Unbroken: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

At the beginning of the war, most downed American Air Force planes were lost due to accidents rather than combat. Most of the time, mechanical failures in the planes themselves were the reason for accidents. But bad weather, human error, and the challenges of navigation also accounted for some of the losses.

If crewmen survived a crash into the Pacific, the U.S. Air Force would search for them for thirteen months before giving them up for dead. Although the military was dedicated to finding survivors, the chances of actually seeing anyone on a tiny life-raft in the middle of the Pacific was highly unlikely. Sharks, starvation, and crash wounds all contributed to the unlikelihood of staying alive on a raft long enough to be rescued.

Above all else, the airmen fear capture by the Japanese after a crash. Word of the Japanese atrocities had swept through the U.S. military barracks, including reports about the six-week killing frenzy known as the “Rape of Nanking” where Japanese soldiers murdered between 200,000 and 430,000 Chinese civilians in the city of Nanking. The men also heard stories of Japanese soldiers torturing and executing American prisoners of war.

To cope with the possibility of death, Louie learns survival techniques in case he finds himself stranded on a desert island. But, like most airmen, Louie turns to drinking to repress his fear of dying.