re: Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie

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Tonelli spent three years with the Fighting Irish varsity, leading Notre Dame to the brink of a national championship in 1938. Following the College All-Star Game in 1939, he received his gold class ring, on the underside of which he had his initials and graduation date ’39engraved.

He wore the ring proudly during a stint as an assistant coach at Providence College in 1939 and one season of pro football with the Chicago Cardinals in 1940.

Bataan death march: With an empty canteen, Tonelli began the 65-mile march near Mariveles, a port on Bataan’s southern tip. Through dust clouds, he spotted artesian wells bubbling with cold spring water, but he dared not stop: The Japanese savagely executed all who strayed from the march. At dusk, the parched prisoners improvised by spreading their shirts on the ground to collect the dew.

‘’When morning came, we’d wring them out for something to drink,’’ Tonelli recalls.

At dawn, cracks of rifle fire echoed throughout the hills. Some guards pumped bullets into those unable to continue; others delivered death with samurai swords.

Japanese tanks often swerved in deliberate attempts to run over wounded GIs lying on litters.

He wears the ringp. Tonelli was reflecting on his relative mortality when approached by a guard plundering the possessions of the weary, sunburned prisoners. He demanded Tonelli’s Notre Dame ring, and Tonelli refused. The guard reached for his sword.

‘’Give it to him,’’ yelled a nearby prisoner. ’’It’s not worth dying for.’’

Reluctantly, Tonelli surrendered the ring. A few minutes later, a Japanese officer appeared.

‘’Did one of my men take something from you?’’ he asked in perfect English.

‘’Yes,’’ Tonelli replied. ‘’My school ring.’’

‘’Here,’’ said the officer, pressing the ring into Tonelli’s callused, grimy hand. ‘’Hide it somewhere. You may not get it back next time.’’

The act left Tonelli speechless. ‘’I was educated in America,’’ the officer explained. ‘’At the University of Southern California. I know a little about the famous Notre Dame football team. In fact, I watched you beat USC in 1937. I know how much this ring means to you, so I wanted to get it back to you.’’

The surreal encounter ended, and the gridiron and battlefield rivals headed their separate ways.

‘’I always thought that someday he’d try to look me up,‘’ Tonelli says. ’’I guess he probably didn’t make it through the war.’’

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If you're comparing guards at POW camps then its not even a contest. The Japanese were far far worse than the Germans.

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