Deceased Indiana teacher featured in 'Unbroken'
Joseph S. Pete | The Times of Munster
LAPORTE, Ind. — A LaPorte schoolteacher couldn't stomach chicken ever again, but that was one of the few telltale signs that suggested what he had endured.
The late Russell Allen Phillips, a World War II pilot and longtime LaPorte resident, spent nearly two months eating raw albatrosses and seagulls that happened to land on a tiny life raft that was besieged by sharks, battered by a typhoon, and nearly sunk by a Zero plane's strafing machine gun.
Phillips, who was an educator in LaPorte for decades before dying in , and bombardier Louis Zamperini, survived a number of combat missions, including one where nearly rounds riddled their plane.
After a crash, they spent 47 days adrift in the ocean on a life raft with tail gunner Francis McNamara, who died on the 33rd day. After drifting more than 2, miles and washing up on the Marshall Islands, Phillips and Zamperini were captured by the Japanese and imprisoned for two years. Phillips withered down to around 80 pounds.
"He met (his wife) Cecy in Terre Haute before the war and they became engaged before he went off," longtime fam
Unbroken: History vs. Hollywood
That's all you do in a raft. I don't care if you're an atheist or what you are. When you reach the end of your rope and you've got nowhere else to turn, your atheism isn't going to help you. You're going to turn and look up. And so that's all we did on the raft was pray morning, noon and night. -Louis Zamperini, CBN Interview
Questioning the Story:
Did Louis really start running track to avoid getting into trouble?
Yes. The Unbroken true story reveals that, like in the movie, the real Louis Zamperini had a knack for getting into trouble when he was growing up. Some of his early antics included jumping from the caboose of a train when his family was on their way to California. He also had a penchant for stealing and fighting. He started smoking at age five, picking up discarded cigarette butts while walking to kindergarten. He began drinking when he was eight, hiding under the dinner table sipping glasses of wine. -Unbroken book
His brother Pete thought that getting Louis involved in the high school track team would be a good way for him to embrace something other than mischief. "Pete told me I had to quit drinking and smok
Stories of Survival: Louis Zamperini and Russell Allen Phillips
47 DAYS ON THE OPEN OCEAN
On Thursday September 20th, , the Daily Times-Tribune of Alexandria, Indiana — beneath a photo of the hulking wreckage of the Mitsubishi factory destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki — announced to friends and family that First Lt. Russell Allen Phillips’ horrific ordeal had finally ended. What began as a simple search and rescue mission in the Pacific became a day fight for survival and subsequent imprisonment in two of Japan’s worst camps.
“WHAT BEGAN AS A SIMPLE SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION IN THE PACIFIC BECAME A DAY FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL AND SUBSEQUENT IMPRISONMENT IN TWO OF JAPAN’S WORST CAMPS.”
Like the newspaper article for Russell Allen Phillips, the war passed quietly into history. Years later, his daughter would remark that her father was a quiet, modest man who didn’t talk much about his experiences in the war. Others, like Kesling Middle School Social Studies teacher Robert Burns, had no idea that the man in the science classroom next door had spent nearly two months adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with little food and nearly no water. For over a decade, Mr
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Phil, Louie&#;s closest friend both during and after World War II, is pretty much left as such through out Unbroken, but what is his story? Who is Russell Allen Phillips beyond a companion to Louie?
Pre-War
August 1, marked the beginning Phil&#;s life. Seeing that Phil didn&#;t start to go by that name until the military, as he moved from city to city in Indiana as a child, he went by &#;Allen&#;. Also growing up Phil&#;s household was extremely religious.
In Phil graduated from LaPorte High School, and finished all forms of school in While attending Purdue, Phil&#;s parents moved to Terre Haute which just happened to be where Cecile &#;Cecy&#; Perry had recently moved to with her family. Introduced by Phil&#;s younger sister, the two quickly fell for each other.
~MB
Air Corps
After Purdue, Phil decided to join the air corps despite his &#;unimpressive ROTC record&#;(Mike McCormick 1). He quickly discovered that he had a natural talent with planes. In November , Phil was sent out for active duty. Being separated from Cecy proved something to Phil, he needed to marry this on May 1, , Cecy&#;s 21st birthday, he told her just that and sent her a check to
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