Chapter 5: Into War
1 Payton Jordan: Payton Jordan, telephone interviews, August 13, 16, 2004.
2 High jumper on her bed: Sylvia Flammer, telephone interviews, October 25, 27, 2004.
3 Pranks: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
4 Sasaki: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Payton Jordan, telephone interviews, August 13, 16, 2004; Bruce Gamble, Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington (Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 2000), p. 323; the following Kunichi Sasaki and James Kunichi Sasaki records from RG 331, RAOOH, WWII, 1907–1966, SCAP, Legal Section, Administration Division and Prosecution Division, NACP: Kunichi Sasaki, Isamu Sato, Kazuo Akane, 1945–1948, Investigation and Interrogation Reports; Nakakichi Asoma et al., trial, exhibits, appeal, and clemency files; Nakakichi Asoma et al., 1945–1952, POW 201 File, 1945–1952, Charges and Specifications, 1945–1948.
5 Sasaki’s true college record: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, USC registrar archives; inquiries with Degreecheck.com, April 2007.
6 Louie’s winning: George Davis, “Fresno Relays Are Next,” undated article in Zamperini scrapbook, NPN; “Zamperini Stars,” Los Angeles Examiner, May 8, 1938; “Zamperini, Day Smash Meet Marks,” undated 1938 article in Zamperini scrapbook, NPN.
7 Coach predicts world record: Lee Bastajian, “Trojans Meet Stanford,” undated spring 1938 article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN.
8 Seabiscuit only runner to beat him: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
9 Cunningham prediction: George Davis, “Cunningham Predicts Zamperini Next Mile Champ,” undated 1938 article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN.
10 Fastest mile projected to be 4:01.6: Brutus Hamilton, Amateur Athlete, February 1935.
11 Louie training on stairs: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Louis Zamperini, interview by George Hodak, Hollywood, Calif., June 1988, AAFLA.
12 First four-minute man: Charlie Paddock, “Sportorials,” undated April 1938 article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN; George Davis, “For Sake of Sport,” Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express, undated 1938 article from Zamperini scrapbook; George Davis, “Cunningham Predicts Zamperini Next Mile Champ,” undated article from Zamperini scrapbook, NPN; “History of the Record for the Mile Run,” InfoPlease, www.infoplease.com (accessed July 9, 2004); Paul Scheffels, “4 Minute Mile Run Is Closer,” Modesto (Calif.) Bee, February 14, 1940.
13 Prerace warning: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Payton Jordan, telephone interviews, August 13, 16, 2004; Louis Zamperini, interview by George Hodak, Hollywood, Calif., June 1988, AAFLA.
14 1938 NCAA Championship race: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Payton Jordan, telephone interviews, August 13, 16, 2004; “Zamperini’s Record Mile Beats Fenske,” Minnesota Journal, June 18, 1938; Charles Johnson, “Zamperini Sets Mark,” Star Nighthawk, June 18, 1938; “Mile Record Smashed at Collegiate Meet,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 18, 1938; Louis Zamperini, interview by George Hodak, Hollywood, Calif., June 1988, AAFLA.
15 Crowd gasps, Woooo!: Payton Jordan, telephone interviews, August 13, 16, 2004.
16 Japan drops Olympics, Finland takes over: Relman Morin, “Japan Abandons Olympics Plans,” Appleton (Wisc.) Post-Crescent, July 14, 1938; “Finland Okays Olympic Games,” Lowell (Mass.) Sun, July 19, 1938.
17 Louie’s indoor races: “Fenske Outruns Zamperini by Three Yards,” Fresno Bee, February 18, 1940; “Fenske Again Beats Best U.S. Milers,” Oakland Tribune, February 18, 1940; “Fenske’s Brilliant Millrose Victory Stamps Him ‘King of Milers,’ ” Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln), February 5, 1940; Paul Scheffels, “4 Minute Mile Run Is Closer,” Modesto (Calif.) Bee, February 14, 1940.
