Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - The Man Who Survived 47 Days on a Raft Has a Lesson for Every Investor

Episode Date: July 5, 2026

Every market downturn will test you. Not your strategy, not your portfolio — you. And the investors who come out the other side aren't the ones who had the best picks going in. They're the ones who learned how to take a hit, stay in the game, and get smarter because of it. Motley Fool's Tom Gardner sits down with Louis Zamperini — World War II survivor, Olympic runner, and the man whose story inspired the bestselling book Unbroken — to talk about why the people who overcome the most become the hardest to beat, and why the moment everything in your portfolio drops 50 percent is actually the most important moment of your investing life. Host: Tom Gardner Guest: Louis Zamperini Producers: Bart Shannon, Lauren Budabin Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every time you overcome an adversity, and I tell the kids this, every time you overcome an adversity, you become more hardy. So don't think of adversity as bad. If it's there and you've got to face it, overcome it, and you become more hardy and more hardy. That was Louis Zamperini, decorated war hero and subject of the best-selling book and movie, Unbroken. I'm Motley Fool producer Bart Shannon. Motley Fool CEO and co-founder Tom Gardner interviewed Zamperini back in 2011. They spoke about Zamperini's World War II service, leadership, athletics, mentoring young men, optimism, and so much more. Zamperini died in 2014 and leaves an incredible legacy. Hope you enjoy.

Mr. Zamperini, thank you very much for taking time today. Well, here I am. It's a real pleasure. So I have about eight questions for you. And the first question that I wanted to ask you is, I think of you having been put in a number of incredible leadership roles through tremendous, tremendous crisis. And I was wondering if you would talk a little bit about the role that some of these things played in your survival and in your leadership through crisis. I think it is on the head survival. I think the greatest survival course you can take is Eagle Scout. You go to everything. And when you hear about people climbing Mount Hood, OK, every year, two or three guys die up there and they're called experienced climbers. Well, that doesn't mean anything. Have they had survival training? That's the main thing in any outdoor activity. Then that woman last month that hiked up on Baldy,

oh, we're not worried she's an experienced hiker. Well, has she had survival training? She didn't. They found her dead. And so the first thing about survival is, you know, always do things in pairs. So in case something happens, you can send for help, like that 127 hours where a guy cut his arm off, right? Exactly.

Yeah, well, I didn't see the movie, but people saw it, so yes, they emphasized the fact that you should have somebody with you. Now, we had an attorney on a big case in L.A., a big, big case, I think like O.J., and he lived in Ojai, and he went hiking up Sesame Creek alone. He didn't show up for the trial, and somebody found him two weeks later laying in a stream. So what he did, he fell and hit his head against a rock and knocked him out, and his face was in the water. You don't dare go anywhere in the wilderness, even local mountains, without somebody with you.

This is absolutely essential, and that's what I really trust our kids on. Take as many survival courses as you can. Now, in Hawaii, there are 27,000 servicemen, and they had a special at a university on survival in the South Pacific. Out of the 27,000, 15 of us showed up. But what I learned there came in handy on the life raft. So survival training, if it's going to be on the sea, I would take it survival training on both land and sea, and then you're pretty well covered.

How much do you think your survival was supported by just your sense of optimism in life? Well, you know, when you have survival training, you have no doubts about yourself. You have no doubts about surviving. You have a positive mind about living through it. You never think about death. Now, people ask me, did you ever think about dying on the raft? I said, no, I was too busy staying alive. And not only did I have a lot of survival training,

but when you're in an unknown place like the South Pacific out on the raft, you invent, because of your survival training, you're able to invent new methods of survival as you go along. In other words, how to cast the fish. Well, when I ran out of the proper hooks for fish, I took the bigger hooks that tied one to my little finger, index finger, and my thumb. When the shark came by with the pile of fish, I would reach in and grab the pile of fish,

and of course, it hardly tried to get away, the brother of the hoax dug out. Okay, that's not in the books, but because of your survival training, you invent things that go along. Your mind is active, and you're able to create new methods of doing things. Do you think that your sense of ingenuity and your survival instincts were made stronger by your pursuit of mastery as a runner in high school? Yeah, anything comes in handy where you have to persevere. And in running, first of all, you learn how to train. And you don't break your training, you don't dissipate, so you develop that sense of accomplishment.

