Episode 110: A Certified Double Doozy (Louis Zamperini-WWII Survivor, Part II)

In this week's episode, Abby concludes the two-part series on the incredible survival story of Louis Zamperini. He was an Olympic runner and a US Army Air Force bombardier. Louis faced a plane crash, weeks on a raft surrounded by sharks, capture by the Japanese military, and much more. Tune in for the conclusion of Zamperini's harrowing time as a POW and how it shaped the rest of his life.

Credits:
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Wikipedia.com

Music By:
Brokeforfree.com
Matt Edwards

Edited By:
Michael

Website:https://anxiousandafraidthepod.com/


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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Figure it out. I had abite on my forehead. I had one
a couple of weeks ago on myforehead. Was just like, yeah,
there's a mosquito on your forehead.Don't feel anything. I was almost mad
that he didn't slap me sooner.He was like, I just told you,
and I was like, love mesooner. Hello, Hey, guys,

(00:33):
welcome, Welcome. I'm Abbie andI'm Shanna and I forgot how to
talk again. Good star, It'sfine. This is anxious and afraid Welcome
by Welcome, Welcome to the Hotand Sweaty edition. Yes, brought you
by the Hvact. We spent allof our money on and is now not

(00:54):
working. All that for nothing.I know, it's so fun It's it's
so funny, you guys, causelike I actually have a question. Does
anything work out the first time inadulthood? Not in my experience, but
I bet it does for some people. I want to know what it's like
to be those people. I'm notsure. I'm just like, you know,

(01:15):
I thought we did a pretty goodjob, but like, we got
a reputable person company to put itin. Sure, it's only been there
for a few months. We're gonnaget a new filter. We're hoping that's
maybe the problem. I know,you have to change that out quite often.
Yeah, and it's been there's beena lot of pollen. We live
in the valley, so sure,so it's probably like a little bit more

(01:37):
often than yeah, Bridge, SoI don't know why that because it had
like we did use the air conditioningwhen we had that like hot spell a
couple of weeks ago, and Ithink it worked pretty well. So I'm
hoping it's the filter. If not, we're gonna have to have somebody come
out. And that's like a realbummer, But what are you gonna do.
I'm sorry that it's not just workinglike it should. I know,

(01:59):
it's just pumping out like lukewarm air. So excited for it, and here
we are still suffering, I know. And we like specifically got it so
that it would like stay nice andcool in Theo's room. Poor guy.
It's like because upstairs his room isupstairs, so it gets hot. So
anyway, that's that's why you're anxiousand a frain that is also I had

(02:21):
that dental procedure Day was very nervousabout. Yes, the drugs did pretty
much nothing for me. Cool cool. So that sucks. I'm so sorry
that nothing works medical Liz or medicineor anything or such a bummer, anything
to do with your body. Yeah, it's just uh. I think I

(02:45):
just had too much adrenaline coursing throughmy veins and it just flushed out any
any kind of sedatives that I couldhave taken. But the guy that did
it was awesome. He was amazing. He's this little Chinese man who has
these very adept little hands. Theyjust get right in your mouth and he
was like, he was great.That's like his whole job is root canals.

(03:08):
So he did it really fast.Nice. The sound still made me
want to die. The drilling isso loud, even though I had headphones
in, which is another funny story, because I didn't have enough time to
pick what I was going to listento. Oh, because he just went
in right away. I thought Iwas going to have more, like said
a time, yeah, and soI had the headphones in. That's just

(03:28):
what you were saving for the podcastto tell me, No, there's one
other thing, okay, and Ijust hit play on whatever I had been
listening to, which ended up beinga really horrific I survived podcast. I
was like, no, Wow,this is not the vibe I was going
for. So anyway, the partthat I was going to tell you about
that I didn't tell you sooner wasthat after he got done, he told

(03:50):
me that he found a piece ofan instrument from my first root canal that
just broke off in my root.Get out of here, shut your mouth.
They left a piece of a tool. Yeah, it was just it's
just been chilling in there. Idon't know, like a little it caused
the infection. He didn't sound like, he didn't like indicate that that's why
it was infected. But I'm suspiciousthat. Oh no, I mean it

(04:13):
was like a really a small ifthey've used these tiny little instruments when they
do root canals. So he saidit was a really small piece that snapped
off in there. I was like, oh cool, I'm surprised you told
you he's made one that did theroot canal. So he's like, well,
this is what I found. Yeah, I didn't do it, so
here you go. Yeah, I'mso sorry. I didn't know it was

(04:34):
in there. So hmmm, Idon't I don't yeah, I don't know.
So anyway, at least it's notin there. Anymore. I don't
know if it's not. Wait,he didn't say he took it out.
No, he just said he sawit, he found it, and I
was like, oh what he leftit in there? He said it was
so small. Maybe he couldn't getit out. I don't know then how
would have seen it. Because hesaid he couldn't see it, he felt
it, which is worse. Soanyway, I don't know how to feel

(04:59):
about it. Don't either. Buteverything's fun in the end. We're still
alive. But it's over with.I have another appointment this week to look
at my Yeah, it's over withthat. That was the biggest hurdle.
That was the biggest hurdle. Ijust have to get a filling where he
drolled the hole and then it's imean, compared to everything else, that
should be pretty easy. Yeah,feelings are no thing. Yeah, So

(05:23):
anyway, what about you? Okay, Well that was funny. I guess
bring it down. Oh, let'sbring it down. I hate that this
is the pattern of my life andwhatever. Just to bum everyone out for
a hot second, real quick,we'll just do a casual. We don't
have to go into details because I'mdefinitely not gonna talk about the yeah whole

(05:46):
thing. But yeah, unfortunately welost a podcast cat family. It's one
of it's actually Reggie's brother, Louis. He was my big bubba boy,
lou And it was a little bitof a traumatic situation in the house.
And he was only ten years old. But is that how old they heard

(06:08):
out? Ten? I think Imaybe misjudged Ritchie's age. I think we
got them at the end of twentythirteen. I think he was like a
December baby. So well, hewas like like mostly eleven, almost eleven.
Oh wow, I guess I thinkRegie was younger than that. But
no, man, our cats aregetting old. And I'm just really sorry

(06:31):
because Louie was a really, reallygood can. He was a good boy.
He was the best boy. Hewas so social. Everyone loved him.
So everyone loved him. He waslike the neighborhood, like definitely not
the only one warning his last like, oh no, because everyone loved him.
Yeah, pets, we're just reallysorry, thank you. But yeah,
so that's why everything sucks for me. And I'm fine, I'm just

(06:58):
you know, I just have tokeep on going. And you guys had
like a little service for him,and he's got a little spot. We
did. We did. We tookthe whole family out, like I took
Violin. I even grabbed Maya andhad like a quick little like I did.
I grabbed her. She kind ofgoes outside, kind of doesn't,
so I just held her and wewere just like bye, Lou, we
love you. Oh and like thenRyland kind of made it nicer and she's

(07:20):
like yeah, bye bye, turnedtoo, because she's always telling people she
turned too, and then we laughevery time. Okay, so you didn't
know, Yeah, I just turnedtoo. And it's been a while so
he's turned too. But he turnedtoo in like February. She got to
let everyone know. So yeah,we have a little plant out there for
him. And that's my update.So cool. But everything's Lou, Yeah,

(07:46):
absolutely legend. He was such agood cat. Yeah, and I'm
glad I got to see him likethe week oh he got Yeah, everyone
got to see him, and hegot to see everyone right before and he
was just fortunately happened his best lifein the sunshine. Yeah. I spent
all day outside. That made mehappy. I was like, okay,
the good good last week, Yeahfor sure, But man, it's just
so unexpected and so unfair. Itis. So it makes me, you

(08:09):
like, reflect on life just ingeneral. So that's been like kind of
deep and like, yeah, thedrop of a hat, like no warning
something like that, right, andlike honestly that happens to people too,
like heart attacks, like totally justso wild and so like I definitely we
also slept in the same bed forlike a couple of nights, and Maya
hasn't left me, like I'm justcherishing every second with her. So yeah,

(08:30):
yeah, my gosh, how yourpets someone right, everyone right now,
go kiss through the top of theirsweet little head. Yeah, give
him a smooch. It's just theworst part of having a cat. Its
knowing that you're gonna have to watchthem go. Roscoe, don't listen.
Oh shoot, he's turn off yourears right now. You're just talking about
cats, dog sliper air. Yeah, that's different. It's different. Yeah.

