0:09

It's the afternoon of May Twenty Seventh,

0:11

Nineteen Forty three. In the skies above

0:13

the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles south

0:15

of Hawaii, Louise and Perrine stands on

0:17

the flight deck of an American Be

0:19

Twenty Four Bomb. Louis is a twenty

0:22

six year old lieutenant in the Us

0:24

Army Air Forces, and while the pilot

0:26

and copilot fly a plane, Louis carefully

0:28

scams the waves the head with a

0:30

pair of binoculars yesterday and aircraft from

0:33

Louis Squadron set out from there air

0:35

and white bound for Can't On in

0:37

China. but it never. Arrived so today

0:39

Louise bombers one of the to that's

0:41

been sent out on a search and

0:44

rescue missions, scouring the ocean for any

0:46

sign of the missing plane or it's

0:48

crew. though he lowers his binoculars, has

0:50

metallic rattle shudder through the plane. Looking

0:53

out the window, Louis sees that one

0:55

of the bombers four engines is shaking

0:57

violently on it's mounting than the propeller

1:00

blades. Doctor Louis grips the metal walls

1:02

of the flight deck to steady himself

1:04

while the copilot urgently stamps and switches

1:06

on the console. But then. A

1:09

second engine stops working. Pilot and

1:11

copilot struggle to control the plane

1:13

but they can't stop it. Getting

1:15

to the left and the bomber

1:17

begin spiraling into a die pilots

1:19

face turns pale and he shouted

1:21

louis to get to his crash

1:23

stations are going down fights that

1:25

g forces of the tomboy plane

1:27

clamorous have of the cockpit and

1:29

into the waste of the bomb.

1:31

Five other crew and are already

1:33

in their seats as really takes

1:35

his designate it's out of the

1:37

window beside him. Sky spins

1:39

around faster and faster. Can't see

1:41

the ocean. He knows it can't

1:44

be far below. But then a

1:46

strange sense of com come to.

1:48

Louis knows that this is his

1:51

moment to die. When.

1:57

The Be Twenty four bomber hits the

1:59

ocean surface. eight of the men on

2:02

board or killed instantly. Louise.

2:04

And Perrine is not one of them, though. Somehow.

2:07

He and two other survive, but the

2:09

plane crashes just the beginning. Louis and

2:11

the others may injured and stranded in

2:13

the Pacific, but it will be another

2:15

two years of suffering The follows: after

2:18

their bomber tumbled either the sky on

2:20

May Twenty seventh, Nineteen, Forty three. American.

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transplants. From

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Noise or an airship? I'm Lindsey

3:32

Graham and. History

3:50

is made every day. On

3:52

this podcast every day we tell the

3:54

true stories of the people and events

3:56

that shaped our world. Today is May

3:58

Twenty seventh, Nineteen forties. Three a

4:00

Be Twenty four True survivor begins

4:03

of for survival. It's.

4:08

July Twelfth, Nineteen, Thirty Six at

4:10

Randalls Island Stadium in New York.

4:12

Seven years before Louise and Perrine

4:14

bomber crashes into the Pacific Ocean.

4:17

Nineteen. Year old Louis takes his mark

4:19

on the running track, leaning forward slightly and

4:21

waits for the crack of the starters pistol.

4:24

When the sound ricocheted around the Arena, Louis

4:26

allow several front runners to sprint past him

4:29

into the lead. Even. Though only

4:31

the top three finishers would qualify to

4:33

the American Olympic teams luis content to

4:35

run in the past of more than

4:37

a dozen other athletes. Despite

4:39

lining up shoulder to shoulder with America

4:41

as fast as five thousand meter runners,

4:43

Louis wasn't a natural last week. Growing

4:45

up a high spirited child, Louis was

4:47

encouraged to join the school track team

4:50

by his older brother to help keep

4:52

amount of trust. And. It

4:54

worth. Louis got into shape and

4:56

began to set high school and and college

4:58

records. Even so, at today's trial,

5:00

Louis is up against the country's top

5:02

runners and he isn't expected gain a

5:04

spot on the Us. Olympic team. With

5:07

New York is sweltering in a heatwave

5:09

and that plays to lose. Advanced. Louise

5:12

Favorite race is the fifteen hundred meters

5:14

so he's decided to save himself for

5:16

that and take this longer event at

5:19

a manageable pace for the pre race

5:21

favorites or overconfidence and they said are

5:23

sprinting too quickly. After several last the

5:25

intense heat begins to take it's toll.

