CBN News recently published a list of “5 Must-See Christian Movies Coming Out This Fall,” and three of those five share a military theme.
Two have already been discussed: Unbroken: Path to Redemption (Sep 14) picks up the story of Louis Zamperini where Unbroken left off. Indivisible (Oct 26) will chronicle the true story of US Army Chaplain Darren Turner.
The third is God Bless the Broken Road (Sep 7), which follows Read more
Angelina Jolie made Louis Zamperini famous with the movie Unbroken, which, while a good movie, left a major portion of Zamperini’s life to roll in the credits: his post-war descent into anger and alcohol, and his salvation at a Billy Graham crusade that became the path forward in his life.
A new movie out this fall aims to finish that story:
The Billy Graham Evangelical Association previously filled in those blanks with a documentary. The USAFA Class of 2018 chose Zamperini as Read more
For the past few years each class at the US Air Force Academy has chosen an “exemplar,” a program USAFA describes as an opportunity for the class to
honor and identify with a past military giant, alive or dead.
This year, the USAFA Class of 2020 chose Bob Hoover.
Among other stories,
1st Lt. Robert Hoover, a former Army Air Corps, Air Force and civilian test pilot…of Nashville, Tennessee, was taken captive by the Germans after being shot-down by the Luftwaffe over France during World War II. He spent 16 months in Stalag Luft I, a German POW camp, before sneaking into a German FW-190 aircraft and flying to Holland. It was his fourth attempt to escape the prison.
Though officially Read more
In a relatively recent tradition, each class of US Air Force Academy cadets since 2000 has chosen an “exemplar” representing the character and fortitude to which they would like to aspire. Exemplars have included airpower giants like Mitchell and Doolittle, famous fighter pilots like Olds, and Major David Brodeur, USAFA Class of 1999, who was killed in Afghanistan.
The USAFA Class of 2018 recently chose as its exemplar Capt Louis Zamperini, Army Air Corps bombardier, POW, and outspoken Christian:
Cadet 3rd Class J. Benson Anderson, Jr., an Exemplar Committee official, said Zamperini was selected because he demonstrated the character and conviction the Class of 2018 strives to maintain.
“His loyalty in Read more
Update: Franklin Graham describes the faith of Louis Zamperini here. Notably:
He found a Bible that had been issued by the air corps and began reading.
Seems some documented good came from the US military issuing Bibles during World War II.
Unbroken, the Laura Hillenbrand biography on Louis Zamperini (which made the 2012 CSAF Reading List), has been made into an Angelina Jolie-directed movie to be released on Christmas day.
A small controversy is brewing over the movie’s admitted generalization of “faith,” despite the importance of the Christian faith to Zamperini’s life story. Ultimately, this should be little surprise, given that the book Unbroken (reviewed here) similarly spent very little time on the topic — while Zamperini himself devoted a substantial portion of his autobiography, Devil at My Heels (reviewed here), to his conversion and faith experience.
Christianity Today columnist Alissa Wilkinson noted Unbroken seems to lack the “redemption” from its “Survival. Resilience. Redemption.” tagline (the same conclusion reached here about the book). Without knowing the actual story, one might think Zamperini’s inspiring story was one of self: Read more
Louis Zamperini was an Olympian in 1936, went on to become a B-24 bombardier, and would eventually become famous for surviving 47 days afloat in the Pacific Ocean — followed by two years in Japanese POW camps.
Zamperini died last Thursday, July 3rd, at the age of 97.
Zamperini wrote a book about his experiences entitled Devil at My Heels, which was reviewed here. Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote Seabiscuit and heard about Zamperini during her research, wrote another biography entitled Unbroken (reviewed here), which Read more
For the second year in a row, the biography of a military Christian has made the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s official “Reading List.” Last year, it was Unbroken, the story of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic athlete turned bombardier turned POW — a man who eventually became a Christian and returned to meet his former torturers.
This year, General Mark Welsh’s first list contains Lee Ellis’ Leading with Honor, previously reviewed here. The Air Force write up says
How did American military leaders in the brutal POW camps Read more
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Norton Schwartz, recently published his 2012 reading list, part of the CSAF Professional Reading Program.
In the first quarter, one of the featured books is the biography of a Christian, Unbroken.
As noted in a separate review (here), Unbroken is the biography of Louis Zamperini, a World War II B-24 bombardier who also wrote an autobiography entitled Devil at My Heels (reviewed here). Unbroken focused on “survival and resilience,” leaving the “redemption” part of its subtitle to just the last few pages. Redemption, of course, came in the form of Zamperini accepting Christ at a Billy Graham crusade in 1949, his Read more