And if you're going to do anything, you've got to go for it all the way. If you're going to be an attorney, you shouldn't be haphazard. You should go all the way, study everything you can to be the best. And so in survival, yeah, I taught survival on both land and sea, glacier climbing. And I have skied glaciers in New Zealand and climbed 14,000-foot glacier in Wyoming and climbed it again two days later and skied it. So the rangers there, 1957, I never heard of anybody skiing that glacier. But I only did that because I had a lot of survival training,

and I know exactly how to live in the snow out at Digger Snow Cave. Now, digging a snow cave is not enough, so I take one of these. They call them the water runner dishes. They give you a little packet, a little plastic coat, and you put that on the kids' dues so they don't get wet. Well, those things are so lightweight. It's a few ounces, and I keep one of those in my backpack. and then if I'm up on the mountain and a blizzard comes in I can just dig a snow cave

that keeps the chill factor off you but it doesn't prevent your body from throwing away heat but what you do you put this plastic little thing over your body and then you get in the snow cave now the heat that's dissipating hits the plastic and goes back in your body now why these guys don't do that I've been preaching it for years and I have about 30 or 40 of those packets. And I keep one in the car. I went to New York to get an award. It was a black tire fair. We had to walk two blocks to the Ellis Island Ferry. And I had one of those in my suitcase. And everybody's out there walking in the rain. I put that on. I'm the only guy that got there dry. So that's survival on a small scale, but it's still survival. And people should

But really, especially in this world today, with everything that's happening, earthquakes and typhoons and tsunamis, everybody should take a survival course, both on land and sea. Now, in your experience in the Japanese POW camps, you face something that is a million times worse than the average person will ever face in their life. And yet all of us have our days of reckoning and all of us suffer. And I'm wondering what advice you would have for anyone who's going through a period of suffering in their life well that's when there's nothing you can do about it you have to grit and bear it that's all you can do and uh and the fact that we all have an inward desire to live uh that's probably the strongest thing that's gonna keep you going but some guys

do give up we've had guys turncoat and try to escape knowing that if they escaped they would line up officers and shoot every other one so escape was it was not a real possibility without harming other members of the of the group the best thing is an example okay i got a letter yesterday and uh this guy it's a nurse wrote me a letter and this guy is on dialysis three hours at a time and he just wanted just to give up this you know this is really bugging me and i guess i wanted to give up on it he read my book okay unbroker and so i got the letter yesterday the nurse said it said he said to me if that guy's that pretty can spend 47 days on a raft i can handle my three hours of dialysis when i get

letters like that five or ten a day of people who use your story as an example of perseverance you got to persevere and and overcome adversity every time you overcome an adversity i tell the kids with every time you overcome an adversity you become more hardy so don't think of the adversity as a bad if it's there and you've got to face it overcome it and you become more hardy and more hardy so my generation i don't like to term the greatest generation we were the hardy generation and because we had nothing but obstacles adversities we had to forage for food running out of money. We had to go out and shoot rabbits. They have rabbits caught here, Tori. Have you go down to the beach and bring home abalone, which was the poor man's food in those

days. Now it's $100 a pound. So we learned a lot during the depression years, in the early days, and I think that's what made us so hardy, so we were able to survive and live to a ripe old age. When WestJet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s,

one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us, and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. Can you remember the moment when you turned from being a teenager that was getting into trouble with a very mischievous nature and maybe little petty crimes

to being a young man who was pursuing mastery as a runner? Oh, yeah, because you see, the main thing is recognition. As a kid, I had no interest except gang-related interest. If someone had taken me aside and taught me how to play tennis, basketball, soccer, or everything else. And when you're standing around up in the zoo, you say, oh, let's go play soccer. Let's do this, play tennis.

But I had no interest, and I got no recognition. And I got my recognition by stealing things. Not that my name's in the paper. The fact that it says Miner's Pie Shop rated again, that's recognition to me without my name. And so that's what I do on my camp program. I take kids out of the youth authority. I take them up in the stairs.

