Mr.Shover
5-15-18
WW II

Writing class: WW II
One of the toughest guys in Word War Two was Louis Zamperini. Louis was a man that could not be broken. He was born on January 26, 1917, in Olean, New York, US. Anthony Zamperini and Louise Dossi were his parents. Before him his parents had a son named Pete and after Louis they had two daughters, Virginia and Sylvia. They were raised in a very strict Catholic home. One day Zamperini was taught how to box in self-defense by his father. Very quickly he claimed that he began "beating the tar out of every one of them." He also said "but I was so good at it that I started relishing the idea of getting even. I was sort of addicted to it." That began to get him in trouble. Later in life he decided to join the track team to help keep him out of trouble. It worked very well and he had become very good at …show more content…
When he was trying out for the Olympics (as well as many others too) it was on of the hottest days their. It was reported that 40 people died from the heat in Manhattan alone that week. At the end of the race Zamperini tied with the record holder Don Lash. He qualified for the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin Germany. Nobody thought that Zamperini or lash would have a chance at winning the Olympics. With the other athletes Zamperini went on a cruise. Zamperini had never really ate unhealthy before because his parents did not like being unhealthy. So once he got on to the boat and tasted all these things he fell in love. By the end of the trip he had gained 12 pounds. This was no advantage to his running career. They told him that he needed to lose 15 pounds. Zamperini finished his big race in eighth place. His last lap is fifty six seconds. That impressed Hitler and he demanded that he must meet Zamperini in person. As Zamperini told the story, Hitler shook his hand and said, "Ah, you're the boy with the fast