(08:56):
I mean, if we always saythis, Roscoe is in the room.
So if you hear any weird noises, that's him. It's definitely him.
Um all right, so I knowthat I'm not the only one.
Oh wait, is there other thingsto mention? I was just gonna mention
it's stupid. And doesn't matter becausethey messed up so many times last episode.
But my sister Hannah pointed out,I said it missed the whole episode.
Abby so bad at talking in general. He She told me that I

(09:20):
said a date wrong at some point. I don't even know which date it
was, so sorry, don't takeanything we say for that. Here's my
blanket apology for not being able toread. Oh, it's okay, like
nineteen sixty eight, I think,instead of for the Olympics, which would
have been way ahead of the timeperiod that we're in at that time.
But anyway, well, it's okay. We forgive you all, thank you,

(09:43):
and it's still an amazing story thateveryone is anxious to hear about.
Yeah, are you ready for parttwo? I don't know if I am.
It's going to be just as butpeople have been dying. They've been
like, we're ready for part two. Let's go. I know, okay,
we are, let's go. Okay, all right, So welcome back
Part two. Episode one ten oneten Yes of the Louis, which is

(10:05):
I kept thinking like, oh Louis, Oh you're kiddies, So every time
I was like typing that name,I would think of Blue Okay, Louis
Jamporini, so that's right. Yes. With as with part one, my
main source material for this episode isa book that I read called Unbroken,
a World War two story of survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hill

(10:26):
and brand amazing book. I didfinish it, so oh and my in
laws did point out shout out toLarry and Levenna. They include me in
that this book was made into amovie by the same name, so fun.
I think Angelina Jolie produced it orbacked it or something interesting. I
heard it was pretty good, soyou can check that out. Okay,

(10:50):
And I know it's been a coupleof weeks, so I'll just do a
brief recap where we left off.So when we left Louis he had just
spent forty eight days on a raftin the Pacific Ocean with his fellow airmen,
Phil and Mac. Mac sadly passedaway from starvation and exposure, leaving
Phil and Louis to miraculously make itto land. Sadly, though they made

(11:11):
it to the Marshall Islands, whichwere held by the Japanese, the Japanese
caught them in before they could evenget off the raft, and now both
men have been captured by the Japanese, making them official prisoner of war.
Yep, there's a lot of sharksinvolved too in between that. Yes,
I didn't. Yeah, I guessI could have recapped all of it,

(11:31):
but it just seemed like a lot. I mean, I think we're all
pretty traumatized. We definitely didn't forgetthat part. Yeah, there was a
lot of sharks, sinking planes,shooting planes, getting shot at by the
Japanese in the raft. So manyterrible things. This guy lives like four
different lifetimes. Like he has likelike an Olympic lifetime, then he has

(11:54):
like this military lifetime, and thenlike this whole lifetime in the ocean.
We're all this happens, and thenhe gets captured for another life. It's
just like, yeah, how manylife stories can you have? It's a
little much. It's a poor guy. Okay, all right, So here
we are, here we go,okay, okay, So any questions,
commons concerns before we dive back in. Nope, Michael, uh uh okay.

(12:22):
All right, So Louis and Philhave just been hauled aboard a Japanese
ship off the coast of the Marshallislands. Neither man could stand, neither
had eaten in eight days. Yeah, they probably look really rough. They
do. They are like dyed yellowfrom this raft, beards, long,
hair, skinny, burned, coveredin salt sores. It's bad. Ouch.

(12:43):
So they were made to crawl tothe ship's mast, where they were
tied to it and then questioned inJapanese and beaten. Not long after this,
the ship's captain came out and seemedto scold the men for the treatment.
Louis and Mack were untied and givenwater and a biscuit, which seems
like the worst thing you would wantto eat. So dry, We're like,

(13:05):
oh, this just like absorbed anymoisture left in my mouth. So
but I mean, I guess afternot eating a biscuit, pippy, I
mean, you'd probably inhale it realfast. Yeah. So they ate as
slowly as they could, oh,savoring each bike. Excuse me, I
mean they probably can't eat fast becausethey probably just throw up immediately. Yeah.

(13:28):
True. They were given cigarettes,but their beards kept lighting on fire
when they tried to smoke them.That's okay, no, Yeah, Soon
another boat came and the men weremoved. They wanted to smoke after all
that. I mean, okay,I get it, but I mean I
don't get it. But yeah,yeah, I guess if you're a regular
smoker and then haven't smoked in thatlong, it was probably great for them,

(13:52):
But I feel like it would makeyou so light headed after having nothing
in your It just seems like dryand hot and you're already dry and hot,
you know, Like I think itwould make you or like path just
seems like, yeah, that canweigh after like a while, you know,
Oh, maybe cigarettes, maybe drinksome water. Different first, different
cigarettes were different. They pop themfull of chemicals. Now I don't know
if they were the same back then, but okay, uh okay. So

(14:16):
another boat comes and the men aremoved to it. They're again questioned,
and they're given some more food andwater. Finally, the boat reaches land
and the two men were then blindfoldedand carried on to land. They were
taken to a room where a Japaneseman who also spoke English, informed them
he was a doctor, and hebegan examining it and caring for the men,

(14:37):
treating their salt sores and various injuries. Both men were told to step
on a scale and discovered just howmuch weight they had lost. Both men
before the crash had weighed about onehundred and fifty pounds. They now both
weighed roughly Do you want to guess? And this is after how long?
Like forty seven days? Yeah,which is a little over a month,

(15:03):
I mean with not any so theywere one hundred and fifty I mean I
mean close to Like, wait,I'm i guessing how much they lost or
how much they weigh? How muchthey weigh? Ooh, i'd say,
like eighty whoa, you're exactly right? WHOA? How did you do that?
We don't know. Yeah, sonow they both weighed roughly eighty pounds,

(15:26):
which was about half of their bodyweight. Yeah, eighty pounds. That's
fast. Oo. Yeah sucks.After the exam, Oh, sorry,
what happened? I don't know,all of a sudden, my my cursor
script all the way to the endof the script. That's fun. Tech
is fun. I didn't even touchit. Okay, here we go.

(15:48):
So after the exam, both menwere they were fed again, and they
were taken to a different room tospeak with the Japanese officer, who also
spoke English. Louis and Phil wereasked to explain their journey, and were
told that they had drifted about twothousand miles and were now currently in the
Marshall Islands. Wow. For thenext few days, Louis and phil were

(16:11):
tenderly cared for and fed by theJapanese something they were both shocked and pleasantly
surprised by, I mean how nice. Yes, yeah, Soon, though,
they were informed that they would betransferred to a different island with a
terrifying reputation. A ship was comingto bring them to Quadline. Back then,
it was referred to as Execution Island. Oh no. Louis remembered the

(16:33):
officer who delivered the news saying tothem, quote, after you leave here,
we cannot guarantee your life. Soit was the day of the transfer.
The men were loaded into a shipand kept separate. When they arrived,
they were blindfolded again carried off theship because they still were too weak
to walk. The men were roughlytransported to individual cells. They're blindfolds removed

(16:59):
and left alone in the dark,a stark contrast to their conditions on the
raft. When Louis's eyes adjusted tothe dark, he could see he was
in a wooden cell with a thatchedroof. The cell was only slightly whiter
than his shoulders and about the lengthof an average sized man. So basically
a closet. Oh my god,like hyper like word. Yeah, that's

(17:21):
I'm very uncomfortable. Claustrophobic, that'sthe word. The floor was dirt and
gravel, with wiggling maggots next him, and in the corner there was a
hole dug with a bucket for atoilet. The humid air was thick with
flies, mosquitos, and the stenchof human waste. Oh my god.
On the wall a message had beencarved quote nine Marines marooned on Macon Island,

(17:45):
August eighteenth, nineteen forty two.Louis wondered what happened to the men
and thought about his own fate.After a while, he would end up
carving his own name into the wall. Oh my god. Thank he Yeah,
so that's heavy, I know,just to see, like, oh,
like somebody was here before me,so definitely this is happening. Yeah

(18:06):
yeah, and oh yeah, likethat's so upsetting. He called out for
Phil, who answered from another selffar away. Before they could ask each
other if the other was okay,a guard had returned and They fell silent,
and Louis silently cried himself to sleepthat night. So sad. That
is so sad. I mean,like after all of that, after everything

(18:30):
you've been through, and just knowing, like and after slight, like you
know, I finally got food,I finally got some care. Now you're
just a little thrown into a garbagepit, a garbage like, maggot infested,
tiny pit of a hole in thehot, humid weather. That's beyond
the dirtiest thing. I feel sobad for him, just knowing, like
you just went through all that,you're not even close to being done.

(18:52):
Oh my god, I'm so upset. Okay. The next morning, Louis
was greeted by an island native whoexcitedly spoke English and Louis he was the
talk of the island. The manwas a big sports fan and recognized Louis's
name. Oh okay, yeah,so people actually like know who he is.
Oh my god, on this likeremote island, it's just then,
oh my god, and you're stillbeing put in a yeah, coffin pit.

(19:15):
Okay, a coffin pit. UhSo. When Louie asked about the
nine Marines that were carved into thewall. The man cheerfully told him they
were dead and that all POW's wereexecuted here. Oh so so cheerfully,
I know, like read the room. He's like, Oh, yeah,
they're dead. Isn't that great?Aren't you a celebrity? So at the

(19:38):
end of the day, after onlybeing given a drink of weak tea and
a hard biscuit, Louis tried tolay down as far from the latrine as
possible, but the guard came inand forced him to lay with his head
right next to it. Oh mygod, because so like there was one
window and the guard could only seehim if he right next to the toilet.

