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This is Angela Odell and you are listening to Real Cool History for Kids, a podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical worldview perspective. Welcome to an adventure. Foreign. Welcome to episode 179 of Real Cool History for Kids. This episode is for Asher Corbin and Titus Tittle, who wanted to hear the incredible story of a man who showed courage, endurance and faith in one of the most difficult situations imaginable. This is the story of Louis Zamperini. Lewis was born in 1917 in Oline, New York, but he grew up in California. As a boy, Lewis was known for getting into quite a bit of trouble. He liked to pull pranks and sneak around and do things he wasn't supposed to do. His parents loved him very much, but they worried about the path he was on. Lewis had an older brother named Pete, and Pete believed Lewis could do something great if he could learn to focus his energy in the right direction. So Pete encouraged Lewis to run. At first, Lewis didn't think running sounded very exciting. But once he started, something amazing, really amazing happened. He discovered he was really, really, really good at it. Lewis trained hard. He ran before school, after school, and then pushed himself further and further every day. Before long, he became one of the fastest runners in his high school. Then he became one of the fastest runners in the entire country. When Lewis was just 19 years old, he earned a spot on the United States Olympic team. Isn't that amazing? Can you imagine? He traveled all the way to Berlin, Germany, to compete in the 1930s 36 Olympic Games. This was the time period right before World War II when Adolf Hitler was the German leader. So we've learned a lot about him, haven't we? The United States involvement in the 1936 Olympics is a really, really interesting story, but it's way too long to include it here, so I'll have to make a separate episode about that. Anyway, Lewis ran in the 5,000 meter race. That's over three miles. He didn't win a medal, but something incredible happened right towards the end of his race. During his final lap, he ran faster than anyone else on the track and his speed caught Adolf Hitler's attention, who asked to meet him after the race. Lewis's running career was just getting started and many people believed he would win a medal in the next Olympics. But. But as we have learned, history had something very different planned, didn't it? World War II began and Lewis joined the United States Army Air Force. He became a Bombardier on a B24 bomber plane. These were very large planes that were hard to Handle in the air. His job was extremely dangerous. He flew over the vast Pacific Ocean, where missions could be long and filled with risk. One day in 1943, Lewis and his crew were sent out on a rescue mission. They were about 800 miles south of Hawaii when their plane began to experience mechanical problems. And then one of the motors died. Soon after, the second motor stopped, and the plane crashed violently into the water and exploded into fire. The crash was absolutely terrible. Tangled in wires and equipment, Lewis could not get free of the wreckage. Suddenly, something smacked his head. And as Lewis slipped into unconsciousness, his last thought was, I'm dead. God help me. Well, miraculously, Lewis regained consciousness and was able to battle his way out of the plane wreckage as it sank to the ocean floor. Out of the entire crew, only three men survived, and Lewis was one of them. The men found themselves floating on a small life raft in the middle of the ocean. No land in sight, no help anywhere. Days passed. Soon it was a week, and then weeks passed. The sun was hot during the day and the nights were cold. They had very little food and water, and sometimes they would catch rainwater to drink. Sometimes they managed to catch a small fish or even birds that landed on the raft. Twice they caught a small shark to eat. There was no way to cook it, you guys. They actually just had to eat it the way it was raw. At one point, sharks circled beneath them, brushing against the raft. Can you just imagine how scary that must have been? Lewis and the others drifted at Sea for 47 days. 47 days. That's almost seven weeks, you guys. Can you imagine that? One of the men did not survive, but Lewis and the other crew member held on. They encouraged each other and they refused to give up. Finally, land appeared on the horizon, but their rescue did not come the way they hoped. They had drifted into territory controlled by the Japanese military, and they were captured and taken as prisoners of war. Hey, guys, I'm going to take a quick break right here in the middle of our story about Louis Zamperini to give a shout out to a recent podcast reviewer, Caroline, who says this about the podcast show. My name is Caroline. I love Real Cool History for Kids. My favorite ones are about World War II. I love to listen to it when I go to school and when I come back from school. Thank you, Caroline, for the kind words and thank you so much for listening to Real Cool History for Kids. I'm so happy and honored to be part of your day, Caroline. This episode is made possible in part by our wonderful Patreon members. If you would like to continue the learning experience with this episode. I invite you to follow the link in the episode information to find out more. I've been working on building the library of resources to go along with these