Louie stood strong and fought back and never gave in no matter how bad it got. His tormenter, the "Bird", followed Louie from camp to camp it seemed. Just when it seemed that he was gone, he would be there again. He fought back by never giving up. That's why he is everyone's hero today. If my life was to ever end up in the hands of the enemies, I can only hope that I have the courage to fight like Louie did. .
Louie the gold medalist turned officer in the Army Air Force had to learn survival skill's get him through forty seven days of being stranded at sea, while sharks swam around and under his raft. The sharks also jumped out of the water and tried to land in the raft with him and his three fellow soldiers. He also survived the hunger and thirst pains that almost surely killed him. But yet the movie sugar coted this part of Louis story due to the fact that they didn't believe that the audience watching would not want to know how bad it actually had gotten out in the ocean. It actually had gotten so bad that McNamara had died and that they had to give him a burial at sea. Louis and Phillips had salt sores all over their bodies and their lips had sunken so far back into their faces that they were part of their nose and chins. They were dehydrated and starving to death. At the end of day forty seven they were captured by the enemies, a Japanese boat. If my life was to ever end up in the hands of the enemies, I can only hope that I have the courage to fight like Louie did. .
Once captured by the Japanese, it had been determined that Louie and Phillips, had actually lost half of their body weight. For the first three days, not seen on film, they were initially treated quite well by their Japanese captors, since they were worth more alive than dead (Harris, 2014, browbeat). They were then taken to Kwajalein Island, also known as Execution Island. They were barely fed and held in separate cells.
