Unbroken Preface Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • It's June 1943, and Louie Zamperini and two other crewmen are on a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
  • It must be Shark Week because they are surrounded by toothy beasts from the deep.
  • A plane flies overhead, so Zamperini fires off a flare and shakes some orange dye (a packet of Tang?) into the ocean.
  • Unfortunately, the plane is not there to rescue them—it's a Japanese plane, and it opens fire.
  • They have to hide under the raft, deciding to take their chances with sharks instead of bullets.