I always keep my eyes open for a kid that is ignored and shunned, and I give him all my attention and bring him into the fold, you might say. Otherwise, the kid's going to suffer. He could ruin the camp program. Well, I know from experience. Now, the first recognition I got was my first race. I didn't care if I won or lost. I'm coming down the homestretch,

And all of a sudden, the kids from my school in the unit, they are screaming, come on, Louie, come on. And I thought, my God, I didn't know anybody knew my name. And boy, I did the first I could. I passed a guy, came in third. But that started me on a whole new road in life, and that was becoming a runner. So my brother said, you want to keep on being a bum all your life, or you want to accomplish something? And he said, you got a lot of recognition in the race today. You've got to make up your mind.

Before I fell asleep, I said, okay, Pete, I'm going all out. So I quit chasing around smoking and stealing liquor from the bootleggers, and I became a fanatic trainer. I was just the opposite. And so within the year, I booked a state record in the 1320. The next year, I booked the Ivis Elastic or Wolves record in the mile in high school. And I was still a junior. and then I beat all the college runners as a junior in high school.

So that's how my life changed by you've got to get something that you can put your heart into and go for it. It's just a stunning example of what happens when you get recognition and you have something that you can build toward. The change from not being a runner at all to beating college runners and setting a national standard for the mile in such a short period of time is just such an incredible example of the power of recognition. Yeah, once you go for it, you've got to throw your heart into it.

But when Laura Hillenbrand got the idea from my book, she was doing research on Seabiscuit back in the 30s, and she kept seeing my picture on the same page. A couple of runners, well, I used to lay on the grass at the Coliseum, and they would stop football and get in a track match when he ran. I'd lay there and listen to his race and run mine the same way. And then she saw an article on the same page where, The Los Angeles Times called our coach, Dean Cromwell, and said,

Louie hasn't lost a mile race for five years. If he loses this year, who do you think will beat him? And the coach said, me, Biscuit. So she thought, I've got to call this guy. So that's how it started, and then we became real close friends. Then also about 40 years ago, I quit going to movies because I wanted, once I got a taste of accomplishment. The first accomplishment was a runner.

Then I wanted to be everything I could be. I took typing, and I hated stuff like that, but I took it. It was an accomplishment. It helped me through college. And then I took up other sports. But then about 40 years ago, I quit going to movies. I decided to become as many things as I could. So I become 84 different things as a profession or licensed in or an expert in.

So I've been everything. I've been a deputy sheriff under Biscolou. I've been a lifeguard under Red Cross, a ski instructor, and you name it. I've been 84 different things. And listen, that all happened with crowd testing. As a kid, I had no accomplishments. Now I got 84 things to my credit. And I tell you, I can look back and start reminiscing on those things,

and it just trills my heart to think that I had done that. But I had to quit going to movies to do it. What is one of the 84 things that is most surprising even to you that you've mastered? One thing I like a lot. Now, I just spent some time with Robert Duvall, and twice we met last week for hours and hours, and we're like a couple old cowboys. I often like to be alone because when you're an athlete, as John and Avery will testify, people are always around you, and I love the West, the old West.

In fact, I still have my saddle downstairs. And so I wanted to become a real cowboy, so I worked on the Vanderhoof Ranch every summer and then the Willis Ranch in White Salmon, Oregon. And I tell you, getting out there alone, riding the fence on a good horse and searching for a lost cow and then patching the fence up,

it takes all day long. You leave early in the morning, come home at night. and I'm around people all the time so much that was a real treat for me to get off alone and just meditate and think of the past and make plans for the future. A lot of us like to see the forces of evil defeated and we like to see the bad guys suffer and when we read your book and your life story, Mutsuhiro Watanabe is obviously such a dark force and yet your perspective on him is transformed through your life. And I just would like to hear you speak a little bit about that so that those of us who face something dark in our lives might actually take a different

perspective on it. Well, yeah, when I came home, I was so filled with rage over the bird. After what he did to me over a period of a couple of years, I was trying to make money so I could go back there, secretly seek him out and do him in. I really wanted to do that. So I had probably the worst case of vendetta you ever heard of, and yet, after receiving Christ, it was just the opposite. I wanted to go back and give the guy a hug and tell him I forgave him. I did go back. I went into Flegamo Prison, 850 war criminals, and the colonel asked the men that knew me to come forward,

