On February 24th, I wrote a Report:

On Feb 21, 2004 in Los Angeles CA, Louis Zamperini, legendary NCAA & Olympian distance runner and WW II hero, was honored as USC dedicated "Louis Zamperini Plaza" as the official entrance to the USC  Track and Field Stadium.Zamperini wrote the stirring memoir "Devil at My Heels".

Now, Laura Hillenbrand, the Best Selling author of "Seabiscuit: An American Legend ", that was made into a movie in 2003, has signed to write the story of Louis Zamperini !!!!!

A Non Italian American author!!  Italian American authors complain about Italian Americans not reading books. Well, as I have long suggested, they should try choosing topics of interest to the IA community, and or "feel good". "Heroic" is nice too, and there are a number of IAs very deserving.

Like for instance Sergeant "Manila John" Basilone, Rocky Versace, WWII Ace Don Gentile, or 39 other Congressional Medal of Honor Winners, to start with. And those are just miltary. There are SO Many others!!!!!

Below, first, is the announcement of the book in USA Today,
Then Information on Louis Zamperini, and "Devil at My Heels".

You "short" yourself if you don't read through to the end!!!

HILLENBRAND FINDS NOVEL INSPIRATION:

Laura Hillenbrand, whose debut novel Seabiscuit: An American Legend became a best seller and the basis for the 2003 film Seabiscuit.

Hillenbrand has signed with Random House to write the story of another inspirational figure — LOUIS ZAMPERINI, an Olympic athlete and WWII vet who survived two years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Hillenbrand came across Zamperini's story while researching Seabiscuit. No publication date has been set.

USATODAY.com
http://www.usatoday.com/life/digest.htm

Zamperini--a product of Torrance High--was among the most outstanding milers in the U.S. in the 1930s. At age 19, the "Torrance Tornado" was the top American finisher in the 5000m at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He later won two NCAA individual titles in the mile while running for USC track and field from 1937 to 1939.

After his collegiate career, he enlisted as a bombardier in the Army in World War II and was shot down over the Pacific Ocean. He survived, but after 47 harrowing days on a life raft in shark-infested waters, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese.

He spent over two years as a prisoner of war--enduring hunger and torture--before being rescued. Upon his return home, he received a hero's welcome. He later met the Rev. Billy Graham, an occurence that caused him to dedicate his life to Christian work. Now age 87, Zamperini resides in Hollywood.

His inspirational story is told in his autobiography, "Devil at My Heels", a stirring memoir that is a living document about the brutality of war and the tenacity of the human spirit.
 

From Library Journal
Zamperini was an intractable troublemaker of a youth who became a champion runner, competing in the 1936 Olympics and shaking hands with Hitler and Goebbels. When war seemed inevitable, he joined the Army Air Corps and flew a number of combat missions in the Pacific as a B-24 bombardier.

In May 1943, his plane crashed on a routine search mission, and Zamperini and two survivors floated on a raft for 47 days before being taken prisoner by the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war in prison camps undergoing terrible abuse, as did many prisoners in Japan.

After the war, disaffected and rootless, he attended an early Billy Graham revival and found religion. He became an inspirational speaker, eventually returned to Japan to confront and forgive his captors, and spent the rest of his life spreading Christianity and supporting various Christian endeavors.

His memoir will fit well in inspirational collections, but it is also a well-written addition to the growing body of World War II personal narratives. Zamperini's positive attitude, resilience, and narrative strength make this a reasonable purchase for many public libraries and military collections. [During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, Zamperini's story and dramatic return to face his torturer was chronicled on CBS's 48 Hours.-Ed.]-Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, K.   --Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS  Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
A juvenile delinquent, a world-class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a World War II bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a life fuller than most when it changed in an instant. On May 27, 1943, his B-24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louis and two other survivors found a raft amid the flaming wreckage and waited for rescue. Instead, they drifted two thousand miles for forty-seven days. Their only food: two shark livers and three raw albatross. Their only water: sporadic rainfall. Their only companions: hope and faith -- and the ever-present sharks.

On the forty-seventh day, mere skeletons close to death, Zamperini and pilot Russell Phillips finally spotted land -- and were captured by the Japanese. Thus began more than two years of torture and humiliation as prisoners of war.Zamperini was threatened with beheading, subjected to medical experiments, routinely beaten, hidden in a secret interrogation facility, starved and forced into slave labor, and was the constant victim of a brutal prison guard nicknamed the Bird -- a man so vicious that the other guards feared him and called him a psychopath.

Meanwhile, the Army Air Corps declared Zamperini dead and President Roosevelt sent official condolences to his family, who never gave up hope that he was alive.Somehow Zamperini survived and he returned home a hero.

The celebration was short-lived. He plunged into drinking and brawling and the depths of rage and despair. Nightly, the Bird's face leered at him in his dreams. It would take years, but with the love of his wife and the power of faith, he was able to stop the nightmares and the drinking.

A stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the "Greatest Generation," Devil at My Heels is a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness.

Reviewer:from Dayton, Ohio
I hope that Louis Zamperini's story becomes required reading for our children one day. This man's amazing story of survival against all odds during WWII is truly miraculous. To describe Louie as merely "lucky" misses the mark somehow. He should have died many times over before and during the war, but through God's grace and Zamperini's formidable willpower he survived to tell his story. And what an incredible, page-turning saga it is! I couldn't put this book down and after reading it, I was a changed woman. I had a new respect for my grandfather, and the men of his generation who suffered unimaginable horrors on the battlefields of Europe and Japan during the 1940's.

Reviewer:from Waynesboro, PA
If you are into adventure, tragedy, and ultimate triumph, you NEED to read this book. It is inspiring and is VERY hard to put down. Buy it, read it, and then give it to a friend!

Amazon.com: Books: Devil at My Heels: A WW II Hero's Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/
detail/-/006018860X/qid=1077685621/
sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-4337808-6969468?v=
glance&s=books