(20:00):
So they made him lay right nextto the toilet. Oh my god,
so angry. It's pretty rough.The next several days passed in a
stinky, mosquito infested haze. Theprisoners, it seemed to be only the
two of them, were thrown ballsof rice that scattered on the disgusting floor
on it. Oh, oh mygod, that's so like tiny grains of

(20:22):
rice, yeah, that you're throwingfor Oh No, humans are just not
good to other humans. It iswild the treatment. Humans are scary,
so scary, And so they gotthat and then they got one sip of
tea each day. One sip,one sip, just a little sip,

(20:44):
not even what is wow? Ijust okay, Yeah, let's continue.
Louie was becoming increasingly more ill withbloody diarrhea and called out for a doctor.
When one finally came, he tookone look at Louis from the entrance
to the cell, laughed and walkedback out. I'm I'm flabbergasted. Don't
they have to take that oath likemy gas my? What is the saying

(21:07):
my gases be flabbered. I don'tthink I've heard that before. It's one
of my favorite new things. Waitsay it again, my my, my
gas are flabbered. I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm ruining it.
I'm ruining it. I feel Ihave to. Yeah, I ruined
it. I heard it Am sayit the other day on That's and that's
why we drink. And I justloved it. So she's always saying,

(21:30):
funny, my flabbers be gasted,my flabbers be is that it? I
love it? Keep it? Okay, hippocritic oaths. That's the thing I
was talking about. I thought alldoctors have to take the hippocritic oath.
But oh yeah, okay, yeah, it's no harm. Well, I
guess he's not technically doing harm,but he's not helping up, but it's
definitely still still harm. I guess. I mean I would argue, but

(21:53):
yeah, yeah, that's that's thethe I would. I would question reality
so hard because everything is so backwards. And he's also in just like this
fever haze, so oh yeah inyour state, Like, yeah, I
just miserable, Yeah, miserable.I can't even fathom. So Louis did

(22:15):
his best to strengthen his legs,but the lack of food and water made
it nearly impossible to make any progress. You're also in a cell the sizeable
closet, so yeah, move.Yeah. He began to beg the guards
for water, and they responded multipletimes by throwing a cup of boiling hot
water in his face, blistering hisskin. The fuck, that's just so

(22:37):
extra awful. Yeah, it's likebeyond extra awful. It's like it's not
even just one notch extra awful,it's like three notches extra boiling water.
And he was so thirsty he justkept asking, hoping, but every eventually
throw boiling water. So He neverthought he was gonna miss that raft,
but here he was missing it.Holy moly, who knew? Right?
Occasionally he or would cough to letthe other know that they were still alive.

(23:03):
You're killing me. It's so sad. That's all they could do is
signal to each other was cough.It's just so satisfic the breaking my heart.
They were together like so intimately forso time. They got to hold
each other at least like when they'refriend. Oh, Phil wasn't doing any
better than Louis. He was alsodealing with large rats in his cell.

(23:23):
Oh large rats. Yeah. Theguards were merciless and cruel to their captors,
taking their frustrations of the war outon Louis and Phil. They would
throw rocks and lit cigarettes at them. They would force Louis and Phil at
gunpoint to sing and dance the Charlestonwhile laughing hysterically at them. Wow,

(23:44):
okay, but not all of theguards were awful. Loui and Phil ended
up befriending one man who spoke alittle English and he had like converted to
the Christian faith, I guess.And so after he found out that Louis
and Phil were also Christians, hebegan sneaking them food and having comes with
them. He even defended them againsta particularly vicious guard, So okay,

(24:06):
yeah, there were some good onesin there. Soon, though, the
interrogations started. Officers would question Louisand Phil about their planes, how they
operated war strategies, and even howthe soldiers found sexual relief. It was
common practice at the time for Japanesesoldiers to enslave women and girls as quote

(24:26):
comfort women, which is a niceway of saying sex slave. That's really
sugarcoating. I know, comfort women. I'm like, oh, that's it
was really bad. So they werelike really curious, like how American soldiers.
Oh, yeah, you don't dothat, okay. And then the

(24:49):
medical experiments started. No on them. No, for some reason, and
I know this isn't true, butI just always associated the medical experimenting with
the Germans. But like, no, the Japanese definitely did it too.
They were both awful in their ownways, Like there's some real bad examples,
but they both did medical experiments.And it's so dark. Yeah,

(25:15):
So Loui and Phil were brought toa room where scientists and their assistants waited.
The men were made to lie downas a milky liquid was injected into
their arms. Within seconds, bothmen became extremely dizzy and disoriented. Their
skin began to burn, and withinfifteen minutes they had a full body rash.
Oh my god. They were thentaken back to their cells and the

(25:37):
same treatment would be repeated three moretimes until the scientists were satisfied with their
experiment. Loui and Phil survived,but countless other POWs and captured civilians,
including children, would die from theexperiments. Wow. The scientists were working
on a biological and chemical warfare atthe time to aid the war effort.
It's just wow, real despicable.After surviving the medical experiments, Louis and

(26:03):
Phil both became very ill with dangayfever, and so a doctor came to
look at them. He offered notreatment. I mean wow, I mean
just how yeah, how much canthe human body endure? This is like
crazy. I don't understand how theylive. It's just yeah, they just
keep on living, and I feelso bad. I know I'd be like

(26:26):
end it. I know, likehow would you? Like you wouldn't want
to live? No, I thinkthere is a quote I didn't put it
in here, but like way waylater on in the story, like a
reporter asks Louis like, if knowingwhat you know now, would you do
it again? He's like no,I'd kill myself. Yeah ah yeah,
I mean truth, Like, yeah, don't blame you their health. Wow,

(26:49):
okay, so let's see. Yeah, so there's they're really sick after
this. They don't get any treatment. They would just like lie on the
dirt floor while soldiers you know,pelted them with rocks, japped them with
sticks, spin on them like theywere just the island punching bag. Wow.
For like everyone's frustrations with the war. That's so unfortunate. Even sick

(27:11):
with fever, the Japanese officers stillinterrogated their captives. After an especially hard
session, Louis finally appeared to breakand on a map, pointed to where
all of the air bases were inHawaii, as well as the number of
planes. The officer celebrated and gaveLouis a Coca cola and some food and

(27:33):
sent him back to his cell.They had no idea that Louis had given
them the location of fake bases maynot applywood constructed as ruses, which is
nice awesome. Have you seen picturesof like they would build or like have
inflatable army bases. Had no ideathis was the thing. Oh it's I
think a drunk history episode too,is it. But it's a really cool

(27:56):
story. They would make all thesefake bases everywhere. Yeah, I would
have never thought. I want tosay, like Hollywood might have been,
I can't remember. It's a coolstory. Oh gosh, Hollywood. Yeah,
well that makes me think. Well, then they definitely fake the moon
landing, right, but that's awhole other episode. Just kidding. I've
never really looked much into the fakemoon landing, but not I really never

(28:19):
entertained it. No, I feellike that happened. I'm gonna believe that
one. I hope so so do. Let's see. So, after the
fake admission of US secrets, thePOWs had used up all of their usefulness,
and the logical conclusion for the Japanesewas to execute them like all of
the other captives. Luckily for Louisand phil, though, they changed their

(28:41):
minds at the last minute and decidedto transfer them to Yokohama, Japan in
a POW camp. The two mensaw this as good news because it was
their understanding that official POW camps hadto follow the Geneva Conventions and treat their
prisoners humanely, they would be reallymistaken. Oh okay, yeah, bomb

(29:03):
of course they left and after athree week trip, arrived in Yokohama.
Louis and Phil were blindfolded and takento the POW camp, where Louis received
his first bath since leaving Hawaii.Oh my gosh, pretty amazing. Wow,
I would imagine. I think thatwas the best bath. He said,
it was pretty great. Okay,good. But soon after this,
Louis would come to find out thathe was not in any regular POW camp.

(29:27):
He had been brought to a secretinterrogation camp called Ofuna, and it
was for high valued individuals. Highvalued hi, Oh my god. Yeah.
So basically they send the people therethat they think will have information.

(29:47):
So the prisoners there were starved,tortured, and interrogated for information. Because
the camp was secret, the Japanesedid not uphold the international laws surrounding the
treatment of POW's. That sucks becausenow I'm just realizing, Oh, no
matter how many rules or laws wemake, there's gonna be people not to
follow them, and there's always gonnabe people who do like secretly bad things.

