As young boy, Louie was mischievous. "At five, he stated smoking, picking up discarded cigarette butts while walking to kindergarten. He began drinking one night when he was eight; he hid under the dinner table, snatched glasses of wine, drank them all dry..." (Hillenbrand 6). He would also steal anything edible and even had a little gang of thieves that he ordered. Similarly he would sell metal to a metal dealer that he stole from (Hillenbrand 7). But because inapt ability to speak good english, he was bullied for his difference from everyone else. In his high school years he was starting to become a failing student and also traveling down the wrong path. But this would all change when he began running. This would be a turning point in his life. But his running career would be put to a halt. He would run away from home. But this experience was horrible him to him. " "I saw... beautiful white table cloths and crystal on the tables, and food, people laughing and enjoying themselves and eating," he said later. "And [I was] sitting here shivering, eating a miserable can of beans."(Hillenbrand 15). Louie would return home and in the summer of 1932, Louie trained for running. To train he ran every day and to increase his ability to run, "...he ran his entire paper route for the Torrance Herald, to and from school, and to the beach and back." (Hillenbrand 16). As he grew older he broke records held by his brother and and others at various competitions. He eventually earned the nickname "Torrance Tornado" (Hillenbrand 20). Louie success in running would lead him to the Olympics being held in Berlin, Germany. Louie did not earn a medal in the Olympics but he set a record for time for the last lap, 56 seconds. During his time at USC, he would meet a Japanese man by the name of Kunichi James Sasaki or Jimmie. Louie and Jimmie became friends over time. But Jimmie was part of a ploy. During the NCAA Championships, Louis ran a 4:08.3 mile and at the time was the fastest NCAA mile in history and fifth fasted outdoor mile ever. While he Louie was becoming a great runner, WW2 was starting to come into play starting with Germany and Japan. Louie would soon join the Army Air Corps. While he was becoming an airman, his friend Jimmie, was being brought to the capital for reason of working for the Japanese Navy. The war would soon start for Louie as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. As an airman, he was trained as the bomb targeter. Before Louie's journey started he and his brother visited home one last time. At his base, he met the pilot his plane, who would also become good friends with. His name was Russel Allen Phillips. Louie called Phillips "Phil" and and Phillips called Louie "Zamp" (Hillenbrand 58). Louie, Phil and the rest of the crew were assigned the a B-24. The dreaded B-24, to the men this bomber compared to a B-17 was horrible. The B-24 assigned to Louie's crew had some minor problems but never failed them during training. The crew would name the plane Super Man. His crew would be moving to the Hamilton Filed in Hawaii. During his time in Hawaii, he would prank his crew members if they happened to do something to himself. In two of his best pranks, chewing gum was involved. On the other hand they had their missions to complete. On of them was the bombing of Wake Atoll. The bombing of Wake Atoll was successful. On another journey the crew were sent to Canton for missions over at Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. They would also go on a bombing run on the island of Nauru. During the run, bombers on the left and right of them were shot down. The Super Man continued, they were able to hit their target but were also hit in the process. Soon Zeros would follow to take out the American bombers. Bullets were flying everywhere during this fight in the air. Crew of the Super Man were being hit as the they continued. Louie on the other hand was taking care of these men. They would soon get rid of the Zeros around them but problem now was getting back to Funafuti. The Super Man was dying. But plane made it back to Funafuti. Later Phil, Louie and other men would have to go search for a B-24 that never landed. Phil, Louis and the crew would have to ride the Green Hornet. As they searched for the missing plane, their plane had problems and crashed into the ocean. Only three men survived out of the eleven. Those men were Louie, Phil and Francis. They surivied on two lifeboats, rainwater, small fish, and two albatrosses. They would later shot at by Zeros which deflated a lifeboat leaving them with one. Francis would die on the 33rd day. But the two would be rescued by the Japanese and became POW. Louie and Phil were mistreated by the Japanese. They would both be soon transferred to POW camps in Japan. Phil and Louie were separated from each other. Louie arrived at Ofuna. Louie was an unofficial POW. At this camp Louie and comrades were treated horrible mainly by one man, Sueharu Kitamura or The Quack. Louie would be transfered to a new POW camp in Omori and was run Mutshurio Watanabe or The Bird. This man was worse than The Quack. Here Louie and other POW would be physically and mentally tortured by The Bird. Louie was the number one prisoner to The Bird. The Bird beat on him repeatedly. And since he was an officer he began to force the officers to work. Louie would be later recited for propaganda work for a radio show called the Postman Calls. This would broadcast to America, and lady by the name of Lynn Moody would tell the Zamperinis' that their son was alive. At the POW, things got better. The Bird was ordered to leave the camp after Prince Yoshitomo Tokugawa had come to camp and heard of the things that Bird did to the POWs. But this would all change for Louie and 14 other POWs when they were transferred to a new camp. This camp was in Naoetsu and run by The Bird. Again The Bird tortured Louie. And then one day, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were bombed. A kill-all policy was around the corner for the POWs but August 15th, the war was over, the Japanese left the camp. The POW could return home now. After the war, Louie married Cynthia Applewhite. But he suffered from PTSD which hurt their marriage. Cynthia took Louie to a man named Billy Graham who preaching that day. That day changed Louie. Louie would latter set off for a journey of forgiveness to the Japanese that had hurt him in during his time in the POW camp. As Louie got older he continued to do activities. In his seventies he skateboarded, at the age of 81 he ran with Olympic torch in Japan.