Lewes family has unique "Unbroken" connection

A local family has a strong – and unexpected – connection to a best-selling book and upcoming movie, Unbroken.

It's the story of Louis “Louie” Zamperini – an Olympic athlete – who was shot down on a search-and- rescue mission during World War II. He and one other crew member, pilot Russell Phillips, survived 47 days at sea and more than two years in terrible conditions as prisoners of war in Japan.

But, there is another chapter to his story that is chronicled in the book and at the beginning of the movie that involves the Douglas family of Lewes. And it caught Tom Douglas and his wife, Gloria, completely off guard.

Tom's father, C.K. Douglas, was a crew member with Zamperini on the B-24 named Superman, and had it not been for his heroics during a March 25, 1943 bombing mission over the South Pacific island of Nauru, history would have been much different.

Superman crew members were shot up badly with all gunners – including C.K. Douglas – getting wounded. At one time, six Japanese Zeros surrounded the plane as it attempted to head back to base.

Even though they were wounded, gunners managed to fight back and down all but two of the Japanese planes. Gunner Stanley Pillsbury managed to shoot down one of the last Zeros as it moved in for the kill on the U.S. crew.

Then it was Douglas who was able to pull himself up to a side gun and shoot down the last remaining Zero, helping to save the lives of those on Superman.

The book recounts his exploits: “The last Zero came from below, then faltered and failed. Clarence Douglas, standing at the waist gun with his thigh, chest and shoulder torn open, brought it down.”

Douglas was so badly wounded that he spent months in the hospital and was unable to return to active duty. He was awarded a Purple Heart at his bedside in a Samoa hospital before he was shipped back to the United States for more recuperation time. He also received the Air Medal with oak-leaf clusters.

Tom said he was not aware of his father's heroics until his sister sent him a copy of the book “Unbroken: A World War Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand. “I told her I didn't have time to read a long book, but she told me I had to read this one,” Tom said.

It didn't take long before he realized that one of the first chapters was about his father. “I knew nothing about this; he never talked about the war,” Tom said. “He would tell us some of the funny things that happened but that's about it.”

He said his father did talk about his friendship with Zamperini, but he was probably not aware of what happened to Zamperini after he left the unit to go stateside.

“He told me a few of the funny things that happened, but he never spoke about any of this,” Tom said.

A generational connection

And the connection goes on. In an unlikely twist, the Douglas' son, Stephen, was chosen to play the part of his grandfather in the movie. The decision to hire Stephen – who works in the film industry but is not an actor – came down to director Angelina Jolie. “She really liked the family connection,” Tom said.

It was Tom who dreamed up the idea of his son playing his father in the movie. He made some phone calls, sent a few emails and provided old photographs from his father's scrapbook to the movie's producers. “It was funny, because one producer called us and said there was no way he would be in the movie,” Tom said.

Not long after that phone call, Tom and Gloria received another telephone call asking for a photograph of their son. Then without an audition, he was hired to play the part of his grandfather.

“They were walking out on a limb,” Stephen said.

Stephen spent most of January in Australia filming scenes inside a mock up of the B-24 Superman.

As his grandfather, Stephen dressed the part and was able to reenact the events of 71 years ago when his grandfather helped save the day. “It was powerful and eye-opening to me,” Stephen said. “I know he didn't talk about this; it was like a shadow in his life.”

Stephen, 26, spent most of last week in New York City attending private screenings and parties. He will walk the red carpet Dec. 15 at the Hollywood premiere of the film.

“This was really not real to me for a long time,” he said. “Even when I got off the plane in Australia it was not real.”

But it didn't take long before the realization set in that he was on the set of a major Hollywood production. He and nine other actors portraying Superman crew members spent days preparing before any filming occurred. “We became familiar with the plane and really jelled like a real crew. We spent a lot of time with a military advisor and armorist who taught us how to properly load and shoot the weapons.”

Stephen, who lives in New York City, is a Pratt Institute graduate. Over the past four years, he has worked in a variety of jobs behind the camera on the movie Tower Heist and several TV shows, including Survivor, The X-Factor, Breaking Amish and Be Good Johnny Weir.

“He never intended to be in front of the camera,” his father said.

Douglas even had a chance to meet Brad Pitt when Pitt brought their children to visit his wife, Jolie, on the movie set.

The movie premieres locally on Thursday, Dec. 25. “I'll be there waiting for the credits,” Gloria said with a smile.

Zamperini survives unspeakable torture

It was a miracle that Superman landed safely on the tiny island of Funafuti in the South Pacific. The plane was splattered with nearly 600 bullet holes, five cannon holes, the right tail was shot off and the left tire was flattened. Seven members of the 10-man crew were seriously wounded; the radioman died.

With pilot Phillips, Zamperini and a new crew were sent out in another B-24, the Green Hornet, to search for a downed plane in the Pacific Ocean. Superman was still undergoing repairs when they left the base in May 1943. The plane – called a lemon by other crews – crashed 800 miles south of Oahu, Hawaii because of mechanical failure; eight of the 11 crew members were killed.

After capture, Zamperini endured unspeakable torture and pain at the hands of some of the most sadistic prison guards in the worst camps. He suffered daily beatings, food deprivation, humiliation tactics, forced beatings by other POWs and even medical experiments.

Later in his life, he attempted to reach out to those who tortured him in acts of forgiveness. Zamperini died at the age of 97 this past July in Los Angeles.

• Louis Zamperini was invited to a personal meeting with Adolf Hitler, who was impressed with his running in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

• C.K. Douglas was born on Feb. 10, 1920, and grew up in the small town of Kinsdale, Va. After graduation, he moved to Baltimore, Md., to work for Westinghouse Corp. At the age of 22, he was drafted in 1942 and eventually was based in Hawaii as a member of the 112th Army Air Corps. He was honorably discharged in September 1945. He died at the age of 73 in 1993. He married Suzanne in 1943 and the couple had two children, Tom and Lynn.

• Unbroken – on the New York Times' Best Sellers List for 180 weeks – took Laura Hillenbrand seven years to write. Hillenbrand also wrote the best-seller, “Sea Biscuit,” which was also hit movie.