(30:11):
Yeah, especially sorry, I'm duck. I mean, this is a
dark story, just like wow,yeah, everything's terrible, everything, especially
during wartime. I feel like everythey just really pushed the envelope during war.
They're just like, well, wewant to win. Wow, okay,

(30:32):
okay. So they yeah, sothey didn't follow the Geneva Convention laws
there, and they also didn't considerthe men in this camp to be POW's.
Rather, they viewed them as unarmedcombatants and any crimes they confess to
would be punished by their laws thatpresumably are tortured out of them, right,

(30:53):
which they're forcing them to confess toor whatever. Correct. Sure.
Louis was then brought to oh sorry, skipped a line. So hundreds of
soldiers would find themselves in Nofuno overthe course of the war, and some
would spend years there. Louis wasthen brought to a fenced in area where

(31:14):
bone thin men stood silently around,all of them with their eyes downcast,
silent as the grave. Louis noticedsome of them covertly communicating in Morse code
using hand signals. Oh my gosh. After a moment, he was approached
by one of the prisoners who hadI guess permission to speak. He explained
to Louis that talking to anyone butthe guards was not permitted. He was

(31:37):
not allowed to make eye contact withanyone or put his hands in his pockets.
He would have to learn certain Japanesewords and numbers, as well as
follow countless rules and regulations designed tobreak prisoners' mental states and dignity. Any
small infraction was met with a beatingfrom the guards. The prisoners were kept
in small cells with almost no protectionfrom the weather, and had a straw

(32:00):
mat for a bed and a papersheet for a blanket paper sheets. Ye
Phil was kept in a cell faraway from Louis, and after being together
for so long, their separation madeLouis really panicky. The following days were
met with senseless beatings and cruelty uhif you didn't understand an order given in

(32:22):
Japanese beating, if your blanket wasn'tfolded correctly, or your buttons weren't button
neatly, beating, if you crossedyour arms, spoke in your sleep,
or looked at someone beating. Theguards would also often club the other prisoner's
kneecaps over someone else's infraction. Ohmy god. A popular punishment was the
ofuna crouch, where men were meantto stand at a half crouch with their

(32:46):
arms raised in the air for hours. I don't even know if I could
do that for five minutes. That'slike a yoga pose. That's so many
muscles, and I'm or like,just you would be trembling. I'm just
a speechless, a fit individual.And these are like starved, darve,

(33:06):
skinny, sick, sick. I'mI'm trying to remember what that yoga post
was, like the mountain pos orsomething like, yeah, because you put
your arms up, yeah, topoint. It's so hard, so hard,
Wow, just troubling. It's toput it simply, only the beginning.

(33:27):
Oh my gosh. If you defendedsomeone being punished, or tried to
shield yourself in any way, youwere beaten even more severely. Hate this
so much. The prisoners were alsomade to clean and exercise until they dropped.
All of this done in silence.That's so dark. The only sound
to be heard in the prison werethe sounds of screaming coming from the interrogation

(33:47):
rooms. Some of the torture practicedwithin these rooms included jamming, pen knives,
under fingernails, ripping off fingernails,covering sorry, so sorry, covering
a man's mouth while pouring water uphis nose until he passed out. Not
all of the guards were sadists,though some of them sympathized with the POW's.

(34:10):
But if they were caught with holdingbeatings or showing any kindness, they
themselves would be attacked and beaten.That's so scary. Oh my god,
Like some would kind of be sneakynice, but like you're also risking yourself,
which is terrifying too. And it'slike it's terrible moral dilemma. I

(34:35):
there's just how did you read this? How are we doing this? This
is rough stuff? Girl? DidI cry at the end? Yes?
I did? Okay, it wasvery emotional book. Yeah, that's this
is very intense stuff. But alsoI mean it's also important to know it
even though it's very difficult to listento and swallow. It certainly happened.
I mean, there wasn't. Therewas no like innocent side I think in

(34:58):
the war. Like I know,I'm yes talking about the Japanese here,
but everyone did bad. It's orit's ugly, it's everywhere around. It's
just like not good. I meanAmerica had internment cancer Japanese. I mean
yeah, I mean America is notokay either, nobody was. We're not
defending America. I'm not saying wedidn't do anything bad. And we're also
terrible warrible centers around Japan Oka.I have just how many disclaims to be

(35:23):
trying to be fair? Yeah,it's all it's bad all around. Oh
my god, I'm not trying todemonize the culture. No, no,
what happened. Yeah, and thiswas like one hundred years ago, like
close, it's not ninety years ago, o gatting close. But that's also
like not really, it's really not. That's a whole like human ago,
like they're humans. I mean wehad airplanes and automobiles, but we should

(35:45):
have been we should have been better. Yeah, we got to learn from
this stuff, do it? No, Nope, we're still doing probably all
of it. Yep, it's realbad. Okay, moving on from our
existential crisis. Do we need apause because we're like so dark and depressed?

(36:06):
Do you need a break? No, I'm kidding. Okay, I'm
fine, all right, I'll alwaysbe fine. You're all okay, breath
Okay, all right. So sorry, one guard found particular enjoyment because you're
gonna give her. Okay, itdoesn't get better. Breakdown. We're so

(36:40):
early into the episode for the Shauna. Should we take a Okay, okay,

(37:05):
I got my shape together. Wewould like to formally apologize. I'm
so sorry for that hysterical breakdown.Yeah, I can't help myself. We
don't think it's funny, not atall. I just want to point that
out. It's it's just a stressreaction for sure. If we get kidnapped
together, they're gonna kill us sofast that we're just gonna start hysterically laughing.

(37:29):
Yeah. Yeah, it just gotso bad that I just had to
stop for a second. And Ijust had to stop. I was like
laughing because it was so bad.It's just I tapped out. I'm sorry,
I just tap out for a second. Okay, here we go.
Okay, but we're back in andwe're focused, and we're in the story
and we're gonna continue and I ama grown up. Okay, Okay,

(37:51):
are we maybe? Okay, wellwe're not because I'm gonna talk about farting
here in a second. Oh great, I would love to so. I
was saying, like the next lineisn't gonna be that bad because a little
bit fun Okay, I just didn'tbleed you and I had it. It's
fair that you didn't believe me.I mean, we still have a lot
of stories. So it's definitely gonnaget where it is. Okay. So
one guard found particular enjoyment and marchingdown the hall of cells, stopping in

(38:15):
front of one and farting loudly intoit. That's funny, I mean,
on the scale of what they coulddo, that's kind of funny. Yeah,
I might laugh at that. No, I mean, on top of
everything else, it's actually really stupidlybad. And also, yeah, that's

(38:36):
true. Yikes. Yeah, literallycan't blink without a beating. Some of
the more sadistic guards enjoyed telling thecaptives about the kill all order. Essentially,
the pow camp commanders were given ordersto murder all POWs by any means

(38:58):
if the Allied forces were likely tolive breate the camps. This order was
carried out on several occasions, sometimesjust in response to a military defeat that
didn't even liberate the camps. Right, So there was a lot of POWs
that were just flat out murdered.Yeah, Yeah. On top of all
of this, the prisoners were alsostarved, mostly surviving on about five hundred

(39:19):
calories a day with food consisting ofbroth and rancid rice. Many times the
food was infested with maggots and ratdroppings, or had sand and dirt in
it, which like really damaged theirteeth. Yeah. Oh my gosh,
sand is like the worst to getin your deed. Have you ever had
that happen, like some chowder orsomething? Oh, I hate that so

(39:40):
much. Yeah. The prisoners alsohad illnesses to contend with. Scurvy,
dysentery, and many other diseases plaguedthe men, and many would die from
the very treatable and preventable illnesses.Perhaps the only bright spot in the camp
was a duck with a broken legthat the mit the prisoners named Gaga Gaga

(40:01):
the duck, Gogga the duck.One prisoner fitted the duck's leg with a
splint, and the duck followed themen around everywhere, eating all the extra
food scraps and the prisoners saved forhim. Oh, even with five hundred
calories, they're still feeding this littlebecause I love the duck. It's like
a Disney movie if it was reallydark, I'm picturing it like bright yellow

(40:22):
and cartoony, and I know that'snot the case, but that's how I'm
picturing it. It's just very cute, but that is cut. The prisoners
also attempted to keep their spirit strungby defying the guards any chance however they
could. Because of the language barrier, some prisoners would speak to a guard
with an upper inflection, as ifasking a question, but in reality they

(40:43):
were insulting the guard or saying somethingto another prisoner. I love that prisoners
would quickly mutter conversations when the guardsweren't close, or they would speak in
More's code with their hands. Louisquickly learned that all the guards had nicknames
as well as or such as liverLip, turdbird, which that's a good
one, liver lip, and turnfir. Those are such like nineteen forties

(41:07):
insults. I love it, liverLip, turdbird, flange face, the
weasel Fatty in the classic shithead.Wow. So none of these guys could
really talk, yet they named everysingle guard. Yeah, they got nothing
but time. That's so. Idon't know how to feel about it,
but it's fall I like the names. That like, turdbird needs to make

(41:30):
a comeback. It's a good turdbird. Yeah, that's a bird.
My favorite active defiance was a stuntthe prisoners pulled when they were forced to
bow to an image of the Japaneseemperor Herohito. Every day, the men
would hold their parts in yes whenthey were ordered to bow, they would
all let loose, filling the roomwith the smell and sounds of exclusive explosive

(41:53):
farts. I mean, amazing,it's pretty funny. I don't know how
they didn't all get severely beaten forthat, but I mean, yeah,
because it's kind of obvious that it'smore than one person, right, I
don't know. Maybe they just theywere like, all right, touche,
I guess you can have that one. We'll beat you for something else.