5:28

They begin to slow and in the

5:30

final two lasts the fresher Louis is

5:32

able to step up his taste and

5:34

quickly close the gap on the front

5:36

runners. By the final straight,

5:39

only one man stands between Louis

5:41

and Victories. They. Match each other

5:43

stride for stride, their legs and arms pumping

5:45

as they sprint over the finish line. The.

5:48

Time Sievers stopwatches can't separate Louis from

5:50

the other runners, so the officials record

5:52

the race result as a dead heat.

5:55

Was. Who wins doesn't actually matter. What's.

5:58

More important is that both men. Qualifying

6:00

for the Us Olympic teams and are headed

6:02

to the games and Germany. The.

6:05

Following months at the Berlin Olympics, Louis

6:07

again crosses the line at the exact

6:10

same time as an opponent during his

6:12

five thousand meter heat. This time though,

6:14

officials can examine footage of the race

6:16

and place Louis fists just ahead of

6:18

an Italian runner. But it's

6:20

a crucial intervention since it's only the

6:23

top five finishers in the heat who

6:25

progress to the Olympic size. In the

6:27

gold medal race, Louis replicates his race

6:29

strategy from the American trusts he start

6:31

slowly running at a manageable case until

6:33

he goes all out for the final

6:36

few laps. Louise last last

6:38

is easily the quickest have any athlete

6:40

in the race, and he thrills the

6:42

crowd by overtaking several competitors as though

6:44

they're standing still. But the best runners

6:46

and the world are still too far

6:48

ahead, and Louise last lap exploits aren't

6:50

enough to earn a metal. He finishes

6:53

the race in eighth place. But.

6:55

Louis Sas finished catches the attention of the

6:57

guest of honor and the Olympic Stadium. After

7:00

cleaning himself up, Louis wanders the stance with

7:02

a camera to suit a few photos for

7:04

his family and friends back home. Coming.

7:07

Close to the boss used by

7:09

visiting dignitaries Louis Sparse, Germany's leader

7:11

Adolf Hitler. Since taking power

7:14

three years ago, Hitler has brutally

7:16

suppressed his political opponents and his

7:18

aggressive posturing has fomented Top of

7:20

War and Your. Louis. Fundamentally

7:22

disagree with Hitler's extreme you geologists, but

7:24

he can't of getting a thrill from

7:26

being so close to one of the

7:28

world's most notorious figures. When.

7:31

Louis spots a sharp face man

7:33

entering Hitler's box. He doesn't recognize

7:35

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and

7:37

thinks nothing of beckoning the man

7:39

over. Louis. Holsters camera out the

7:41

girls and asks him to take a photo

7:44

of Hitler. wasn't. Louise. American

7:46

team tracksuit marks amount as competitor

7:48

so Goebbels does is Louis? he

7:50

asks. The when he returns a

7:52

few moments later, he brings an unexpected message

7:54

for Louis. Adolf Hitler would like to

7:57

meet him. When. Louis introduces

7:59

himself. the Hitler Hitler Can graduate Louis

8:01

on his fast finish and the five

8:03

thousand meters. The. Two men exchange

8:05

a brief handshake before Louis is assured

8:08

away. This. Interaction with

8:10

Hitler is cordial, but it won't be

8:12

long before Louis is fighting against him.

8:14

The next Olympic games will be canceled

8:17

after Hitler launches a genocidal war of

8:19

aggression and you're all across the world.

8:21

Young men like Louise Amp Arena will

8:23

have to put their ambitions and careers

8:25

on soul and risk their lives in

8:28

the battle against Fascism. It's.

8:43

April Twenty first, Nineteen, forty three

8:45

in the skies over the Pacific

8:47

Ocean. Seven years after losing Perrine

8:49

Raised in the Berlin Olympic Games.

