Unbroken_ A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand [198]
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There are several people to whom I owe special thanks. My brother John Hillenbrand, a longtime private pilot, reviewed the aircraft and flying sections of my book with an extraordinarily careful eye and helped me understand the arcane details of aeronautics. My sister, Susan Avallon, read and reread the manuscript, offered invariably brilliant suggestions, and talked me through the places that had me stumped. Susan and John, I am so lucky to be your little sister. I also thank EQUUS magazine editor Laurie Prinz and my old Kenyon friend Chris Toft, who read my manuscript and gave me insightful suggestions.
The author of the beautifully written Finish Forty and Home: The Untold Story of B-24s in the Pacific, Phil Scearce, knows the world of the AAF’s Pacific airmen better than any other historian. As I wrote this book, Phil was singularly generous, sharing his voluminous research, directing me to sources, and helping me sort through many a quandary. I am forever in his debt.
I have great gratitude for B-29 navigator and former POW Raymond “Hap” Halloran. As I wrote this book, Hap became my almost daily email correspondent, offering me research help, sharing his photographs, telling of his experiences, sending gifts to cheer my sister’s children after their father’s death, and simply being my friend. Very few human beings have seen humanity’s dark side as Hap has, and yet he is ever buoyant, ever forgiving. Hap’s resilient heart is my inspiration.
From the beginning of this project, I worked with two translators in Japan. They did so much more for me than mere translation, teaching me about their culture, helping me to understand the war from the Japanese perspective, and offering their thoughts on my manuscript. Because the war remains a highly controversial issue in Japan, they have asked me not to identify them, but I will never forget what they have done for me and for this book.
If I had a firstborn, I’d owe it to my editor, Jennifer Hershey. Jennifer was infinitely kind and infinitely patient, offering inspired suggestions on my manuscript, making countless accommodations for my poor health, and ushering me from first draft to last. I also thank my spectacularly talented agent, Tina Bennett, who guides me through authordom with a sure and supportive hand, and my former editor, Jon Karp, who saw the promise in this story from the beginning. Thanks also to Tina’s assistant, Svetlana Katz, and Jennifer’s assistant Courtney Moran.
In the many moments in which I was unsure if I could bring this book to a happy completion, my husband, Borden, was there to cheer me on. He spent long hours at our kitchen table, poring over my manuscript and making it stronger, and, when illness shrank my world to the upper floor of our house, filled that little world with joy. Thank you, Borden, for your boundless affection, for your wisdom, for your faith in me, and for always bringing me sandwiches.
Finally, I wish to remember the millions of Allied servicemen and prisoners of war who lived the story of the Second World War. Many of these men never came home; many others returned bearing emotional and physical scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they sacrificed, for the good of humanity. It is to them that this book is dedicated.
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Laura Hillenbrand
May 2010
NOTES
All letters to or from Louis Zamperini, or to or from his family members, as well as diaries, are from the papers of Louis Zamperini, except where noted otherwise.
All letters between Phillips family members, as well as Kelsey Phillips’s unpublished memoir “A Life Story,” are from the papers of Karen Loomis.