(42:15):
As the days and months dragged on, Louis befriended several of his fellow prisoners,
including a man from the same partof California Louis had come from.
The man had been a pilot andhad also gone down in the water,
getting picked up by the Japanese andtaken to the same tiny prison in the
Marshall Islands where he had seen Louie'sname carved on the wall. Whoa from

(42:37):
the same part of California? Alsogood as a while, Yeah, it
gets captured kind of in the sameway. Yeah sees his name on the
wall. And then once the manarrived at Ofuna, he asked for Louis
and was amazed that he was stillalive. And then the two became friends.
Oh wow. With the help ofhis new friends and a kindly kitchen
attendant who slipped him and filled extrafood. Against all odds, Louis began

(42:59):
slowly regained a little weight in someof his strength. When the guards found
out Louis was an Olympic runner,they made him race a Japanese runner,
who, of course trounced him,of course, but Louis started running again
anyway, doing laps around the campwhen he felt strong enough. One day,
he was challenged once again to racea Japanese runner. Near the end

(43:20):
of the race, Louis was behind, but he knew he could beat the
man with a burst of speed.He also knew that he would pay dearly
for it, but he did itanyway. He won the race and had
a savage beating from the guards,but for him it was worth it.
Yeah, and this is where Iput my first original break spot. It's
I guess we could take another quickbreak welcome back. Indeed, it's just

(43:55):
nodding. Okay, sorry, allright. So somehow Phil and Louis made
it through the winter, and inMarch, Phil was told he was being
transferred to a nice legit pow campwhere he would be treated within the international
laws and would be able to writeto his family. After all that time
together, Louis and Phil were finallybeing separated. Louis could only hope that

(44:19):
his friend was going to a betterplace, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
He was actually sent to a laborcamp where the prisoners were made to
mine for copper and any correspondence totheir families were destroyed. As the war
progressed, the US attacked the Japaneseheld Marshall Islands aka Execution Island, and
were surprised to find amongst the wreckagea scrap of wood with a name carved

(44:44):
into it Louis Zamporini Ooh. Afterdigging through the records the Japanese had kept
the military were shocked to find outthat Phil and Louis had actually survived the
crash and had been taken by theJapanese. From the records, they could
see the men had been sent toJapan hand, but had no clue what
happened to them after that. Becauseof this, they chose to keep this

(45:05):
new revelation a secret from the familiesuntil they could find out more. Okay.
Louie's family, meanwhile, struggled immenseallywith the unknowing they were left in
Limbo. That is the worst.Yeah, so he wasn't declared dead,
he was declared missing, and Louis'smother knew deep in her soul that her
son was still alive. Wow.The same was true for Phil's family.

(45:27):
They all clung to the hope thattheir boys were still alive out there somewhere.
Phil's fiance, Cci even went toa fortune teller over her desperation to
find out anything about her missing love, and she was told Phil was still
alive, though injured, and hewould be home or found before Christmas.
So she just like clung to thatinformation. Yeah, I would tall.

(45:47):
As the spring and summer stretched on, conditions in Ofuna worsened, the corrupt
guards stole most of the food deliveredto the camp for the prisoners, and
the rations became so small that allof the prisoners were wasting away from the
bits of news the prisoners could gather. They gleaned that the war was not
going well for Japan, and thedistant air raids only confirmed their suspicions.

(46:13):
The kill all order, however,remained in the POW's minds, knowing they
would all be murdered if the Alliedforces came to save them. This part
sucks, so I'm just telling you. Oh, okay, let's make it
quick. Perhaps the worst of allwas the death of God God the duck.
Oh, the cruelest of the guardskilled him in a way I am
not going to repeat, that's justso mean. Yeah, but the death

(46:37):
of the animal would stick with Louis, and even after the war, he
would recount how that was the worstthing he witnessed during the war. Oh,
after everything he sees, right,there's just something about like a just
innocent animal that does no idea,I know, did nothing wrong, was
just there to like it made everyonehappy, like didn't do anything wrong.
Really in the worst place, inthe worst circumstances, you were the only

(46:59):
little bright thing that these guys couldsee. And then it was just literally
brutal, learnered, just senseless.It's awful. After this, escape plans
were hatched and then abandoned after prisonersfound out that not only would the escapees
be executed if caught, but severalother prisoners would be killed as well.

(47:22):
In September nineteen forty four, oneyear and fifteen days after Louis had been
transferred to AFUNA, he was toldhe was being transferred to an official pow
camp. He was elated, likePhil had been, hoping to finally be
treated humanly and to be able towrite to his family. I mean,
guess that's never the case, ofcourse not. He was transferred to a
camp called amore which sat on anisland in Tokyo Bay. Camp Morey had

(47:45):
once been a pretty decent camp asfar as Japanese pow camps go. There
was still slave labor, tiny rations, and a rampant preventable disease problem,
but the guards were not senseless andcruel like they had been at OFUNA.
Unfortunately, though not long before Louisarrived, things would change for the worse
with the arrival of one man,Corporal Mitsuhiro Wottonabi. Was that man.

(48:10):
Watanabi was a handsome man who camefrom a wealthy family and had been extensively
educated. When the war started,he enlisted, assuming with his status in
society that he would be made ahigh ranking official. This did not happen,
much to the shame and embarrassment ofWattonabi. He was made a corporal

(48:30):
and assigned to Camp Omore as thehead disciplinary officer. Watanabi internalized the dishonor
of not being assigned to higher rankingand took it out on everyone around him.
Sure, of course, that's whatyou do, including fellow Japanese.
He was despised and feared by all. He is like, he is your

(48:51):
supervillain of the story. One ofthe things that made him so terrifying was
his unpredictability, and one moment hewould approach a prisoner and give him candy
and gifts, and the next hewould brutally beat him. Sometimes after the
beatings, he would beg for forgivenessand cry to the man, only to
turn in an instant and beat himagain. Many prisoners said that he was

(49:13):
a sexual sadist, finding sexual releasein the cruelty he inflicted on others.
Luck. It's just extra icky,Yeah, that's like really really itchy,
so violating. It was said duringthe beatings he inflicted that he would howl
and cry like a madman, droolingand frothing at the mouth. Wow,
he's just like, what is whatis going on with you? Dude?

(49:37):
That's sturbed. That's a lot.Yeah. His punishments were often exceptional in
their creativity, aiming to undo theprisoner's mental states as well as their physical
He would force men to bow forhours to pumpkins and flagpoles, leaving them
in only their underwear for days ina shack in the middle of winter.

(49:58):
He once practiced judo on a whohad just undergone surgery for a ruptured appendix.
Oh my god. He forced prisonersto break camp rules and then beat
them when they did. He calledmen to his office to burn letters from
home in front of their eyes.He changed how he wanted to be addressed
each day, and then beat prisonerswhen they guessed wrong. He's just like,

(50:22):
it's that's really messed up. He'sjust like a super villain's he's really
bad. But Wanton Abbi's most intensecruelty was saved for the highest ranking POWs.
He was obsessed with punishing the menwho outranked him and unfortunately for Louie,
after finding out that he was anofficer and an Olympic runner, Watton

(50:45):
Abby set his sights on destroying LouisYa later nicknamed the bird. Waton Abbi
would hunt Louis every single day,beating him when he was found. Louis
did his best to hide in groupsof men, but it was no use.
He was always found and always beaten. It got to the point where
other prisoners were like, what thefuck is up with this guy? Like,

(51:05):
why is he so obsessed with you? Yes, like, I don't
know, man, that's so upsetting. Louis strove to survive his time in
the camp and fight back, joininga network of POW thieves who stole from
the Japanese war effort and waged guerrillawarfare wherever they could. On November one,
nineteen forty four, the POWs wouldget their first tangible glimpse of the

(51:29):
Allied forces closing in on Japan.The science to defeat in Tokyo were already
there. There was no grown menleft in the city, leaving women and
children to shore up defenses wherever theycould. Businesses were closed and food was
scarce. On the morning of Novemberone, a new American bomber, unfamiliar

(51:49):
to the POW's would fly over theprison camp. It was a B twenty
nine super Fortress, and as thename implies, it was a beast of
a plane, absolutely massive and incapableof carrying huge bomb loads over extensive distances.
This plane would be the downfall ofJapan on this day, though the

(52:12):
plane only carried cameras mapping the routefor the planes that would follow. When
the prisoners saw the American plane overhead, they broke out in cheers and celebration,
as the Japanese guards stared on witha look of dread on their faces.
The bomber flew over Tokyo unchallenged forabout an hour before a Japanese plane
flew out to meet it, butthen the American plane just flew away unscathed.