8:51

And ear splitting succession of explosions rattles

8:54

through the Be Twenty four bomber. Superman

8:56

at his post at the front of

8:58

the plane. Louis drops into a crowd,

9:00

has bullets punch a line of holes

9:02

through the seas. Was Louis join the

9:05

Us. Army Air Forces in September? Nineteen

9:07

Forty one was commissioned as a lieutenant.

9:09

Three. Months later, Usa was dragged

9:11

into World War Two by surprise

9:14

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis

9:16

spent months training as a Bombardier before

9:18

he finally flew his first mission in

9:21

December. Nineteen Forty Two. Now in April,

9:23

Nineteen Forty Three, Louis feels like a

9:25

better. A few minutes ago, Louis dropped

9:27

another bomb load over the remote Nauru

9:30

Island deep in the Pacific. But now

9:32

he squandered has come under attack by

9:34

Japanese fighters. Louis. Crawl through

9:36

the Superman to check for damage. The.

9:39

Plane as perforated by bullet holes. The

9:41

right rudder is shot through, Control cables

9:43

have been caught and a hydraulic lines

9:45

have been severed. Spinning that the plane

9:47

has no flaps. Know landing gear. no

9:49

breaks for landing. And the crew

9:51

has sustained damage as well. The. Be

9:53

twenty forced to waste Gunners: it's tail gunner,

9:56

it's top and belly turret gunner have all

9:58

been hit by bullets or sadness. Lewis.

10:00

Has to work patting them up as best

10:02

he can as the planes pilots fight to

10:04

keep control of the the crippled aircraft. Luckily.

10:07

Superman's engines are on damaged in a plane

10:09

is able to remain in the relative safety

10:12

of it's formation into it, makes it back

10:14

to base and want. To

10:16

heavy landing know which inflicts further damage

10:18

on the plane. In the

10:20

aftermath of the mission, the Squadron leader has

10:22

no choice but to pull Superman from service.

10:25

It's men are transferred to an alternate

10:27

plan, but Louis and his crewmates weren't

10:29

happy with the new between before. They're

10:31

given Green Hornet as a poor record

10:34

for reliability. One. Months

10:36

later, on May Twenty seventh, Nineteen, Forty

10:38

three, Green Hornet lives up to it's

10:41

reputation. The plane suffers mechanical problems

10:43

on a search and rescue missions and a

10:45

pilot is forced to do to see killing

10:47

a of the crew. Louis

10:49

survive alongside to others Staff

10:51

Sergeant Francis Mcnamara and First

10:53

Lieutenant Russell Philip. These

10:56

survivors take to a life raft with

10:58

their hopes of rescue are slim. Green

11:00

Hornet went down so quickly that there wasn't

11:02

enough time to send a distress signal. Now.

11:05

The man page and the sun

11:07

aboard a raft helplessly drifting westwards

11:09

towards enemy territory. The three

11:12

airman have no supplies with him, a

11:14

drink rainwater when they can, and eat

11:16

the occasional raw fish or seabird they

11:18

manage to catch. But. It's not

11:20

enough. After. Thirty three

11:22

days at sea, Francis Mcnamara

11:24

dies from exposure and starvation.

11:27

Louis. Russell Phillips role his body

11:29

off the raft into shark infested

11:31

waters. They. See, I won't be

11:33

long before they to succumb. The. Two

11:35

men are starving. But they managed

11:37

to last another twelve days until they

11:40

certainly spot last. It's the

11:42

Japanese occupied Marshall Islands, but after a

11:44

month and assassin seats, Louis and Russell

11:46

are in no state to escape from

11:49

the enemy. They were immediately

11:51

cancer by the Japanese sent to a prisoner

11:53

of War Two. They. Are

11:55

the conditions that Louis and his fellow

11:57

prisoners and dewar are atrocious? Since

12:00

are given by the Japanese are barely

12:02

enough to live on and the cells

12:04

there except in are overcrowded, dirty and

12:06

a haven for disease. Somehow.

12:09

Louis is strong enough to cope with all of

12:11

this. Would. Even he struggles with

12:13

the inhumanity of the Japanese guard. Many.

