Unbroken

An upbeat Kwajalein man visited Louie outside his cell, and they discussed sports. He told Louie that all of the POWs that were in Kwajalein in the past had been executed. Louie suffered from a severed case of diarrhea, and he begged for water. In reply to his requests, the guard threw scalding hot water in his face at least four times. The singing voices that Louie had heard earlier on the raft returned, and he prayed intently. The treatment from the guards was abominable. The prisoners were beaten, yelled at, and suffered fierce humiliation: “The guards used the captives to impress each other with their cruelty” (182). Both Phil and Louie were interrogated on plane models and American war strategy. Both men deliberately lied, drawing an imaginary radar system so not to divulge any information.

A kindly new guard named Kawamura spoke a little bit of English. He asked Louie if he was Christian, and when Louie replied “Yes,” he smiled and said that he was too. Kawamura brought paper and a pencil to his guard post and drew pictures of objects for which he wanted to learn the English words. When Kawamura was away for two days, malicious guards took his place.