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

I think all Americans should read this book. I think it would be good for teenagers maybe 16 and up. It has some rough parts for sure but not too explicit. It not only tells of the horrors of war and some of what our servicemen had to endure but also of what prayer can do and how Jesus can turn lives around! I didn't see Unbroken but this book is straight from Louis Zamperini and also includes his early life and life after his conversion. It doesn't glamorize him or war, but speaks to not only our sinfulness as human beings but God's forgiveness and His will for our lives. Could not put it down! Highly recommend!

Devil At My Heels is the truly inspirational story of Louis Zamperini, a bombardier of a B-24 that crashed at sea while ironically out looking for another plane that had gone down. He survived for forty-seven days in a raft, and for over two years as a POW while being subjected to torture, beatings and humiliation at the hands of the Japanese. His life after his rescue was filled with highs and lows, happiness, and disappointment until he met the Reverend Billy Graham. After this he found new meaning and was even able to forgive the guards who had tortured him. This is an amazing book about another member of "the greatest generation."

I hope that Louis Zamperini's story becomes required reading for our children one day. This man's amazing story of survival against all odds during WWII is truly miraculous. To describe Louie as merely "lucky" misses the mark somehow. He should have died many times over before and during the war, but through God's grace and Zamperini's formidable willpower he survived to tell his story. And what an incredible, page-turning saga it is! I couldn't put this book down and after reading it, I was a changed woman. I had a new respect for my grandfather, and the men of his generation who suffered unimaginable horrors on the battlefields of Europe and Japan during the 1940's.

In this exciting and epic book, author Louis Zamperini describes his life from a child through adulthood and the growth he experienced as a person during that time. Louis was a typical young child; full of mischief and adventure, and he always seemed to be getting into trouble for one thing or another, but thanks to his older brother Pete's love and encouragement, Louis' life began to change for the better.Pete was an outstanding track and field athlete and he encouraged Louis to do the same. Soon, Louis was a world-class middle distance runner and held the national collegiate record for the mile run. He qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin and placed eighth in his race. Even though he didn't win a medal, he still accomplished what the large majority of people never will.A few years later, Louis joined the army as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. Based in Hawaii, his crew participated in the bombing of Japanese-held territory as well as search and rescue missions. It was on one of these rescue missions that Louis' own plane became disabled and forced to crash. What happened next can only be described as a miracle, as Louis and another crewmember survived for forty seven days on a rubber raft, while eating small fish and even seabirds while collecting rainwater to drink.After drifting for two thousand miles, Louis was finally picked up by the Japanese, where he was imprisoned on the Japanese-held island of Kwajalein. During his time in prison on Kwajalein and later in Japan itself, Louis was subjected to numerous beatings and very little food. One particular guard called "The Bird" was especially cruel. The war finally ended in September, 1945, and slowly, Louis managed to return to civillian life. However, he had accumulated a great amount of hatred, and he suppressed his feeling with alcohol and carousing. Finally, Louis met a woman named Cynthia and fell in love. However, their relationship was anything but easy. Louis' drinking and harsh worlds nearly drove Cynthia and their newborn daughter away, but she decided to stay.Cynthia met a neighbor who was a Christian and started attending meetings, but Louis was reluctant to go. After some nudging from his wife, Louis finally attended and a transformation began; Louis began to have feelings he never had before; feelings of forgiveness. Louis accepted Christ into his life and began working as a Christian missionary. He even travelled to Japan, met his former captors face to face, and forgave them for what they did to him.This is a truly uplifting and inspiring book. Louis' life has been truly remarkable in every sense of the word. I was drawn in to his story and found myself cheering for him when he became a Christian. Read this great book and experience the growth of an unruly young man into a messenger for God.

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.

All of these television personalities who fancy themselves "survivors" for having undergone challenges of one kind or another on the various survival programs now popular might have a different perspective on survival if they read this book. Lou Zamperini is the "ultimate survivor." To Zamperini, surviving meant starving and thirsting while confined to a life raft for 47 days. That ordeal included fighting off sharks while enemy planes shot at him. Surviving meant living with the tryanny, torture, and torment of his captors, including the threat of decapitation. It meant living through two cold winters as a prisoner of war, his body weight dropping to as low as 66 pound. Zamperini was forced to survive in the rigid domain of despair, beyond the reach of help, or rest, or pity. Survival meantmeant living from day to day with the heart tearing itself between hope and fear, merely subsisting under a cloud of doom with no end in sight. Yet, Zamperini was able to call upon the inner strength that had been nurtured in his days as an Olympic runner, and to endure. Some of Zamperini's greatest challenges came after the war was over, the biggest one being overcoming the anger and hate he felt for this Japanese captors. With God's help, "Lucky Louie" succeeded in every one of his challenges. It's a fascinating story, a story of real survival.