A LaPorte schoolteacher couldnt stomach chicken ever again, but that was one of the few telltale signs that suggested what he had endured. The late Russell Allen Phillips, a World War II pilot and longtime LaPorte resident, spent nearly two months eating raw albatrosses and seagulls that happened to land on a tiny life raft that was besieged by sharks, battered by a typhoon, and nearly sunk by a Zero planes strafing machine gun. Phillips, who was an educator in LaPorte for decades before dying in 1998, and bombardier Louis Zamperini, survived a number of combat missions, including one where nearly 600 rounds riddled their plane.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 13:58:16 +0000