Chapter 33: Mother’s Day
1 POWs on train: Ken Marvin, telephone interview, January 21, 2005; Wade, p. 171; Knox, p. 452; Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
2 “First there were trees”: Knox, p. 451.
3 “Welcome back, boys”: Wade, p. 171.
4 “Before me in immaculate khaki uniform”: Ibid.
5 Women like goddesses: Ken Marvin, telephone interview, January 21, 2005.
6 Trumbull encounters Louie: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; “Zamperini Gives Sidelights of His Dramatic Trip Back,” October 1, 1945, NPN, from papers of Louis Zamperini; Louis Zamperini, interview by George Hodak, Hollywood, Calif., June 1988, AAFLA.
7 “Zamperini’s dead”: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
8 “If I knew”: Robert Trumbull, “Zamperini, Olympic Miler, Is Safe After Epic Ordeal,” NYT, September 9, 1945.
9 Hoarding K rations: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Louis Zamperini, interview by George Hodak, Hollywood, Calif., June 1988, AAFLA.
10 Rosynek watches men deplane: Frank Rosynek, email interview, June 21, 2005.
11 POW told his wife married his uncle: “Sends Love Message to Soldier Husband,” Council Bluffs Nonpareil, September 11, 1945.
12 Louie interviewed: Frank Rosynek, written interview, December 8, 2007.
13 “Well, I’ll be damned”: Jack Krey, telephone interview, August 18, 2005.
14 11th Bomb Group, 42nd squadron men lost: Cleveland, pp. 484–85.
15 Only four of sixteen men from barracks alive: Jesse Stay, “Twenty-nine Months in the Pacific,” unpublished memoir.
16 four hundred athletes killed: “400 Stars Give Lives in Service,” Oakland Tribune, December 30, 1944; Walt Dobbins, “I May Be Wrong,” Lincoln (Neb.) Journal, January 6, 1944.
17 Louie not allowed food, clothes: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
18 Louie assessed by physicians: “Lou Zamperini Has Won Final Race on Track,” Olean (N.Y.) Times-Herald, September 13, 1945.
19 “It’s finished”: “Zamperini Drifted 1,200 Miles on Raft,” Stars and Stripes, September 14, 1945.
20 “Darling, we will”: Sylvia Zamperini, letter to Louis Zamperini, August 31, 1945.
21 Pete learns Louie free: “Lou Zamperini’s Release Thrills Brother at NTC,” Hoist (U.S. Naval Training Center, San Diego), September 14, 1945.
22 Preparing for homecoming, family quotations: “Zamperini’s Mother Sheds Tears of Joy,” undated article from papers of Peter Zamperini, NPN.
23 Freeing Rokuroshi: George Steiger, “Captain George Steiger: A POW Diary,” http://www.fsteiger.com/gsteipow.html (accessed October 2, 2009); Emerson, pp. 86–87; Giles, pp. 155–65; Kerr, Surrender, pp. 288–89.
24 History of American flag: Giles, pp. 156–57.
25 Kelsey Phillips learns Allen is free: “Lt. Allen Phillips Back in Care of U.S. Army, Mother Informed,” Terre Haute Star, September, 1945.
26 “That day”: Ibid.
27 Louie remains in Okinawa: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview; Louis Zamperini, letter to Edwin Wilber, May 1946.
28 Hospital parties: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
29 Louie startling USC recruiter: Ibid.
30 Typhoon: Ibid.
31 Louie flies in B-24: Ibid.; Louis Zamperini, letter to Edwin Wilber, May 1946.
32 Overloaded B-24 crashes: Martindale, p. 243.
33 “This is Kwajalein”: Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
34 One tree left on island: Ibid.
35 Hospitalization mandatory: Bernard M. Cohen and Maurice Z. Cooper, A Follow-up Study of World War II Prisoners of War (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1955), p. 40.
36 Garrett and Louie stay together: Ibid.
37 Louie loses beloved shirt: Ibid.
38 Louie and Garrett wrestle on beach: Ibid.
39 “I just thought I was empty”: Ibid.
40 Wade goes home: Wade, p. 179; Tom Wade, letter to Louis Zamperini, August 20, 1946.
41 Phil’s homecoming: Kelsey Phillips, “A Life Story,” unpublished memoir; telegram and photographs from Phillips scrapbook.
42 Pete and Louie meet: Peter Zamperini, telephone interview, October 19, 2004; Louis Zamperini, telephone interview.
43 Louie flown home: Louis Zamperini, letter to Edwin Wilber, May 1946; “Lou Zamperini Back in L.A.,” undated article from papers of Peter Zamperini, NPN; Peter Zamperini, telephone interview, October 19, 2004.
44 “Cara mamma mia”: “Lou Zamperini Back in L.A.,” undated article from papers of Peter Zamperini, NPN.