Read Online Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand - Free Book Online
Authors: Laura Hillenbrand
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Asians, whom it saw as inherently inferior. “There are superior and inferior races in the world,” said the Japanese politician Nakajima Chikuhei in 1940, “and it is the sacred duty of the leading race to lead and enlighten the inferior ones.” The Japanese, he continued, are “the sole superior race of the world.” Moved by necessity and destiny, Japan’s leaders planned to “plant the blood of the Yamato [Japanese] race” on their neighboring nations’ soil. They were going to subjugate al of the Far East.
Japan’s military-dominated government had long been preparing for its quest. Over decades, it had crafted a muscular, technological y sophisticated army and navy, and through a military-run school system that relentlessly and violently dril ed children on the nation’s imperial destiny, it had shaped its people for war. Final y, through intense indoctrination, beatings, and desensitization, its army cultivated and celebrated extreme brutality in its soldiers.
“Imbuing violence with holy meaning,” wrote the historian Iris Chang, “the Japanese imperial army made violence a cultural imperative every bit as powerful as that which propel ed Europeans during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.” Chang cited a 1933 speech by a Japanese general:
“Every single bul et must be charged with the Imperial Way, and the end of every bayonet must have National Virtue burnt into it.” In 1931, Japan tested the waters, invading the Chinese province of Manchuria and setting up a fiercely oppressive puppet state. This was only the beginning.
In the late 1930s, both Germany and Japan were ready to move. It was Japan that struck first, in 1937, sending its armies smashing into the rest of China. Two years later, Hitler invaded Poland. America, long isolationist, found itself pul ed into both conflicts: In Europe, its al ies lay in Hitler’s path; in the Pacific, its longtime al y China was being ravaged by the Japanese, and its territories of Hawaii, Wake, Guam, and Midway, as wel as its commonwealth of the Philippines, were threatened. The world was fal ing into catastrophe.
On a dark day in April 1940, Louie returned to his bungalow to find the USC campus buzzing. Hitler had unleashed his blitzkrieg across Europe, his Soviet al ies had fol owed, and the continent had exploded into total war. Finland, which was set to host the summer Games, was reeling. Helsinki’s Olympic stadium was partial y col apsed, toppled by Soviet bombs. Gunnar Höckert, who had beaten Louie and won gold for Finland in the 5,000 in Berlin, was dead, kil ed defending his homeland.* The Olympics had been canceled.
——
Louie was unmoored. He became il , first with food poisoning, then with pleurisy. His speed abandoned him, and he lost race after race. When USC’s spring semester ended, he col ected his class ring and left campus. He was a few credits short of a degree, but he had al of 1941 to make them up. He took a job as a welder at the Lockheed Air Corporation and mourned his lost Olympics.
As Louie worked through the summer of ’40, America slid toward war. In Europe, Hitler had driven the British and their al ies into the sea at Dunkirk. In the Pacific, Japan was tearing through China and moving into Indochina. In an effort to stop Japan, President Franklin Roosevelt imposed ever-increasing embargoes on matériel, such as scrap metal and aviation fuel. In the coming months, he would declare an oil embargo, freeze Japanese assets in America, and final y declare a total trade embargo. Japan pushed on.
Lockheed was on a war footing, punching out aircraft for the Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force. From the hangar where he worked, Louie could see P-38 fighters cruising overhead. Ever since his trip in the air as a boy, he’d been uneasy about planes, but watching the P-38s, he felt a pul . He was stil feeling it in September when Congress enacted a draft bil . Those who enlisted prior to being drafted could choose
Japan’s military-dominated government had long been preparing for its quest. Over decades, it had crafted a muscular, technological y sophisticated army and navy, and through a military-run school system that relentlessly and violently dril ed children on the nation’s imperial destiny, it had shaped its people for war. Final y, through intense indoctrination, beatings, and desensitization, its army cultivated and celebrated extreme brutality in its soldiers.
“Imbuing violence with holy meaning,” wrote the historian Iris Chang, “the Japanese imperial army made violence a cultural imperative every bit as powerful as that which propel ed Europeans during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.” Chang cited a 1933 speech by a Japanese general:
“Every single bul et must be charged with the Imperial Way, and the end of every bayonet must have National Virtue burnt into it.” In 1931, Japan tested the waters, invading the Chinese province of Manchuria and setting up a fiercely oppressive puppet state. This was only the beginning.
In the late 1930s, both Germany and Japan were ready to move. It was Japan that struck first, in 1937, sending its armies smashing into the rest of China. Two years later, Hitler invaded Poland. America, long isolationist, found itself pul ed into both conflicts: In Europe, its al ies lay in Hitler’s path; in the Pacific, its longtime al y China was being ravaged by the Japanese, and its territories of Hawaii, Wake, Guam, and Midway, as wel as its commonwealth of the Philippines, were threatened. The world was fal ing into catastrophe.
On a dark day in April 1940, Louie returned to his bungalow to find the USC campus buzzing. Hitler had unleashed his blitzkrieg across Europe, his Soviet al ies had fol owed, and the continent had exploded into total war. Finland, which was set to host the summer Games, was reeling. Helsinki’s Olympic stadium was partial y col apsed, toppled by Soviet bombs. Gunnar Höckert, who had beaten Louie and won gold for Finland in the 5,000 in Berlin, was dead, kil ed defending his homeland.* The Olympics had been canceled.
——
Louie was unmoored. He became il , first with food poisoning, then with pleurisy. His speed abandoned him, and he lost race after race. When USC’s spring semester ended, he col ected his class ring and left campus. He was a few credits short of a degree, but he had al of 1941 to make them up. He took a job as a welder at the Lockheed Air Corporation and mourned his lost Olympics.
As Louie worked through the summer of ’40, America slid toward war. In Europe, Hitler had driven the British and their al ies into the sea at Dunkirk. In the Pacific, Japan was tearing through China and moving into Indochina. In an effort to stop Japan, President Franklin Roosevelt imposed ever-increasing embargoes on matériel, such as scrap metal and aviation fuel. In the coming months, he would declare an oil embargo, freeze Japanese assets in America, and final y declare a total trade embargo. Japan pushed on.
Lockheed was on a war footing, punching out aircraft for the Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force. From the hangar where he worked, Louie could see P-38 fighters cruising overhead. Ever since his trip in the air as a boy, he’d been uneasy about planes, but watching the P-38s, he felt a pul . He was stil feeling it in September when Congress enacted a draft bil . Those who enlisted prior to being drafted could choose
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