2014-2015 devil at my heels...

20142015 Devil at My Heels SB.notebook

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October 27, 2014

Devil at My Heelsby Loius Zamperini

Genre: MemoirMemoir (from French: mémoire: memoria, meaning memory or reminiscence), is a literary nonfiction genre. More specifically, it is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or events, both public or private that took place in the author's life.


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October 27, 2014

A youthful troublemaker, a worldclass NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller life than most. But on May 27, 1943, it all changed in an instant when his B24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Louis and two other survivors drifting on a raft for fortyseven days and two thousand miles, waiting in vain to be rescued. And the worst was yet to come when they finally reached land, only to be captured by the Japanese. Louis spent the next two years as a prisoner of war—tortured and humiliated, routinely beaten, subjected to medical experiments, starved and forced into slave labor—while the Army Air Corps declared him dead and sent official condolences to his family.

This is the remarkable true story of accomplishment, glory, disaster, survival, and true heroism made famous by Laura Hillenbrand in her #1 New York Times bestseller Unbroken. Told in Louis Zamperini’s own words, Devil at My Heels is a stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the “Greatest Generation,” a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness.

Brief Synopsis of the Memoir:


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October 27, 2014

Early Years> Jan 26, 1917 – Born in Olean, NY — 327 Coleman Street (thanks Alec!) > 1920 – Moved to Torrance, CA — 2028 Gramercy Avenue > Aug 26, 1929 – Louie saw the Graf Zeppelin over Torrance, CA > Jan, 1933 – Louie began tenth grade at Torrance High School > Feb, 1933 – Louis began competitive running > Dec, 1935 – Louie graduated from High School > May 22, 1936 – Track meet in USC Coliseum. Louie finished second in the 5000. > July 3, 1936 – Louie left Torrance for the Olympic trials in New York. > Aug 7, 1936 – Ran in the Berlin Olympics > 1938 – Attended USC > Sept 29, 1941 – Louie joined the Army.

Bombardier school> Nov, 1941 – Houston, TX – Ellington Field > Aug, 1942 – Midland, TX – Midland Army Flying School

Training> Aug 19, 1942 – Ephrata, WA > Oct, 1942 – Sioux City, IA > Oct, 1942 – Hamilton Field, CA (stopover to Hawaii) > Nov 2, 1942 – Hawaii — Hickam Field

Timeline of Louis Zamperini's Life


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October 27, 2014

Missions> Dec 23, 1942 – Wake Atoll (via Midway Island) > Feb, 1943 – Canton (to prep for Makin and Tarawa) > Feb, 1943 – Makin (in the Gilbert Islands) > Feb, 1943 – Tarawa (in the Gilbert Islands) > April 17, 1943 – Nauru, then landed in Funafuti > April 18, 1943 – From Funafuti, via Canton, to Palmyra Atoll > May 24, 1943 – Stationed at Kualoa Field, Oahu

The Crash> May 27, 1943 – The plane that they were searching for crashed on the way to Canton from Kualoa > May 27, 1943 – Heading from Kualoa to Palmyra and crashed, roughly 225 miles north of Palmyra

POW> July 13, 1943 – Landed at Wotje in the Marshall Islands > July 16, 1943 – Kwajalein > Truk Atoll (stopover on the way to Yokohama) > Sept 15, 1943 – Yokohama, Japan (on the eastern coast of Honshu) to Ofuna > Sept 31, 1944 – Omori (on an artificial island in Toyko Bay) > March 2, 1945 – Naoetsu


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October 27, 2014

Going home> Sept 5, 1945 – From Naoetsu to Yokohama > Sept 17, 1945 – Okinawa > Sept 18, 1945 – Laoag, Philippines > Sept, 1945 – Manila > Sept, 1945 – Stopover at Kwajalein > Sept, 1945 – Hawaii > Oct, 1945 – Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco (Pete came to visit) > Oct, 1945 – Long Beach airport (reunited with family)

Postwar> May 25, 1946 – Cynthia and Louie were married. > Sept, 1949 – Billy Graham came to Los Angeles > June, 1954 – San Gabriel Mountains, CA – Louie opened the Victory Boys Camp > 1984 – Louie carried the Olympic torch in Los Angeles > Jan 22, 1998 – Louie carried the Olympic torch past the Naoetsu POW camp. > April, 2003 – Wantanabe died


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October 27, 2014

Louis Zamperini A True American HeroNews story from Fox News' "Special Report" 12/23/2010


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October 27, 2014

"It's a huge responsibility," Jolie said. "And I'm constantly asking questions. 'How do you really catch a shark? What does the liver look like? How do you eat an albatross? How do you sink a plane?'"