and I looked for the bird. It wasn't there. And I said, well, we believe he committed harakiri, So I assumed he was dead until CBS found him just before the Nagano Winter Olympics. And then they sent me over there twice to do a video, not only carrying the torch alongside of my former slave labor camp, but to meet the bird. And then they started to do a 60 Minutes on him, accused him of all these crimes. His son and grandson were standing there, and boy, they didn't like it. and they didn't know he had committed those crimes, and they said, no more of this,

so they could never get back to him again, but they did a video that won an Emmy Award, and that shows him the only footage ever taken of Watanabe is in that video. When you find someone like that, to restore him back into fellowship with God. What are a few things that you want to achieve now and add to the list of 84 forms of mastery that you've gathered up in your life? What accomplishments are you pursuing now?

I gave up skateboarding on my 81st birthday, and I gave up skiing on my 91st. But I'm so active now speaking. I'm a motivational speaker, and I speak at universities. I just spoke at USC last week to 300 athletes. and then I do a lecturing aboard the cruise liners and the idea is to motivate people to

work hard for their collaboration and not just giving away their life because when you work hard and appreciate your work you're getting the benefit the benefit of we'll say the white corpuscles putting your immune system you just don't get sick

and by the way when you're working hard for your company you keep them solvent And so it's a good idea for people to have both things in their mind. You work good for your own benefit, and you work good for your company. So you both benefit from it. Then doing good. When you do good, you feel good, right? If you feed a guy on the street or you buy somebody a meal that's a homeless portion, you feel good.

And that feeling is your immune system being flooded with white corpuscles. So that's the secret of longevity, and that's the secret of my life. and people say, well, how can you help with a great memory at your age? Well, that's one thing that helps. The other thing is memorizing. I memorize the great passages from the scriptures and other things I think could be pertinent in my work with young people. Memorizing, you're under intense concentration

and that keeps you from going senile and becoming a scatterbrain. I suspect that you feel that things happen for a reason in life. Yeah, I do. I accept anything that happens for your own benefit. But if things are going to happen, why cry over it? Why fight over it? The thing is to accept everything and do the best you can with it and use it as a learning tool because we're always learning.

And every time we overcome a hardship, we're not only becoming more hardy, but it's a learning tool. The more hardships you go through, the more you learn. And that's why our generation, not the greatest generation, the hardy generation, because that's all we did was overcome, overcome. And I tell young people, when you have a problem, think of it this way. When you overcome that problem and lick it, you're a better person. You're more hardy. You'd be surprised if kids take that up.

I'm never going to give up again. And I get all these letters from the book, and I always sign it in my name with Be Hardy, Louie Zamparini. You know, Louis, I don't know how much you know about our company, The Motley Fool, but we teach people how to save and invest. And when I talk to young people about it, I tell them that the best thing you can do is actually to make your first investment. And actually the best result you can get from your first investment is that it doesn't succeed for you because you will end up learning why rather than congratulating yourself for your good fortune out of the gate. And that lesson of accepting failure and difficulty as a challenge an opportunity to learn and improve yourself

is uh is just such a great lesson and uh i genuinely mean that i could sit and talk with you for the next three hours but i don't want to take any any more of your time but but uh this has been a thrilling moment for me in my life to be able to uh yeah well spend this half last statement you made it it's great that is great you know when you uh teach overcoming uh yeah that that's fantastic. That's in your company policy, huh? Yes, it is. I mean, when you invest, you are going to definitely have periods of time like we had a few years ago where everything goes down 50% in value. And that's either the time that you cry in your soup and give up or that you double down, try and learn more and get smarter because of it.

That's good. That's beautiful. I like it. Louie, I'll tell you, this has been a real thrill for me. And I'm going to send you a Motley Fool baseball cap. Great. Hey there, thanks a lot. It was sure nice talking to you. Thank you very much. As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against.

So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes. I'm Bart Shannon, and we will see you tomorrow.