Unbroken Chapter 11 Summary

How It All Goes Down

"Nobody's Going to Live Through This"

  • As we predicted, Louie and his crew are put on the Green Hornet and sent on a search mission.
  • Before he leaves, Louie leaves a note on his locker: "If we're not back in a week […] help yourself to the booze" (2.11.5), and he gives a letter for his best friend, Payton Jordan, to a crewman to mail.
  • The Green Hornet sets out with the Daisy Mae, but is such a crappy plane it can't keep up.
  • Just like the Seth Rogen movie of the same name, the Green Hornet bomber fails fast.
  • The engines are burning fuel unequally and quickly fail.
  • They try to save the plane by "feathering" the engines, but that tactic doesn't work—the men prepare to crash.
  • When the plane hits the water, Louie is sucked under.
  • He gets tangled in cords and debris and passes out momentarily.
  • When he wakes up, he's floating inside the fuselage, in water filled with blood, gasoline, and oil.
  • His USC ring catches on something and cuts his finger, but he realizes that he's stuck to the window, which orients him.
  • He kicks away from the sinking plane and bursts out of the water, into the sunlight.
  • "He had survived" (2.11.36).