Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips The pilot on Louie’s bomber crew in WWII and one of Louie’s best friends in the army, Phil was captured with Louie by Japanese forces and enslaved in POW camps. He married, raised three children, and lived to be 92. After WWII, he had a long, successful career as a football and track coach in California. During WWII, Pete served stateside as a navy training officer. He helped rescue Louie from juvenile delinquency by forcing his little brother to join the high school track team. In high school, Pete was an avid athlete. He lived into old age, running a nonprofit organization and traveling worldwide as an inspirational speaker.

He struggled with alcoholism and PTSD until a religious conversion helped him to recover. After the war, he returned to California, where he married and raised a family. He survived being lost at sea and years of horrific abuse as a POW in Japan. He became an Olympic runner and military aviator in WWII. Louis “Louie” Zamperini The son of Italian immigrants, Louie grew up in Torrance, California. Part V Chapter 36: The Body on the Mountain.Part IV Chapter 32: Cascades of Pink Peaches.Part IV Chapter 29: Two Hundred and Twenty Punches.Part IV Chapter 20: Farting for Hirohito.Part IV Chapter 19: Two Hundred Silent Men.Part IV Chapter 18: A Dead Body Breathing.

Part III Chapter 16: Singing in the Clouds.

Part III Chapter 15: Sharks and Bullets.

Part II Chapter 11: “Nobody’s Going to Live Through This”.

Part II Chapter 9: Five Hundred and Ninety-four Holes.

Part II Chapter 8: “Only the Laundry Knew How Scared I Was”.

Part I Chapter 1: The One-Boy Insurgency.

Bomber crew traits