Unbroken

Louie and Phil were on board a navy ship for three weeks before they arrived in Yokohama. Louie was blindfolded and taken for a ride in a Chevrolet; once he was released from the car, he was ordered to bathe and shave. He was then brought to a meeting with his college friend, Jimmie Sasaki. After a bizarre conversation that during which Jimmie reminisced about their days in USC, Louie was led to another room. He was informed that he was not at a POW camp; he was at a secret interrogation center for captured men that were considered of “high value.” He was told that “if captives confessed their crimes against Japan, they’d be treated as well as regulations permit” (192). The rules were severe and assured “isolation and total obedience” (192). Intense beatings were the punishment for the most minor infractions, and “the only breaks in silence were the screams coming from the interrogation room” (193).

Hillenbrand breaks from the narration to explain the “routine practice” of corporal punishment in Japanese militaristic society. The guards themselves were beaten by their superiors, and thus, the oppression was transferred and the guards took their frustrations out on the POWs. The Japanese military viewed the act of being captured as a prisoner as “intolerably shameful” and, therefore, the prisoners under their watch were unworthy of respect. Sueharu Kitaura, also known as “the Butcher”, was a military man who “tortured and mutilated [men] while quizzing them on their pain” (196). The little food that the prisoners were given was often spoiled or rancid. A Japanese War Ministry Directive stated that “in any case it is the aim not to allow the escape of a single [prisoner], to annihilate them all and not to leave any trace” (199). This directive made the possible rescue of POWs ironically dangerous, for they would most likely all be slaughtered if the Japanese came under attack.

During a forced exercise session, Louie started chatting with a Marine officer named William Harris. Their conversations were always whispered. Louie learned that Harris had a photographic memory and was fluent in several languages. Louie had brief whispered conversations with Phil, as well. Phil finally spoke with Louie about the plane crash over the Pacific, expressing his guilt when he told Louie that “[he’ll] never fly again” (203).

Hillenbrand presents many accounts of the various prisoners’ acts of defiance. They saluted Emperor Hirohito with flatulence, they communicated with each other through Morse code, and they gave the Japanese guards nicknames in order to assert their own independence whilst being captured. Louie somehow managed to obtain a small diary and a pencil from another captive. Writing in this journal was a “small declaration of self [that] mattered a great deal” to him (204).

A Japanese news reporter learned of Louie’s reputation as an Olympic athlete, and the guards staged a race between him and a Japanese runner. The whole activity was designed to mock Louie. In the spring, another race was staged and, because Louie found himself so “light,” he ended up winning the race. This desire to prove himself was brought on by “so many months of humiliation [that] had brought him to a hard point” (210).

In March, Louie and Phil were separated. Phil was taken to Ashio POW camp; the prisoners at Ashio mined copper in barely livable conditions. 

During the spring and summer of 1943, the Zamperinis held a fierce belief that Louie was still alive though they had received a telegram citing Louie’s disappearance in June of 1943. The Americans seized Kwajalein in February 1944, and they found Louie’s and Phil’s story, detailed in Japanese documents. Unfortunately, their families still were not notified of this information because the American military felt the story was too “sketchy.”

In the spring of 1944, all of the parents of the Green Hornet crewmen began to correspond in order to offer each other support and to share the hope of their return. In the summer of 1944, the American War Department sent letters to these families officially declaring the soldiers of the Green Hornet dead.

Louie and two other prisoners, Tinker and Harris, drafted an escape plan. All of the men were starving, and the daily beatings were damaging their mental health. Their food rations were cut even further because the Allied forces were reported to be closing in on Japan. Desperate for food, Louie volunteered to be a barber for extra rice.

A duck named Gaga was provided as a pet in order to give the prisoners a little bit of good cheer. In order to demean the prisoners, the guards tortured Gaga in front of the men: “Shithead [one of the most vicious guards] opened his pants and violated the bird” (224). Louie told Hillenbrand that “of all the things witnessed in war, this was the worst” (224). Gaga eventually died.

A Japanese guard gave Harris a Japanese almanac. Unbeknownst to the guard, the book was full of the sort of information Harris needed to plan the escape. When a POW escaped from another camp, however, the Ofuna officials issued a new decree: “Anyone caught escaping would be executed, and for every escapee, several captive officers would be shot” (226). The men suspended their escape plan.

They shifted their efforts to obtaining information. Louie, using his troublemaker skills from his youth, stole a map from the office of a guard they called “the Quack,” brought it to Harris (who quickly memorized it), and then returned it to the office. Later, the Quack found Harris’s drawn version of the map and ransacked his cell, revealing many more incriminating details. The Quack beat Harris for nearly an hour as a punishment.

Three weeks later, and after a total of one year and fifteen days in Ofuna, Louie, Tinker, and several other men were transported to a camp called Omori.