World War II veteran, POW, and Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was one of America’s greatest heroes. He also was a well-known evangelist.

Zamperini’s story of overcoming the odds is being told through Pure Flix’s new movie, “Unbroken: Path to Redemption,” which is the squeal to Angelina Jolie’s hit 2014 film “Unbroken”. The sequel dives much deeper into his conversion to Christianity.

Zamperini’s son, Luke Zamperini, appeared on PureFlix.com’s “Pure Talk” this week to share details of his late father’s death-defying journey.

“My dad’s story is full of great stories,” Zamperini said, going on to summarize the major benchmarks of his dad’s life. “Punk kid makes it into sports, athlete makes it to the Olympics, Olympian joins the military, soldier crashes at sea and survives for 47 days, famous American athlete picked up by Japanese and put into a prison camp.”

The new movie will show Zamperini’s journey after he arrived home from the war. He suffered from PTSD symptoms and turned to alcohol to cope. He later accepted Jesus at a Billy Graham revival and experienced an incredible life transformation.

“My father was having these tremendously horrible dreams,” Luke Zamperini explained. “He was self-medicating with alcohol, he was getting in fights. He didn’t know where to turn.”

Louis Zamperini’s wife, Cynthia, had threatened divorce due to the alcoholism. She got invited to a revival meeting in downtown Los Angeles and Louis refused to attend. Cynthia came away from that Billy Graham event with a renewed perspective on life, and told Louis she wouldn’t divorce him on one condition: he needed attend a Billy Graham revival meeting with her.

After his first time going, Louis left flustered and told his wife “don’t ever take me to a place like that again”. Cynthia convinced him to try one more time, and something finally clicked.

Luke Zamperini said that his dad had an instant flashback to his 47 days stranded at sea on a raft, recalling how he had made a promise to God, praying, “God, if you get me home from this alive I will seek you and serve you my entire life.”

“He just walked down to the stage, accepts Jesus,” Zamperini said of his dad. “He felt this great weight lifted off his shoulders.”

Zamperini left alcohol behind and went on to forgive the Japanese prison guards who had abused and tortured him.

The former Olympian and war hero devoted the rest of his life to spreading the Christian faith and helping youths, dying in 2014 at the age of 97.