand there and I see the back of a The man's head And then he turns around, leans back in the chair, and looks at me, laughs. And he didn't have to say, remember me? I knew him well at USC for three and a half years, James Lesaki. And finally says I came back to Japan after USG and became Admiral Sasaki. I got civilian rank of Admiral.
Head of all interrogation all over Japan, 91 prison counts. And um We talked about USC.
Well you bacon and egg breakfast on the campus. He was talking about that kind of food, so they weren't getting it. And then he said, well, we'll see each other from time to time. They call him Jimmy. Jimmy's the psyche.
had a high frequency transmitter. just off of Torrance Boulevard, a short distance from the Edison substation, where he may broadcast daily to the Japanese government. Then it says he left by boat two days before a raid by the FBI and CIA. I'm finally transferred to what they call headquarters cab on Mori between Yokohama and Tokyo. or a man-made island.
And there I meet A nightmare of my life, the bird. I come in there, he lines us up, comes by and looks at me and I couldn't look in his eyes. I looked away and he says, why you don't look in my eyes? Bang.
So I'm knocked down. I get up, knocked down again.
So I'm punched out every day for the first 10 days. And I knew who the boss was, that's for sure. And uh So he was uh They're so brutal, the other guards, we gave them vile, filthy names. We didn't give him a filthy name. We simply call him the bird.
Because if he did find out discover but that we named him a certain name, then we're really in for trouble. And you've been listening to Luis Ampurini tell the story of his capture. by the Japanese forty-seven days in the ocean. The sharks were tough. The gunfire from enemy Japanese planes was tough, but what was tougher is surviving a wicked storm with 35-foot-plus waves.
Then he's transferred to Execution Island. He catches a glimpse of himself. And all he saw was a skeleton frame, and he just started crying. Every morning he thought about one thing. His execution.
and then he's transferred to another camp. where he meets his tormentor. The bird. when we come back more of this remarkable life story. Louis Amperini's story here on Our American Stories.
Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs.
Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. Hi, I'm Steph, and I work at United Healthcare. When I think about United Healthcare's members, I think of my own family. My niece was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic disorder. I know how hard it is for families at United Healthcare.
We can make it easier. I'm Brian. I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy. Health insurance is complicated.
I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UXC members. I work for United Healthcare. I'm committed to CAP. This is Ashley Aikeneti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Hamless podcast. Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions. The milestones are the fun part. But the planning.
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The two best teams go head to head as Coach Nancy Lieberman and Greg Monroe's Dallas Power take on the one-seed Chicago Triplets, led by Coach Dr. J and Captain Montrez Harrell. Then Coach Gary Payton and the Boston Ballhogs battle Nasir Corps and the Detroit Amps in a must-win game for Boston. The game played the way you love. Watch live Sunday, August 9th on CBS at 1 p.m.
Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, and catch replays Monday on BET. Presented by iHeart. And we return to our American stories and to Louis Amperini's story. When we last left off in his story, he described a Japanese internment prison guard known as the Bird.
The bird was so deranged that General Douglas MacArthur named him as one of the most wanted war criminals in Japan. Let's continue with Luis Amperini.
Now he was a The son of a wealthy family. He punked out of officers' schools to add him for officers. And um I can remember when we had a B-29 raid, he called all the Americans out. and he separated the officers from the enlisted men. And then he had all the lowest rank and enlisted men just to shame us, buck private.
Face us, and each one had to punch us and knock us down. And they wouldn't hit us hard, they'd hit us easy, and then they'd get hit with a club. Hey, hit us hard, knock us down, get it over with.
So we had to take a full blow in the face, down on the ground, and fell. That's the way he was. He took it out on officers. Always. Officers got the punishment.
About another week went by. And I believe there were six or seven of us lined up, put in a train. And now we're crossing Tokyo. But see, in the meantime, they had the big fire rate on Tokyo, which we saw from our vantage point. We saw the sky aglow.
all night and half the next day. And um So we put on the train and we go right through that charge waste. And all we could say for miles, 19 square miles of charred, you know, bamboo huts or whatever, wooden shacks. But the only thing we were able to identify with the hundreds of lanes. What the Japanese did, they did like the Germans.
Their factory was bombed, but it didn't slow them down because the big factory. in the industrial complex at the point of Tokyo. They only had part of their machinery there. The rest of it was in the civilian homes. And I remember going to the slaughterhouse to pick up our meat, which was horse guts in a wheelbarrow.
And I used to see these transformers and I thought, my golly, for this little house, I'd look back and I'd see a lathe, great big $25,000 lathe and the guys working making parts. and all down the street. Though it was really strange to see the only thing not burn were all those machines. And that was the reason Truman had the firebombing of Tokyo was because that was the industrial complex.
So now we're going north twelve hours to Right to Nagano and down to the ocean to Nguatu. And we get to the prison compound. We have to stand there at attention and wait for further order. And uh we waited and watched the front door of the guard shack and whoever was in there was making us wait purposely. And we waited and waited and waited and The door opens and out steps the bird.
Okay.
Well, my knees buckled. I just couldn't believe it. I just thought, you know, I'm a guy that never gives up. But I got to the point where I just thought, it's hopeless, hopeless, I can't escape this guy. And so I got back to attention.
And then I had to put up with him all over again.
So then um Uh about Uh eight days before the war is over, we kept um One of the guards came to me and and sat down. A sad thing happened in Japan, a city called Hiroshima. Cholera broke out. No one's allowed to go in. It's quarantined.