(52:35):
Propaganda newspapers would later report the Btwenty nine fled in terror, but
everyone who witnessed it knew the truth. Japan was in trouble. Unfortunately for
Louis, though, this event onlyenraged the bird or want to no bey,
We're just gonna call him the bird. I got you who targeted Louis
even more intensely than before. Oneday, he burst into louis cell and

(52:57):
accused him of not coming to attentionquickly enough. The bird took off his
belt, complete with a large andheavy belt buckle, and whipped it at
Louie's head belt buckle first. Theblow took Louis to the ground in a
burst of blinding pain. The birdthen pretended to be sorry and helped Louis
up before whipping in the head againin the exact same spot, taking him

(53:19):
back to the floor. Louis wouldbe deaf in one ear for weeks after
that, but the bird never letup in his brutality and continued to beat
Louis every single day. One day, though, there was a spot of
hope for Louis, he was approachedby two men from a Japanese propaganda radio
show and was given a death noticeannouncement for himself from the American news stations.

(53:44):
After being missing for so long,the American military had officially listed him
as dead. The Japanese radio showwanted him to go on their show and
correct this in an effort to makethe United States look like they were spreading
misinformation. Louis decided to do theradio show, which eventually made it back
to America. He was forced tolie about his treatment and health in the

(54:06):
prison camp, but nevertheless, hisfamily now knew that Louis was alive somewhere
in Japan. Wow. Unfortunately forLouis, though this wouldn't be his first
request to broadcast with the propaganda show, he would soon learn why he'd been
spared from execution. When he wasfirst captured. The Japanese had plans of
using his celebrity status against the UnitedStates by making him a propaganda puppet.

(54:32):
Louis wasn't having it, though,and refused to read the copy, much
to the frustration of the Japanese.He was then sent back to Ofuna,
where the bird was waiting to beathim with renewed vigor. In the coming
weeks, Louis and the rest ofthe prisoners would be distracted by the arrival
of American B twenty nine, sometimesonly a couple, other times over one

(54:54):
hundred coming into Tokyo to conduct bombingraids. Japanese citizens began camping out outside
of the pow camps in the hopesthat they wouldn't be blown apart as their
city was savaged by the bombings.Another Christmas came and went at the camp,
and luckily for the prisoners, somegood news was coming their way.

(55:16):
The bird was being transferred to adifferent camp, along with a promotion and
rank. Because of this, hedecided to throw himself a going away party.
Some of the pow officers decided tobring him a parting gift. They
cooked up a gravy to pour overrice, and, in a move straight

(55:37):
out of the book The Help,they gathered up human shit from dysentery infected
prisoners and mixed it into the gravy. Get it. The party was a
rager, and the officers sat backand watched with satisfaction as Wantonaby feasted on
the shit laced meal presented to him, believing that the men were actually sad

(55:58):
to see him leave. Wait,he didn't taste the shit. I guess
not get out of here. Heate it. He was like, Wow,
you guys really like me gross andyou nasty and what He had several
poisoning attempts. They're like, thisguy won't die, Like we don't know
how to kill him, Like ohthat sneakily. Wow, yeah, I

(56:19):
don't. I think there was likeone time thing like he had a couple
bites or one bite. He like, ate the whole thing, Ate the
whole thing. Have you seen theHelp or read the book. No,
it's a great scene where uh,the lady puts shit in a in a
chocolate pie. Oh and a pielady eats it and she's like, eat
my shit. And I was like, yeah, oh my gosh, it's

(56:45):
pretty gross. That's so gross.Okay. After the bird left, the
camp became a much more livable place, and the men were allowed to write
home to their families at last.But for Louis, his time in Amury
without the Madman was short. OnMarch first, he and several of his
friends were transferred to a different campcalled Nauhatsu. As happy as they were

(57:07):
that the Allied forces were advancing,they couldn't help but be horrified by the
devastation of the city of Tokyo asthey were transported away. Yeah, it's
not pretty, and it's like obviouslycivilians and like it's just bad. Yeah.
When the men arrived at Nhatsu,they were disappointed to find the camp

(57:28):
buried in a deep, snowy landscape. The snow was fourteen feet deep in
some areas and bitingly cold, withtemperatures plummeting well below zero. The prisoners
were told to stand at attention uponarrival, and after some time the commander
came out and shouted at the men. Louis took one look at him and
collapsed to the ground. It wasthe bird no looking at Louis like Christmas

(57:55):
came early. Oh my god,I'm so opset. It's just like a
waking nightmare. Like you finally thinkyou get rid of him, and you
go right to the camp where hewas transferred to. It's just that is
so I was believe. When Iheard that part of the book, I

(58:15):
was like, oh no, LikeI went, wow, that's that's highly
Unfortunately I put a break in righthere so we can take one. Okay,
it's perfect, welcome back, coolto the ship show. Mm hmm

(58:40):
yep, litterally literally all right,So this camp would come to be even
worse than the last, if youcan believe it, with one in five
prisoners dying from disease, exposure,or starvation, because like, I don't
know what would be worse. No, probably the snow. The snow would
be worse than the hot. Ithink when you don't have the right clothes

(59:00):
or anything to survive it. Yeah, because I think with heat, like
you get to a point where likeyou get like you just pass out,
like from the heat. How Yeah, I guess. I mean they're both
terrible, but like with no,you're gonna get like frost by. Yeah.
I feel like it's more painful andyou're more aware, ugh, miserable.
I don't know, but it's Yeah. The buildings at this camp were

(59:23):
so poorly constructed it often snowed indoors, and everything was infested with fleas,
lice, and rats. Ah thefleas. Every day Louis was hunted and
beaten by the bird. The onlyrelief was the slave labor forced on the
prisoners in the form of shoveling coalor laboring in farm fields. One day,

(59:45):
a guard knocked Louis off of amakeshift bridge with a four foot drop.
This resulted in a knee and ankleinjury so painful that Louis could no
longer use that leg. Because ofthis, the bird made Louis clean out
a pig stall with only his hands, so just shovel and picture with his
fingers. In May of nineteen fortyfour, four hundred New POWs arrived at

(01:00:09):
the camp. They had all comefrom large cities in Japan, such as
Osaka, and they had news thatGermany had fallen and now the full strength
of the Allied forces was being focusedon Japan. The larger cities were being
bombed relentlessly, and POW's were beingmoved to more isolated camps such as this

(01:00:29):
one, to be enslaved for thewar effort. The Allied forces victories only
enraged the Bird further. In June, Louis's injured leg had healed enough for
him to begin regular work again.One day, the workers were accused of
stealing, and even though Louis hadn'tbeen involved, the Bird picked him out
of the crowd and made him standwith the thieves. He ordered all of

(01:00:52):
the rest of the prisoners to puncheach of the thieves in the face as
hard as they possibly could. Ifone day punch hard enough, they would
be beaten and forced to punch theprisoners again several times. Oh my god,
Louis quickly was unable to stand afterbeing punched in the face numerous times.
He soon blacked out, and theBird would wait for him to come

(01:01:13):
to before forcing the prisoners to resumepunching him in the face. By the
end, it was estimated that eachof the accused thieves had been punched in
the face at least two hundred andtwenty times. Wow, how do you
even have a face left? No, I think it'd be pularized. How
do you not have a concussion?How do you Oh? They definitely had

(01:01:34):
concussions, and Louis was unable toopen his mouth fully for almost a week
and he had to be carried tohis cell. Okay, wow, I
mean, just how much can youendoor? I know, I can't even
imagine being punched in the face likeone time. It would have hurt so
bad. I've never been punched inthe face. Let's see. So.

(01:01:58):
In July, the Pewdo and severalcamps were informed of the kill all order
that had been issued by the Japanesegovernment. Some sympathetic guards informed the prisoners
that the execution date was set forAugust twenty second. The prisoners rejoiced at
the success of their fellow soldiers,but began dreading the passage of time,

(01:02:20):
knowing they would all be executed soon. Many of the POWs witnessed the war
torn civilians of Japan preparing for invasion. Women and children were seen running drills
with sharpened sticks, practicing stabbing,and firing wooden guns. It was clear
citizens of Japan were starving to deathand dying from disease, but the Japanese

(01:02:40):
government was hell bent on not surrenderingand fighting to the last woman and child
man. After brutal bombings of Japan, including the horrifying act of dropping napalm
on countless civilians, Allied planes droppedflyers on Japanese cities, warning them of
future bombings and urging them to evact. The Japanese government did nothing of the

(01:03:02):
sort. In the prison camp,the bird was becoming even more unpredictable and
deranged, perhaps sensing his reign ofterror coming to an end for sure.
Yeah, Louis was beginning to thinkhe wasn't gonna make it. He was
constantly how do you think you're gonnaYes, I mean make it to what
your execution like, you're gonna belike, well, he's gonna get even

(01:03:24):
worse. So that's when I'm goingto die. He's going to make sure
of it before this is all done. Yeah, there's no way that he
would let especially how targeted he was, Yeah, it's amazing that he lived
this far at all, Like,I just don't understand it. Yeah.
Uh So he was constantly ill,he was feverish with dysentery. He was