12:16

Of them seem to take sadistic pleasure and

12:18

beating and for the smallest of in France's.

12:21

Prisoners. Are whipped for merely folding.

12:23

there aren't brushing their teeth, are talking

12:25

in the sleep, And the rules

12:27

seem to change arbitrarily day to day.

12:29

It's as if they're designed as prisoners

12:31

and infractions. All the P O

12:34

W live in a constant state of fear.

12:36

But for Louis it's worse because when the

12:38

Japanese find out that he was an American

12:40

Olympic athlete a make it their mission to

12:43

hurt and humiliate him at every opportunity. Would.

12:45

While Louis and his fellow prisoners are

12:48

tortured behind the walls of their prison,

12:50

the war turns against Japan and it's

12:52

fascist ally, Nazi Germany. By. The

12:54

Fall of Nineteen Forty Five, Adolf Hitler

12:56

will be dead, Japan will have surrendered,

12:59

and the P O W will finally

13:01

be free. Only then will lose and

13:03

Perrine return home to the United States

13:05

more than two years after his plane

13:07

took off on it's doomed last mission

13:09

over the Pacific. American

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September Nineteen, Forty Five and an

14:29

airfield in Okinawa, Japan. More than

14:31

two years after Lewis Amp Arenas

14:33

aircraft's. For the first time

14:35

since his plane ditched in the Pacific Ocean

14:38

blue, he finds himself aboard an aircraft and

14:40

it's another be twenty four. But.

14:42

This one is carrying bombs. It's shuttling

14:44

American servicemen who been liberated from Japanese

14:47

prison camps at the end of World

14:49

War Two. Louis presence in

14:51

a camp came as a surprise to

14:53

American officials. The Japanese authorities never registered

14:55

him with the Red Cross as a

14:58

Prisoner of War. So of

15:00

Us. military had listed him as killed

15:02

in action. Now though, Louis has been

15:04

found alive, he's on his way home

15:06

to his surprise and overjoyed family. The.

15:09

Be Twenty Four carrying Louis and his

15:11

fellow X prisoners opens his throttle and

15:13

speed down the runway. But. The

15:15

plane is so full of men that it struggles to

15:18

make it off the ground. Louis. See

15:20

get of you through the open bomb bay

15:22

doors so he can see the bombers wheels

15:24

bumping along the asphalt. Eventually, the

15:27

plane does get airborne, but barely.

15:29

And as the bomber flies over the

15:31

end of the runway south to see

15:33

the spray from the ways just below

15:35

brings vivid and terrifying memories of the

15:37

crash flooding back to lose. These.

15:40

Are memories he struggles with long after

15:42

his return to America. He

15:44

suffers regular flashbacks of his ordeal at

15:47

sea and in captivity. He starts drinking

15:49

heavily to cope. Louis.

15:51

Gets his life back on track. So thanks

15:53

to the support of his wife and two

15:55

a newfound face and evangelical christianity which leads

15:58

him to eventually for gives his. Actors

16:00

and even travel to Japan to meet

16:02

them becoming a symbol of America and

16:04

Japanese reconciliation after the horrors of war.

16:07

Louisiana for rainy will die in two

16:10

thousand and fourteen at the age of

16:12

ninety seven. What is extraordinary? Life will

16:14

not be forgotten. Five months after his

16:16

death, a movie based on his story

16:18

will be released on broke and will

16:20

recount louis struggle to reach the Olympics

16:22

and even greater battle said awaited after

16:24

his plane crashed into the Pacific on

16:27

May Twenty seventh. Nineteen forties with. Swedish

16:35

may. Two thousand he's and eighteen

16:37

thirty four Media frenzy ignites when

16:39

the sun's to survive in to

16:42

see a woman using the Sisters

16:44

into a time of. From

16:53

Noise Or an Airship This Is

16:55

History Daily Hosted Edited: an executive

16:58

produced by Me When Secret Audio

17:00

editing by Mali both sound design

17:02

by Molly Boss Music by Throw

17:05

This episode is written in research

17:07

risked Risked Williams mention producer Emily

17:09

for Professor William Since and for

17:11

Airship Pascal she was for Noise

17:14

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