Enter keywords or a search phrase below:
Looks like we have another WWII movie inbound. This one is a true story about a guy from here in So.Cal. who became a POW in WWII. Plus a whole lot more. I have to read this book now before the film comes out.
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM
It's a very good book but its also extremely painful. It's very hard to understand the levels to which human behavior can stoop.
You know the author is Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote "Seabiscuit". That's a wonderful book.
The central character is a guy named Louis Zamperini. He died just recently, at the age of 97.
Torrance Airport is named for him. USC and 1936 Olympic team.
Sometime later in life he found the Lord again and became a strong believer in forgiveness. I never could have forgiven for what was done to him, but he did go to Japan and seek to meet with the officers who tortured him.
In the course of advising for the film, he got to cuddle for photos with the director, Angelina Jolie. I'm sure he liked that!
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
Hmmm, just checked my local library system. Some 10 copies or so spread over several libraries....and all are out at the moment. Must be a good book. Going to have to wait until a copy comes in to read it.
Brian
This site had a good article about his life:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/06/26/4-lessons-in-manliness-from-louis-zamperini/
I have read the book last year and it is a must-read before seeing the movie version. The book is difficult and painful to read due to the brutality he endured in captivity and the difficulties of returning to normalcy after the war.
Do yourself a favor - read the book first. You'll be glad you did.
I have already pulled the book out and have it up for my next book to read.
The library got a copy in for me and I started reading it today. So far looking pretty interesting. It is easy to see why it would make for a great movie....young boy desperate for attention nearly leads to a life as a petty criminal, reforms himself and turns his energy into running, becomes an olympian and goes off to war to face trials and tribulations that would humble any man.
Yes indeed... Immigrant kid from the wrong side of the tracks who became a true hero...
It is an excellent book. It is one that you don't want to put down once you have started to read it.
As stated above, the book was fantastic and is a must-read. I saw the trailer for the movie and I hope they don't Hollywood-up the story too much. On it's own his story is strong enough for a compelling movie. At least according to the trailer it appears that they may show his B-24 as being shot down, when according to the book he and his crew were sent on a recon mission to find a missing aircraft and the plane that was assigned to them was a known piece of junk.
"Ahh the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel" -Homer Simpson
I hope that that is just splicing together of seperate action scenes for the trailer. Wasn't their assigned B-24 damaged by fighters on a previous mission, so thats why their final mission was flown in a jinxed aircraft?
Actually to be technical there was 2 planes involved in this story. Their original B-24, Super Man, was so incredibly damaged in combat that it was pretty much a loss (it had 594 holes after a careful count.) Most of the original crew was hurt (one killed) so the remaining crew were reassigned to Green Hornet, a ship that had a reputation for flying noticeably tail-down (and for reasons the ground crews could never explain). It had been cannibalized for parts a few times, and had a notoriously unreliable engine (number 1 IIRC). It was that engine apparently that seized up, and due to a couple of errors the flight engineer accidentally hit the feather button for the wrong engine causing both engines to die on the port side wing which was the planes undoing.
Hence the B-24 was known as the Flying Coffin. No wonder some airmen hated flying them.
The book was excellent. Whenever you think it's all over, something happens that allows the men to go on just one more day. Their days in the POW camps though were much worse than anything they could have imagined while at sea.
Cary
I may have to read that as well as the trailer looks like an excellent movie!
Mike
Just got it from Amazon and am going to read it on my Nexus 7.
According to wiki the flying coffin name was because the crew access was limited. I can attest to that- when I flew in the Collings one we entered trough the open bomb bay door.
Actually it was a really good airplane, more capable than the B-17.
Finished it today. Quite compelling. Using the Amazon standard of 1 to 5 star rating I would say 4 1/2 stars.
*spoiler alert*
The saddest part about the whole thing was Louie's forgiving The Bird, but The Bird so adamant that he, in the end, did nothing wrong. And even worse the fact that the "bad guy" in the end lived a happy and wealthy life. But at least Louie found his peace in the end. I am not a god-fearin' man, but I am at least glad finding religion helped him overcome perhaps the darkest part of his life.
GMorrison Actually it was a really good airplane, more capable than the B-17.
It could carry more bomb load and fly farther, but the B-17 could fly higher and sustain more battle damage and come home. In Europe B-17 Bomb Groups liked it when there were B-24 Groups nearby during missions as the Luftwaffe would concentrate on those as they were easier prey.
Never heard that one...
The one I flew in was ex- Indian Air Force. When the British left in 1948 they crushed their Liberators with construction equipment. The Indians managed to put quite a few back together, I think that one was finally retired in 1968!
Yup. The Luftwaffe did indeed like to jump the B-24s due to them being easy prey as opposed to the B-17s.
Well I just finished reading it. Once I started I could not put it down. All I can say is wow. I hope that they do the book proper justice. Such an incredible ordeal.
I finally got to see it, and just finished watching it on DVD. The movie was very powerful!
I saw the movie just on Sunday,very good,a little slow,but yes very moving.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.