(01:03:45):
beginning to lose his appetite and willto go on. But soon things would
change, and if you know thebasics of World War two, then you
know what's coming. On August sixthand ninth, the United States of America
dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima andNakasaki, to devastating effect. The men
in the POW camps would soon hearrumors of an entire city being leveled by

(01:04:10):
one bomb, but they couldn't believeit to be true. On August fifteenth,
less than a week away from thekill order, the POWs looked around
the camp to suddenly find all ofthe Japanese gone. They were all found
huddled around a radio listening to anannouncement in Japanese from Emperor Hirohito, much

(01:04:30):
to the disbelief of the prisoners.The rumor was that the war had ended,
but they were still all in thecamp as though nothing had changed.
The prisoners were then all led toa river, where they assumed that they
would be killed, but instead weretold to bathe. As they were washing
themselves, an American plane flew lowover the river and dropped a letter,

(01:04:51):
candy bars and cigarettes. The letterexplained that the war was over and they
would be back with food and supplyfor the men. The prisoners finally let
themselves believe the incredible news and brokeout in celebration, running around buck naked
and cheering like the water. Yeahawesome. Back at the camp, Watson

(01:05:13):
Abby aka the Bird, had silentlyremoved his uniform, grabbed a bag of
rice, and disappeared into the countrysidebefore the prisoners could enact their revenge.
Coward, He's such a fucking littlecard, I know. After receiving the
happy news, the POWs threw ahuge party, getting drunk on sake and

(01:05:34):
forming a dance congo line through thecamp. The following days were spent waiting
for aid from the Allied forces,and though the Japanese guards still remained at
the camp, they were no longercruel to the prisoners. Soon American planes
began dropping pallets of goods, andthe prisoners gorged themselves on canned fruits,
spam, cocoa, medicine, andcigarettes, eating themselves sick. Yeah,

(01:05:58):
I bet they're withered. Stomachs rebelledagainst the food, but they just kept
eating. Eventually, so much foodand supplies were dropped that the prisoners began
handing them out to civilians and theguards families. That's nice. Over the
course of the war, the Japanesewould in turn about one hundred and thirty
two thousand POWs nearly thirty six thousanddied, which is about one in four

(01:06:23):
And those are just the Allied numbers. The amount of Asian people such as
the Koreans and Chinese were killed ordied as a result of poor treatment and
staggering numbers into the millions. Yeah. On September second, nineteen forty five,
Japan would sign their formal surrender,ending World War Two. On September

(01:06:43):
fifth, a train would arrive topick up the liberated prisoners to take them
to an airfield to depart Japan.Was started as a joyous, sake filled
train ride would end in silent sadnessas the men looked on at the devastation
of Japan, especially the ones whopassed Hiroshima. I can't imagine like seeing
that that would be right, soeerie right after I had like just looking

(01:07:08):
at pictures. It's like the mosthaunting thing to look at. Yeah,
it's awful. What kind of radiationthey were exposed to? Ooh, that's
a good question point. Probably alot. Yeah, they're just taking a
train ride through it. Whew.Wow. From Japan, Louis would be

(01:07:30):
sent to Okinawa shout out Michael,the ancestral homeland, where he ate constantly
and rapidly gained weight, choosing tostay there for a while to regain his
strength because he didn't want his momto see him looking so free. Oh
my gosh, right, yeah,I mean yeah. It would be mid
October when Louis would finally make itback to the States after being cured of

(01:07:54):
dysentery. Louis was released to hisfamily and they all came together in a
sobbing, hugging pile. He hadbeen gone for two and a half years.
Wow. Sorry. On October sixteenth, Russell Allen Phillips aka Phil would
also make it home to Indiana afterbeing gone four years, to a similar

(01:08:15):
reunion, except his included his fiance, Ceci, who never lost hope that
he would come back. Can youimagine she waited for him for that long,
so magical. They were married twoweeks later. Oh my gosh,
we no time. No, andthe pair would go on to live humble
lives as teachers at the same school, and though Phil's story was never celebrated

(01:08:39):
the way Louise was, he nevercomplained about it. I mean, he
got to live a life. Butit's just crazy because he went through the
same stuff. But mostly Louis thatyou hear about. Yeah, but he's
a humble man. Yeah, hewas just like such a good one.
Wow, that's amazing. I know. I think he became like a science
teacher and she became like a litteacher, the most badass Oh my god.

(01:09:01):
Yeah, and they're just cutel teachers. So happy for them. Okay,
No, they had like the nicelittle story, so intense, just
so drastic. You just don't thinkabout normal, Like I can't say normal,
but yeah, I just that's somuch to think about. I know,
the guy teaching you about mitochondria beinga powerhouse of the cell. I

(01:09:23):
went through pow camps and like survivedon a rap Like who would ever think?
Right? All right, so,uh, though Louie had survived and
finally made it back home, hisstory was far from over, but I'm
not trying to make this a threepart or so I'll keep it brief.
Oh my god. Unsurprisingly, Louis, like a vast amount of World War

(01:09:44):
two veterans, suffered from an arrayof issues, including PTSD, anxiety,
and depression. As we all know, the resources provided to traumatize veterans was
and still largely is sorely lacking.Yeah, Louis might, like many others,
would turn to alcohol to drown outthe overwhelming emotions, but the booze
didn't keep the bird from haunting hisnightmares constantly. God, can you imagine,

(01:10:08):
Yeah, you'd still dream about thatguy and you would be so mad
that you can't escape. Yeah,he was, Like he said, he
was just overwhelmed with revenge, likewith hate and revenge for this guy.
Like, yeah, that's all hecared about. He wanted to like go
back to Japan, especially knowing thathe just like just walked away. Yeah.
Yeah, Yeah, that's hard.It was just like in all of

(01:10:28):
his dreams, all of his nightmares, especially since he was so targeted.
I totally get that he would feellike, oh, I want my time
with that guy, and just theamount of trauma experience from that guy,
like the petty torture, Oh mygosh. Yeah, yeah, the anger
would be immense. So it wasit was like eating him alive. Yeah,
and he's you know, self medicatingwith booze. Not a great self

(01:10:53):
medicating thing. So but despite this, Louis would meet a beautiful and intelligent
woman named Cynthia Applewhite in nineteen fortysix, who he instantly fell in love
with and married a staggering two weekslater. It's just wild. They would
go on to have two children andremained married until her death in two thousand

(01:11:15):
and one. Wow wow, weird. See wow, see see. Louis's
alcoholism became so bad, however,their marriage almost didn't make it until Cynthia
found religion via Billy Graham with afeelings. But okay, okay, okay,

(01:11:36):
good for you, girl. Iknow, I know your intentions are
good. I know I know.Okay, this is like this was like
when Billy Graham was like in histwenties. This is like his beginning.
Yeah, he wasn't like top ofhis game yet. I no, no,
he was just starting out. Iwas just feeling the waters of how
far can I do this? Sohe was like he would hold these like

(01:11:57):
huge like evangelists events in California atthe time, Like he'd have these big
tents and yeah, so all thesepeople would come to see him and she
just like randomly decided to go watch. So she like, it's like I
found the Lord. I'm a bornagain Christian. Louis at this point was

(01:12:19):
not really religious. Yeah, Imean I would find it hard going through
all of that and seeing all ofthat to be like, uh, God,
is there you? What the fuckis this? What is earth?
I don't understand. Reality seems unfair. It's like something's off. Just gonna

(01:12:42):
point that out. Yeah. Soyeah, so she finds religion via Billy
Graham. She then convinces Louis toattend to sermons, and then he too,
eventually finds religion sees the light.Yeah. After Louis found God,
he gave up drinking and the nightmaresstopped. Wow. Yeah. Uh.
He decided to forgive his persecutors andeven visited a Japanese prison to forgive the

(01:13:05):
war criminals in person. I mean, at this point for your own sake
you, yeah, I mean foryou to live, it's for him,
it's for your quality of the restof your life, you need to somehow
let it go. Yeah, anda lot of the prison guards that had
abused him were in this prison,so he did really get to like see

(01:13:27):
them and forgive them in person.That's intense. Yeah, but one notable
man was missing, the bear wantto not be evaded capture until the charges
for his imprisonment. Imprisonment had liftedseveral years later. He then came back
to society where he lived a normal, prosperous life, which seems ridiculously unfair,

(01:13:49):
but that's what happened. Wow.When Louis found out that Wantonabi was
alive decades later, he tried tosee him but was denied. He did
end up writing him a letter,but the two men would never see each
other again. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure that guy's like, hell
right, he's like he's gonna definitelykilling. I don't see how there's any
positives for me, and so sayno, but it is wild. He

(01:14:15):
he didn't pay for his crimes,and he was like that's wild. When
they were putting out like like theorders to arrest the war criminals, he
was like one of the tippy Hewas like number seven, I think on
the list of like top war criminals. He was up there and did not
pay for it, and like menwere executed, and he's just like got
off scot free. Basically, Yeah, I don't get it. It's wild

(01:14:38):
life is definitely not fair, veryunfair. Yeah, so he would end
up dying in two thousand and three, get out of town two thousands.
I was a child, like alarge child, was a sizable child.
He worked as an insurance salesman,So I won't he got off scot free

