Unbroken: Records from Louis Zamperini’s Incredible World War II Story
Unbroken: Records from Louis Zamperini’s Incredible World War II Story
On May 27, 1943, Army Air Force bombardier Louis “Louie” Zamperini’s B-24 airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The former U.S. Olympian survived, only to face months adrift at sea and years as a Japanese POW. His fate unknown in the U.S., Louie was declared dead a year and a day after his plane went down and was “posthumously” awarded a Purple Heart. Miraculously, Zamperini survived and was liberated at the end of the war.
Click here to learn more about this incredible story and other related records.
Zamperini’s Purple Heart medal, courtesy of Laura Hillenbrand; copies of the certificate awarding him the Purple Heart; and a condolence letter from FDR to the Zamperini family were on display in the “Featured Documents” exhibit in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives in Washington, DC, February 5 through March 4, 2015.
Past Featured Records
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Frances Perkins: Champion of Workers’ Rights
Thursday, February 29, 2024 – Monday, April 15, 2024
East Rotunda Gallery“I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten plain common workingmen.” —Frances Perkins
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70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024
East Rotunda GalleryEquity in Education: 70 Years Later
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in... Read more
250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Wednesday, January 31, 2024East Rotunda GalleryThe Destruction of the Tea
It wouldn’t be known as the “Boston Tea Party” for another 50 years, but the destruction... Read more
Diseños: An Impact of Mexican Cession
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
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Celebrating Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong
National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service“I want to be an actress, not a freak.”
Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905,... Read more