You may have heard of Olympian Louis Zamperini who served in WW2, survived as a prisoner of war, and later on became a preacher, another great story, I watched a true movie about him a few weeks ago, he was bullied when he was a young boy, and he started to get into fights, he got good at them, his older brother then encouraged him to take up athletics, to stay out of trouble, he trained hard and became one of the best track runners, he competed in the Olympics was it? or it might have been a qualifier for the Olympics, and while he was running to qualify for the Olympics, his opponents would kick him in his shins, and he still managed to win, he then later went on to compete in the Berlin Olympics, he didn't do so great there, but his final lap was very fast, i believe it was record breaking, he was well recognized for his last lap, then WW2 came, he went to serve with the American Armed Forces, he was on a war mission somewhere out in the pacific, flying in one of those troop carrier warplanes, he and his fellow soldiers onboard then crashed into the ocean, only he and 2 other members of the American army survived the crash into the ocean, they spent many many days out on the ocean on a life raft, and lived of birds and fish and rainwater, they were battling for survival, trying to find land, Louis Zamperini stuck out in the middle of the ocean made a promise to God, that if God got him through that moment alive, he would serve God for the rest of his days, after a number of days one of his mates died on that inflatable life raft, but Louis Zamperini and the other guy found dry land after 47 days in the ocean, only to arrive in the wrong island, the Japanese occupied Marshall Islands. The Japanese then questioned them about the rest of the Allies, and what were they up to, they were both unable to provide answers, because they were lost in the ocean for so many days, because they were lost for so long, it had been announced in the US, that Louis Zamperini was dead, but he wasn't. Both Zamperini and his mate then went through severe torture, they were treated horribly by the Japanese captors, they were feeded crumbs, and they were sent to a pow camp, Louis then met the cruel Japanese general nicknamed "The Bird", he was beaten many times with a bat, and punched many times, and he would just keep on going after his eyes were blackened and he was all bruised, he would not stop, the Allies were then coming to Marshall Islands and Louis Zamperini and the other war prisoners were sent to Japan, they were then made to slave away loading coal on barges, if they didn't they would be executed, and Louis was pushed of a ramp and broke his ankle, he then struggled to do the task, and the general grabbed him, and made him lift up a heavy wooden railway sleeper, struggling to lift it up, he managed to lift it over his head, and held it there for a long time, losing strength after a while, he manages to find the strength to lift it up higher again, he then looks "The Bird" in the eye, and he was ordered not to look him in the eye, he refused to listen, "The Bird" the Japanese gen, them came over to him with his bat, and starts beating him, Louis falls down to the ground, but he doesn't die. Louis then got an opportunity to be freed in Japan, by going on radio, but part of the condition was he had to say something he did not want to say about his own country the USA, something dishonorable, he refused to say it, and he was sent back to the concentration camp. He and his mate and the other prisoners of war who survived the horrible treatment went on to make it to the end of WW2, the Japanese surrendered, and the Allies came to rescue them. Louis Zamperini suffered from PTSD after WW2, and had nightmares of his Japanese captors, and he wanted to kill them badly, his wife then attended a Billy Graham crusade and she got saved, and told Louis all about it, and she wanted him to come to a Billy Graham crusade, he reluctantly went with her, and Louis Zamperini, was reminded of the promise he made to God, while he was stuck out in the ocean for 47 days, he then forgave what his Japanese captors had done to him and he went on to become a preacher. Years later, he returned to Japan to meet up with his captors, the ones who treated him cruelly, and told all the ones he could find that he forgave them, he then led a number of them to Jesus, during the Tokyo olympics, he requested to meet up with "The Bird", but the war criminal Japanese general refused. Zamperini then went on to run with the Olympic torch when he was 80, he went to be with the Lord years later.