And um Yeah, we we thought that was sad, so the whole nation of Japan knew that Here, Shamo. Was acidic wanted in with cholera? And um Then about eight days later we're Told to paint PW on the roof. And we'd heard rumors about the war being over for two years.
So it didn't mean much. But we wouldn't believe it till we saw a TBF fly over the river. And they saw all the treasures in the river. And they flashed on their The red light dubbed it up and the radio man picked her up, the war's over.
So then we rushed up to the compound and began to wave at the plane. He circled and circled. Then he dropped a red ribbon. On the end of it was a candy bar with a bite out of it. And a pack of cigarettes were two cigarettes gone.
And yet 350 men got a puff of cigarette and we all got a shiver of candy. Pretty good. That evening he came back and we looked like a body poly. It was a pair of navy pants. Tied at the bottom and top.
and cardinal cigarettes and candy and And uh Commander Fitzcherld of the Of the Grenadier submarine. Uh The ranking officer, he opens the pants and right on the top was a magazine. And he just stood there silently looking at that picture of the atomic bomb. Because we'd never heard of it. And he kept looking at it and the other officers walked up.
We all looked over his shoulder and looked at that picture. And then I realized the date of the cholera as Hiroshima. Uh the same dates for actually what happened with the bomb and the Japanese uh Pulled the eyes over the general public by telling them it was cholera, which was the best thing they could have done.
So Finally, um The bird uh Two days before we actually knew the war was over, the bird disappeared. And because we had a 70-pound rock on the second floor right over the river. And a rope. We had it hidden away in the bulk of the building. And we were going to grab him, tie the rock onto him, and throw him over into the river.
That was our intention. But he flew the coop so we didn't see him again. And the other guys all start bounding and scraping and... And uh And we felt sorry for him and We knew they had families at home that weren't eating too well. And typical American, we start giving the guards food to take home for their children and stuff like that, candy.
In fact, When the war was over, sleeping in tenth on the way home, I still had nightmares about the bird. I I'm Italian, I have to have revenge, and when he's torturing me and punishing me, I'm blurting revenge in my heart. You know, my hands are clenched. I got him by the throat. And that was in my dreams every night, every night, every night.
I got home, it was the same thing at home. I got married. I still had the nightmares. In the meantime, I started drinking because of that, but before I started drinking heavily, I started training for the 48 Olympics. And I did get in good shape.
Yeah, I'm doll. Then when I Had my knee give out and my ankle and a muscle spasm or like an explosion in my calf. I couldn't train anymore and I gave that up and that really hurt me and so I started drinking more and more. And my wife decided, signed for a divorce. And somebody in our apartment house Uh we're telling about uh Fellow named Billy Graham.
We never heard of him. They talked my wife into going down to hear Billy Graham. He made a decision for the Lord, came home that night. Try to talk me into it and I said, people wait on. I don't want to hear any more about religion.
But she said something that really struck me in the heart, and that was, and because of my decision, I'm not going to get a divorce.
So that was good news. But the next issue was all over me and I refused to go. Finally, they more or less tricked me into going out to hear Billy. And there he's preaching, you know, for all of sin.
Well, I knew I was a sinner. Uh well I didn't Like the idea of him reminding me, and it just gave me an excuse to leave. I got mad, grabbed my wife, pulled her home, and And the next day she's all over me again and um So I finally consented on a return trip. And I said, well, when he... Finishes this sermon and says, every head bowed, I'm getting out.
Okay.
So back we went and um I kept quoting scripture from the Bible. And uh And I knew what I should do, but I didn't want to do it. And then as I started to leave the tent, I start thinking back on the on the raft. When our lives were spared, we did pray morning, noon, and night, and we prayed constantly on the raft. My prayer was always, God, save my life, and I'll seek you and serve you.
And here I am home alive. My prayers were answered. And they completely turned my back on those promises. That hit me pretty hard before I got to the aisle where I decided to turn out. No, I stopped.
momentarily made my decision, went back to the prayer room. and made my confession of faith in Christ and There a miracle took place. My life completely changed. I had a turnabout. I knew that I was still getting drunk.
I knew it obviously for myself. I knew I'd forgiven all my guards. I knew I'd forgiven the bird. And I think proof of that was that that night I didn't have a nightmare for the first time. And it's been two and a half years and I haven't uh uh and Just the war and I had a nightmare.
Every night. And now from 1949 till this day I've still never had a nightmare or even the slightest inkling of a nightmare. And uh So when I met with the studio to make the movie with Universal, The producer was hearing all the things that Bird did to me, and I'm sitting at this meeting like this, listening to these fellows talk. And finally, he's getting really uptight, and he jumped up and he said, Louie, Louis, how could you forgive that so-and-so? And I stood up and I said, well.
I can only give you one verse from the Bible why I could forgive them. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new person. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And He looked at me.
I didn't know what he's going to do. And he rushed over and grabbed me around the waist, picked me up, and said, We're going to make this into a major film.
So I thought that was pretty neat, him being Jewish and not mentioning Christ.
So that was the climax. That was just beautiful.
So that's my story. And what a voice you just heard. That is Louis Zampurini from the grave in heaven. sharing his story for all to hear about how Jesus saved his life. May those nightmares disappear.
and renewed his life and his marriage. And a special thanks to Greg Hengler, as always, for the editing on that piece. And thanks to Vision Video. They have 1900 video titles of uplifting, family-friendly content. Go to visionvideo.com.
God, save my life and I will seek and serve you. He prayed on that boat. I turned my back on God, on my promises. and I came to Christ, my life completely changed. I forgave the bird.
My nightmare is ended. A beautiful story, Luis Amperini is here. on our American stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S.
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