Louis Zamperini's Life During WWII

WWII has been one of the most memorable events in history, but beneath all of it are the deprived POWS and the confined Japanese-American internees. Louis Zamperini before he was stationed as a bombardier on a B-24 was a olympic runner. Louie had been captured by the Japanese after his B-24 crashed in the ocean and was marooned on a raft with two of his friends. Miné Okubo is a American with Japanese heritage and has a talent for making art. She was going to college for an art degree until she was forced to be in an internment camp. Louie and Miné have felt dehumanization and isolation while they have been treated inadequately both by the Japanese and the Americans. Japanese-American internees and Prisoners of War (POWS) were forced
One source of Louie’s invisibility came from the Japanese guards. They felt no resistance from torturing the captives. “Everyday at gunpoint, Louie was forced to dance while his guards roared with laughter.” (Hillenbrand 140). Louie has no right to fight back from the guards, because then he wasn’t strong enough and he could be shot. Furthermore, even though Miné wasn’t captured in the war she still felt invisible in the internment camp. “My family name was reduced to No. 13660. I was given several tags bearing the family number, and was then dismissed” (Okubo, 19). The guards gave Miné and her family a number so they can organize them better. This makes Miné feel degraded. Also, Louie had felt invisibility when his food is almost uneditable, meanwhile the guards have prime quality food. “The food was infested with rat droppings, maggots, and so much sand and gravel that Louie’s teeth were soon pitted, chipped, and cracked.” (Hilbrand, 149). Even though the food was crummy Louie had to cherish it because that was all he had to survive on. The effect of all the pain and embarrassment the guards did to the internees made them feel the way the wanted them to feel,
POWs tried to things to boost their spirits from the depression and disease of the camps. “Louie knew what would happen if he won, but the cheering aroused his disease. His eyes opened to the sight of the sky, ringed in his friends’ faces. It had been worth it.” (Hilderbart 155). Louie had a chance to beat a Japanese runner in a race. He knew that it would make the other captives feel joy and happiness for a while. Secondly, , Miné felt that she needed to do something other than to sit there all day so she used her talent and did something creative. “...Miné wanted to document what was happening inside the camps. She put her artistic talent to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences.” (The Life of Miné Okubo, 5). Miné was happy that she can make something that she loves and can symbolize something in the outside world. Finally, one strict rule that was against POWs was that they can’t talk to each other so they had to improvise how to communicate each other. “At night, if the guards stepped away from the cells, the whole barracks would start tapping out morse code. Outside in daytime, Louie and the others whispered code-”tit” for “dot” and “da” for “dash,”...(Hillenbrand, 154). Their gesture proved to be effective against the guards. Even though the guards were very vigorous on POWs and internees there were still many possible ways