Unbroken is the name of the book about his life. It was a best seller and made into a movie. Harrowing read.
That actually makes my point that POWs from WWII were not recognized as heroes. He's being recognized 70 years after his POW experience, in a different era with different sensibilities.
We learned about Audie Murphy, Jimmy Doolittle, Paul Tibbets and a long list of famous generals and admirals during the first decade or so after the WWII ended.