![]() The video is 11 minutes long and I know you are busy. The pilot, Charlie Brown, is for me, as precious as my brother was. On the 20th of December, 4 days before Christmas, I had the chance to save a B-17 from her destruction, a plane so badly damaged it was a wonder that she was still flying. In 1940, I lost my only brother as a night fighter. ![]() In a book Stigler gave to Brown before he died, he wrote the following inscription. Enemies, then friends and finally, as author Makos (who chronicled their story in the book ' A Higher Call') found out, something more. There was not a dry eye as a video played, showing all the faces of the people now alive because of Stigler's single act - children, grandchildren et al.įranz Stigler and Charles Brown died in 2008, barely months apart at the ages of 92 and 87. They became best friends, going on fishing & road trips, flying cross country to meet each other and telling their stories at schools and veteran reunions.Ĭharles surprised Stigler by organizing a function where Stigler was the guest of honour, the guests consisting of all the surviving members of that plane and their families. The two - and their families - did meet the coming year in Florida in a reunion filled with love and joy. Charles could not wait though, calling up directories in Vancouver till he got the number before breaking down and crying when he heard - for the first time - the voice of the man who chose to save him. Retired and in Vancouver, he was happy to know that Charles had survived and done well in life and hoped to meet him the coming year when he arrived in Florida. In 1990, 47 years after the incident, Charles received a letter from Stigler. But the memory of the German who let him live kept coming back to him and so Charles began searching for him, searching through archives, putting out ads and retelling his story to everyone in hopes of finding him. He would get married, have children and eventually retire. The 21 year old pilot, Charles Brown would fly more missions before the war ended. He escorted the pilot to safety, gave one last nod and then flew away. Instead, he nodded to the scared American pilot and then flew in formation beside him so that German anti-aircraft gunners would not shoot the crippled bomber plane. You fight by rules to keep your humanity."įranz Stigler could not bring himself to go against the warrior's code and murder an unarmed enemy. "Follow the rules of war for you, not your enemy. But for Franz, the words of his commanding officer resonated in his head. Sparing a German enemy during war carried the risk of death. ![]() He then took his fingers off the trigger. Stigler - who had once studied to be a priest and had killed plenty during the war - said a silent prayer. The plane was defenseless and its barely-out-his-teens pilot sat at the cockpit, staring helplessly up at Franz, awaiting his doom. Men huddled within were tending to their wounded crewmen. His hands were on the trigger as he gazed down at his enemy. Below his fighter plane, the damaged American bomber sputtered in the sky, an easy target. He was a kill away from the Knight's Cross, German's highest award for valor. The World War 2 German ace pilot had lost his older brother to war.
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