18 Indoor versus outdoor records: Jon Hendershott, associate editor, Track and Field News, email interview, May 6, 2009; Wally Donovan, A History of Indoor Track and Field (El Cajon, Calif.: Edward Jules Co., 1976), p. 294; “History of the Record for the Mile Run,” InfoPlease, www.infoplease.com (accessed July 9, 2004).
19 Japan’s economic plight, ambitions, preparations: David James, The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1951), pp. 6–17, 119–27, 168, 173; Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (London: Penguin Books, 1998), pp. 25–38.
20 “There are superior”: John W. Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993), p. 217.
21 “plant the blood”: Ibid., p. 277.
22 Military-run schools, soldier training: Chang, pp. 29–32, 57; James Bradley, Flyboys (New York: Little, Brown, 2003), pp. 34–36.
23 “Imbuing violence”: Chang, p. 218.
24 Stadium partially collapsed: Lon Jones, “War Cheats Trojans: Olympic Chances Lost,” Los Angeles Examiner, February 28, 1940.
25 Lehtinen gives medal: “Lauri Lehtinen,” All Experts, http://en.allexperts.com/e/l/la/lauri_lehtinen.htm (accessed September 11, 2009).
26 Bright, Cunningham enlist: Kiell, pp. 320–21; Georgie Bright Kunkel, “My Brother Was a Long Distance Runner,” West Seattle Herald, August 21, 2008.
27 Jittery and airsick: Louis Zamperini, letter to Virginia Zamperini, April 10, 1941; Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
28 Candy bars: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
29 Informant’s report: Letters between J. Edgar Hoover and Brigadier General Sherman Miles, October–November 1941, FBI, acquired from Department of the Army, United States Army Intelligence and Security Command, Freedom of Information/Privacy Office, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
30 Notes from police officer: Notes by Captain Ernie Ashton, Torrance police detective, written alongside a passage on Sasaki in Ashton’s copy of Zamperini’s 1956 autobiography, Devil at My Heels, from papers of Louis Zamperini.
31 Sasaki in Washington: The following Kunichi Sasaki and James Kunichi Sasaki records from RG 331, RAOOH, WWII, 1907–1966, SCAP, Legal Section, Administration Division and Prosecution Division, NACP: Kunichi Sasaki, Isamu Sato, Kazuo Akane, 1945–1948, Investigation and Interrogation Reports; Nakakichi Asoma et al., trial, exhibits, appeal, and clemency files; Nakakichi Asoma et al., 1945–1952, POW 201 File, 1945–1952, Charges and Specifications, 1945–1948.
32 Hoover orders probe: Letters between J. Edgar Hoover and Brigadier General Sherman Miles, October–November 1941, Federal Bureau of Investigation, acquired from Department of the Army, United States Army Intelligence and Security Command, Freedom of Information/Privacy Office, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
33 Pilot over Hawaii: Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan (Bluejack Books, 2001).
34 Activities on Oahu: William Cleveland, ed., Grey Geese Calling (Askov: American Publishing, 1981), p. 203; Stetson Conn, Rose Engelman, and Byron Fairchild, United States Army in World War II: Guarding the United States and Its Outposts (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1964), p. 191; Clive Howard and Joe Whitley, One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the Seventh (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946), p. 25; Robert Cressman and J. Michael Wenger, “Infamous Day,” Marines in WWII Commemorative Series, http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/usmc/
pcn-190-003116-00/sec3.htm (accessed September 10, 2009).
35 Two planes lost: “Timeline Pearl Harbor,” Pearl Harbor Remembered, http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/mainmenu.html (accessed April 29, 2010).
36 Man killed during pillow fight, friend sees Japanese plane crash: Cleveland, p. 203.
37 Louie, Pete learn of Pearl Harbor: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Peter Zamperini, telephone interview, October 19, 2004.