When the Zamperini’s received the message:
“Sylvia, who like everyone else assumed Louie had crashed in the ocean, told her mother not to worry. “With all those islands,” Sylvia said, “he’s teaching someone hula.” Pete arrived. “If he has a toothbrush and a pocket knife and he hits land,” he said, “he’ll make it.” Louise found the snapshot taken the day Louie left, when he’d stood beside her on her front steps, his arm around her waist. On the back, she wrote, Louis Reported missing—May 27, 1943.”