(01:15:03):
much better? Yeah. I thinkhe got married. He had kids,
Like, well, imagine that beingyour dad. Oof. That's I wonder
if he would talk about it.Probably not so many questions in a truthful
way, because he like he wasjust one of those guys that never really
He said sometimes that he felt bad, but I think he didn't. I

(01:15:25):
think he did lacked in remorse.Yeah, he was just like, well,
it was wartime, so I did. Yeah, I did what I
did. I did what I hadto do. That it is what it
is. Yeah, probably, Imean, yeahs no excuses. There was
plenty of guards that didn't do that, Like, yeah, he didn't have
to do that because he was deranged. Yeah, something has to be marrying

(01:15:49):
that guy like Scarry terrifying. Okay. So, Louis would go on to
live a full life of speeches,awards, and appearances events where they all
wanted to hear a story. Hewould open a camp for troubled boys and
ran the Olympic torch for several ofthe Games, including the nineteen ninety eight
Winter Olympics in Japan, where heran the torch past one of the pow

(01:16:13):
camps where he had once been held. Wow, talk about the circle.
That's amazing. It's so wild.That is wild, just so what a
detail, God Like, Wow,the emotions I can't even imagine. It's
just so overwhelming, just like lookingback, Like, okay, I was
here at one point thinking I wasgoing to die, and now I'm here
again running the Olympic torch. I'mit's just my flowers be gasted, flabbers

(01:16:41):
are so gasted. I can't handleit. It's just how do you not?
Yeah, I mean it's so emotionalchills. Wow. All right.
So, although his running days neverreturned at the levels that he had been
at due to his war injuries,Louis never stopped moving, even picking up
skateboarding in his eighties. That's thecutest thing you could ever imagine. Little

(01:17:06):
old Italian man skateboarding get out oftown, LA, Like, I want
that. God, You're so cool, so fucking cool. You're never too
old, That's what I'm learning.Okay, Well, you'll like this quote
because he once said quote, whenI get old, I'll let you know.
You why? I see that?Wow? What? I just want

(01:17:32):
to hug him, I know,kiss his little forehead. Yes. Well,
he may not have ever admitted togetting old, but in twenty fourteen,
at the ripe old age of ninetyseven, Wow, Luis Zambori died
in his LA home. He outlivedhis entire family and overall is one of
the most fascinating people I have everlearned about. The end, the end,

(01:18:01):
the end done. We're wow,wow and overall kind of happy ending,
which is just yeah. I mean, what a long life to live,
What a full, rich life,What a badass, what a cool
dude? Ninety seven years old?He just Wow, you did that?

(01:18:21):
You lived that? He lived themost life he did. Wow. So
amazing. What an amazing story,right, good job for telling it.
Thank you. I really hope everyoneenjoyed that. And I know that that
was rough in parts, but youknow, also worth it in the end,
yeah, because it just ended kindof nice, so then you can
have a nice feeling at the end, thank you. It's not all sad.

(01:18:45):
And you didn't even know if itwas gonna end nicely because you didn't
know when I got to the alcoholismpart, and that was really rough because
he talked about like all of hisPTSD and like he woke up from nightmares
like literally choking his wife, likejust really really rough, but like he
got past it, and it's justreally inspiring when like no one was helping

(01:19:06):
you out, like society like yeah, like you mentioned, like, yeah,
therapy is the thing. Medication isa thing, Like we got to
help these guys out more and talkabout it more and give them a safe
face. And the statistics were sodepressing, like in the book they were
talking about like the suicide rates ofhig of guys that were in Pacific like

(01:19:27):
pow camps, and it was justyeah, because they didn't have the resources,
like it was so taboo, whichis so sad, Like yeah,
yeah, going through like the worsttrauma like you could imagine, and then
just being expected to be normal afterthat, like that's also like, yeah,
yeah, again, I would crushin reality because I'd be like I'm
supposed to just like he said,he would have these like such vivid flashbacks,

(01:19:55):
like he'd be in the middle ofa bar, but all of a
sudden would be in the middle ofa peop the whole nother life. It's
a whole nother world you were in. Yeah, a whole different Wow.
Yeah, wow, I'm so gladit's hope me too. I'm sorry for
my hysterical outbursts. Hysterical outbursts.Yes, I mean occasionally you do that
to me. I'm blaming you.It's all your fault. I do pick

(01:20:17):
some very intense shit to talk about, and I don't always consider your mental
well being with picking these stories,or I do. And I think I'm
going to torture her with this.No, I love it. It's great.
Okay, it's the best story I'veheard in a long time. Oh
good. Yeah, Well, Ihope everyone enjoyed that two parter. Probably

(01:20:38):
won't do another two parter of fora bit, but yeah, you deserve
a little break after that. Doubledoozy, Double doozy, Wow, double
Doozy. I like that, Okay, should you say they of the week.
Yes, and that goes to Perth, Australia. Hi, Australia,

(01:21:05):
we love your children's show. Ohmy gosh, bleu is the beat big
fans. I'm a little obsessed.Yes, I'm in a group on Facebook.
It's fine, it's fine, it'sfine. Less fans of your spiders,
yes, but overall great from adistance. Yes, thank you Australia,

(01:21:26):
thank you for listening. If you'reso cool. Oh my gosh.
Speaking of Australia, I follow RobertIrwin. Oh yeah, yeah, he's
the best, everyone's He's like,actually, like we need a dad,
just reencourage. He is his dad. We need to protect him at all
costs. He is the best humans. He's so sweet, he's the best,
so cute and he I mean theystill have ties here to literally Eugene

(01:21:46):
right, And I was mom,yes, And I was on his like
Instagram feed and I saw like sealions and I was like, well,
this looks really familiar. That's reallycool talk. He was literally a Newport
not long ago looking at our sealine and I'm pretty sure we've been to
that same spot, like, ohfor sure, the same sea line.
It's like one of the things youhave to go do and we've done it,

(01:22:08):
or like one sea line removed fromIrwins. I just thought that was
so cool. I was like,oh my gosh, you were just like
here ish I would be so starstruck. Oh really, that's so funny.
My mom is pretty sure she's seenthem at the Old Gateway Mall once right

(01:22:29):
when like he was born, sohe was like a baby and I missed
it and I was with her.Dang, so upset. You're gonna be
famous someday. Yeah, he justseems like a very wholesome. He's just
like his dad. He's just sowholesome, grounded. Good dude, Yeah,
good dude. Sometimes I watch thoselike old Steve Irwin, like they
do the videos of like oh lookhe was like I remember, I actually

(01:22:50):
grind over that one. That onegot me real good. That was Yeah,
got a lot of people because hewas just so unexpected. Good dude.
Yeah, question real quick, youhave any requests for me for for
my next episode? Like from meme or from listeners from you you from
me me or or Michael Michael orMichael Michael like a topic, Yeah,

(01:23:11):
like do you give me some likesuggestions I might completely ignore them. But
I'm just wondering if you could giveme a direction because I'm trying to figure
it out and I'm having a hardtime. Okay, Okay, I feel
like it's been a while since wedid a paranormal anything. Okay, like
hanty hanty crypty, Okay, I'lltry it. Maybe no promises, I
know, but I'm I'm Jones andfor a paranormal Okay, what else?

(01:23:36):
What else? Girl? You knowI love a disaster story. I'm addicted
to them. Okay, I'm tryingto find something since we had like an
emergency cannibalism, you know, it'svery specific that almost happened in the story,
but they decided not to. Sothat's true. Well, they said,

(01:23:58):
you never know, there's tereer soinvolved. Oh you know what's really
sweet about this was like they allgot interviewed afterwards, Louis and Phil,
and they didn't tell the reporter aboutMac eating all the chocolate because they didn't
want his family to find out.Because I was like just kidding me,
and like they didn't get together onthat. They were interviewed separately and they
both say they don't need to oncewe get it. I think one said

(01:24:21):
that they just didn't have it,and the other said that like they lost
it overboard or something, and Iwas like, oh my god, that's
nice and honorable. Oh my gosh, I love these dudes so much.
So nice, my gosh, respectto all these dudes. Okay, well
let's send this. Okay, soeveryone else gives Shanna ideas too, Okay,
yes, I would love any feedbackbecause I'm kind of struggling. But

(01:24:44):
yeah, yeah, so yeah,good up and good night. All right.
My sources are the same as lasttime. The book Unbroken by Laura
Hillenbrand Wikipedia dot com. Our musicis by Broke for Free and Matt Edwards,

(01:25:05):
and we are edited by Michael.All right, should I list start
social media? Please? Do?We have a lot of our things that
Anxious and Afraid the pod. Sothat's our handle for both of our Facebook
page and group, along with ourInstagram and Gmail. We have a Twitter

(01:25:27):
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(01:25:48):
Tell your friends, yeah, wewould appreciate all of it. Daring
no faightween the doppenty day, thespy by the fight fee, the dopy

(01:26:09):
pay Stan, tutted by the f