"In the end, its message is one we all need now more than ever — the journey of a man finding his way through the darkness and into the light," the filmmaker told the exhibitors, adding that the film had particular modern resonance as Zamperini is "someone who helps to remind us all what each of us is capable of."

(Excerpts from LA Times interview)

Unbroken by author Laura Hillenbrand

Zamperini's story will finally come to the silver screen later this year in the Angelina Joliedirected drama "Unbroken," a project more than 50 years in the making.


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October 27, 2014

Juvenile delinquent, track star, Olympian, war hero — Louis Zamperini lived a life that seemed like something out of a movie. Fittingly, his story will finally come to the silver screen later this year in the Angelina Joliedirected drama "Unbroken," a project more than 50 years in the making.Earlier this year, former Times film reporter John Horn visited Zamperini at his Hollywood home for what would be one of Zamperini's final interviews. Recounting his first impression of Zamperini, Horn wrote:Inside the Hollywood Hills home where he has lived since 1957 — he bought the house with Universal's original $8,000 book purchase a year earlier — Zamperini, 97, is as sharp as some people decades younger. While he is less active than in recent years, he still makes the occasional motivational speech and answers a steady stream of fan mail.Though Zamperini wrote two memoirs in his lifetime (both titled "Devil at My Heels") and served as the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's bestselling book "Unbroken" (the foundation of Jolie's film), he never exhausted his cache of anecdotes. Horn wrote:Even today, Zamperini can surprise family and friends with stories he hadn't shared before, such as how [Japanese camp commandant Mutsushiro] Watanabe loosened a molar by cuffing Zamperini in the jaw. "He hit me just like that," Zamperini demonstrated. "And after I was finally rescued the doctors said they needed to replace the tooth.

The expanse of Zamperini's life was so vast, in fact, that Jolie and the numerous filmmakers who came before her struggled with how to shape his story to fit a twohour movie. Jolie's labors will finally bear fruit when "Unbroken" hits theaters on Christmas Day.

Interview with Jolie and Zamperini


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October 27, 2014

1. What does Zamperini say are the three things that a person needs to live?

2. “All this water and not a drop to drink!” is an example of which literary device?

3. Zamperini recalls that, “The clouds just seemed to know we were there and avoid us.” What literary device is used in this line?

4. What strategy do the men resort to as they become more desperate? Provide a quote to support your response.

5. Describe the strategy Zamperini employs using tiny fish.

Reading Analysis Questions


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October 27, 2014

6. What kind of unusual behavior do the sharks exhibit? How do the men turn this dangerous threat into a benefit?

7. Zamperini refers to the Coleridge poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” What is this literary technique called? What does the poem describe about albatrosses?

8. What kind of sensory deficiency do the men experience out at sea for so long?

9. How are the men finally able to eat the albatross birds they catch?

10. Zamperini remembers that a college professor told him, “Your mind is everything. It’s like a muscle. You must exercise it or it will atrophy.” What does atrophy mean? Describe three strategies Zamperini employs to exercise his mind.

albatross


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October 27, 2014

11. What are things you do to exercise your mind? What aspects of our society foster atrophy in our minds?

12. What does Zamperini believe about the mental effects of isolation on people? How does this contrast with media depictions of those who are alone for long periods of time?

13. What do you think is the benefit of the men reminiscing about the “Feenamint gum” story?

14. What do the men hear on their 27th day at sea? How does this sound turn from one of joy to one of horror? How do the men stay safe?

15. Zamperini shares a good survival strategy for coming face to face with a shark. What is it? (Let’s hope we never need to use it, though!)


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October 27, 2014

16. Describe the condition of the two rafts after the Japanese bomber plane leaves the area. Ironically, the encounter with the Sally Bomber produces a benefit. What is the one good result of the attack?

17. What terrifies the men during a quiet evening? What is a sad result of this encounter?

18. Why does Zamperini give Mac his water?

19. What “ride” does Zamperini say was the most frightening of all the experiences he endured?

20. What do the men mistake for an island? What do you think will be the result of this new development in their journey?


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October 27, 2014

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