stories, and I'd love for you to check them out. Also, be sure to stick around because I'll be sharing some birthday shout outs at the end of this episode. All right, let's get back to our story about Louis Zamperini. After their capture, Louis was sent to a prison camp where he was treated very, very harshly. He was often hungry and tired and forced to do very difficult, heavy labor. One guard in particular was especially cruel and and seemed to target Lewis again and again. Even in these terrible conditions, Lewis refused to give up. He held on to hope. He remembered who he was. He remembered the strength he had built as a runner. And he pushed through the pain and the exhaustion. And now he used that same determination to survive. There were moments when everything felt absolutely hopeless, you guys, Moments when giving up might have just seemed so much easier. But Lewis kept going. He endured until the war finally ended in 1945. After the war, Lewis returned home. But his story didn't end there. The things he had gone through were very hard to process. You know, that type of trauma is extremely difficult to heal from. He struggled with anger and he struggled with fear and the painful memories of what had happened to him. For a long time, it felt like the war had followed him home, like. Like it lived inside of him. Then something changed for Lewis. He heard a message, a message about forgiveness and faith in Jesus. And he realized that holding on to anger was hurting him. So he made the choice to forgive the people who had treated him so badly. That was not an easy thing to do, but it changed his life. Lewis found peace, and he began to move forward. And years later, he even returned to Japan, not for revenge, but to offer forgiveness. His life became a powerful example. Endurance and courage, and the kind of strength that can only come from faith in Jesus. We have learned from many, many of our history stories that often being courageous means choosing to keep going even when things are very hard and we have no idea how things will turn out. Lewis showed courage when he ran in the Olympics. He showed courage when he survived in the ocean after they crashed. He showed courage when he endured those terrible prison camps. But one of the greatest kinds of courage he showed was choosing to forgive. You guys, I know from experience that when we choose to forgive, when we choose to let go of the right to be angry and bitter because somebody has done something terrible to us, you know what happens? We unlock our own prison door and we walk out. But when we choose to not forgive, when we choose to stay locked inside of a prison of unforgiveness, it leads to bitterness. Hebrews 12:15 talks about bitterness. It calls it a poisonous root. My dad used to say, not forgiving is like drinking poison and expecting it to kill the other person. The biggest and the most important reason to forgive, you guys is because Jesus forgives us. The Bible reminds us in Ephesians 4:32 to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as God forgave us. Lewis's story gives us a powerful example of what it means to never give up. You know, while I was creating this podcast, a section of verses from the Bible just kept coming back to my mind. So I want to read those to you. It's Hebrews 12:1 3, and this is what it says. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross, disregarded its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross. Isn't that just amazing? What was the joy? What was the joy that awaited him? You guys, how about this one? How about a relationship with everyone who chose to have him as their savior? How about the joy of bringing the lost to the throne of God? That's what was awaiting him. So he endured it. Now, before we go, I want to say a very, very special thank you again to Asher and Corbin and Titus for requesting this episode, because I had never really understood the entire story of this man that I made this podcast about. And I really, really enjoyed learning more about him. So thank you guys. And now it's time for this episode's birthday shout outs. Happy birthday to Broderick engel, who turned 7 on May 2. Happy birthday to Millie Brown, who turned 6 on May 2. Happy birthday to Eli Strand, who turned 10 on May 2. Happy birthday to Maddox Allison, who turned 7 on May 3. Happy birthday to Olivia Potts, who is 5 years old today on May 4. And happy birthday to Jackson Potts, who is also 5 on today's date, May 4. Happy birthday, you guys. Happy birthday to Clementine shealy, who turns 9 today on May 4th. Happy birthday to Maddox Jones, who is turning 16 on May 5th. Happy birthday to David Jennings, who is turning 10 on May 6th. Happy birthday to Jude Welsh, who is turning 13 on May 7th. Happy birthday to Julia Burke, who is turning 144 on May 8th. Happy birthday to Thomas Singer, who is turning 7 on May 14th. Happy birthday to Steel Jones, who is turning 2 on May 17th. And happy birthday to Myla Carlin, who is turning 7 on May 18th. Happy birthday to all of you from the Real Cool History for Kids family. I hope you all have enjoyed this adventure in history today. Thank you so much for allowing me to tell you the incredible stories of history that teach us all about our world and, well, give us a glimpse of our great and mighty God. I'll meet you all here soon for our next episode of Real Cool History for Kids. Until then, with the help and grace of Jesus our savior, be the best you ever.