On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashedinto the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray ofdebris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the oceansurface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, theplane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pullinghimself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys ofthe Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d beena cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses,brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, hehad channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigioustalent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sightof the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete hadbecome an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomedflight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leapingsharks, a foundering raft, t
