A Higher Call: The Incredible True Story of Heroism and Chivalry During the Second World War

Product Information

a b McConnell, Richard A. (2014). "A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II". Air Power History. 61 (3): 55.

Neely, Darren (2021). Pictorial History of the US 3rd Armored Division in World War Two. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Military. pp.viii. ISBN 978-1-5267-7551-1. Many years after the end of the war, both Brown and Stigler wondered what had become of one another. Neither knew the other's name, yet neither had forgotten that strange encounter in the skies over Germany. Eventually they would have their reunion and become brothers not of shared blood, but of shared life. Notably, though fifty years had passed since the end of WWII, once this story became public, Franz Stigler began receiving hate mail, presumably from Germans who felt that he should have blown Charlie and his crew out of the sky. I guess hatred is in no danger of becoming extinct any time soon. Four days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a 21-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II. Adam Makos was brought up on the outskirts of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. [1] He completed his early education from Montoursville Area High School. [2] At the age of 15 years, while in high school, he started to write military history and was one of the founding members of Ghost Wings, a forerunner to Valor, a magazine depicting veterans' stories. [3] [4] He was a member of the school's French club and was signed up for a trip to Paris until opting to go to Walt Disney World with his family. [2] The clubs flight to Paris was the fatal TWA Flight 800, which has been a major life changing event for him. [3] In 2003 he graduated from Lycoming College. [3] [5] Career [ edit ] It is often said that ‘war is hell’—and it is—however, this story reveals how the human spirit can shine in the darkest hours.”—Colonel Charles McGee, Tuskegee Airman, WWII

For me, the book served to confirm what I already knew: not every German was a callous killer, and wearing the gray for many was not a matter of choice. German fighter pilots in particular had a code of conduct that forbade gunning down enemy flyers descending in parachutes and on a number of occasions rescued Allied POWs from SS troops and angry civilian captors. I think this is an uplifting read, demonstrating that even in the horror and wastefulness of war there are still men who can see past flags and uniforms and pardon a defenseless enemy he could easily kill. I'll leave you with the words of the famous Ace Gerd Barkhorn who, when asked why he had encouraged a terrified Russian pilot to bail out of a doomed aircraft, answered: "Bubi, you must remember that one day that Russian pilot was the baby son of a beautiful Russian girl. He has his right to life and love the same as we do," (P.314)

Do the two men meet years later to discuss that amazing day? For that, you’ll have to read the story. Meanwhile, Franz Stigler was in need of one more bomber on his victory list to qualify for the coveted Knight’s Cross. But when he caught up with Charlie’s plane, he could see it was missing most of a rudder, and through the numerous holes, he could see the injured crew members trying to patch each other up. For some reason, Franz decided to let the injured bomber go. He didn’t shoot—in fact, he escorted it through a flak zone.A Higher Call is a story about chivalry; it tells the story about Franz Stigler, a German fighter ace of the Luftwaffe pilot who flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109, and Charlie Brown, a 21-year-old American pilot of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress named 'Ye Olde Pub'. On 20 December 1943, following a bombing mission over Germany, the severely damaged American aircraft was approached by Stigler whilst attempting to fly to England from Berlin. Stigler's duty was to destroy the American aircraft, but after seeing the wounded crew, instead flew in formation and guided it away from Germany after failing to persuade it to surrender. The book begins with Makos's account of his own experiences, research and how he interviewed the two veterans more than 50 years after the incident and after they had reunited in the 1980s. [7] In his experience this is one of several similar stories. [8] He explains in the first chapter that before meeting Brown, he would never have interviewed or written about a German fighter pilot. It is followed by the story of Stigler's early life, training in flying and Stigler's account of post-war Germany. It also covers how Stigler went from surveying flight routes for Luft Hansa to training pilots for the Luftwaffe, including his brother August, who experienced a fatal crash. [7] Devotion: an epic story of heroism, friendship and sacrifice. Atlantic Books. 2015. ISBN 9780593722336.

Franz was credited with 28 confirmed victories and over thirty probables. He flew 487 combat missions, was wounded four times, and was shot down seventeen times, four by enemy fighters, four by ground fire, and nine times by gunners on American bombers. He bailed out six times and rode his damaged aircraft down eleven times. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.” Starting with an encounter between a badly shot up B-17 and an ace German fighter pilot on Christmas Eve of 1943, the author tells the story of the pilots of the 2 airplanes. In telling the story he also tells a little of his own growth in researching that story. A Higher Call is mostly the story of Franz Stigler, an ace WWII German fighter pilot who came upon a heavily damaged and helpless American B-17 bomber struggling to return to England. Stigler could have easily shot the bomber down, but instead he escorted them past an anti-aircraft battery and flew along side them for a while out over the North Sea. Stigler knew he would be court-martialed if anyone found out what he had done. For years he wondered if the bomber had made it home safely and he wondered, "Was it worth it?". It took 46 years for Stigler to find out that the bomber did return home safely and to finally meet the American bomber pilot, Charlie Brown.

Success!

I obviously had multiple problems with this book. Had it not been written and presented as a true story, but rather as a non-fiction novel ala Capote's "In Cold Blood", I would have had less of a problem. The purple prose recalling minute details of events, scenarios and conversations that supposedly were recalled from memory 50 or 60 years before was just too far beyond credibility. Admittedly, it is an interesting World War II story from a perspective we rarely get. However, throughout, I was getting the impression that it was the view of a revisionist. It was hard anywhere in the story to find a Nazi, a Nazi supporter or a Nazi sympathizer unless you got up to Goering's level. Apparently no one knew about Kristallnacht or the ensuing holocaust and the extermination of millions, except one comment by a German flier that the Nazi's treatment of the Jews "pisses me off."