{"id":1614,"date":"2013-06-01T02:56:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T09:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2013-06-23T16:58:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T23:58:44","slug":"one-mans-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/?p=1614","title":{"rendered":"One Mans Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

“And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner,”<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exodus 17:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[I received the following inspiring <\/strong><\/span>World War II <\/strong><\/span>story too late for <\/strong><\/span>America’s observance of Armed Forces Day on May 18, 2013.]<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The lives of American Soldiers<\/span> flying a United States Army Air Forces B-17 Bomber over Germany were in grave danger as the German Luftwaffe pilot in his Messerschmitt Fighter closed on the crippled Flying Fortress.\u00a0 This is the true account of a courageous act that well-demonstrated one man’s humanity to his fellow-man.\u00a0 And, of the aftermath of his decision.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I am grateful to “Special Operations for America” for permission to republish the story. Itasca<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the website, “Special Operations for America is a Political Action Committee with a mission to recruit, support and elect real American leaders that defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.<\/span>”\u00a0 Montana State Senator <\/span><\/strong>Ryan Zinke is <\/span><\/strong><\/strong>Former Commander at SEAL Team Six and Chairman of Special Operations for America.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>Here is a link to the website:<\/span> http:\/\/www.soforamerica.org\/2013\/05\/18\/in-honor-of-armed-forces-day\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The story:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In honor of Armed Forces Day\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

May 18, 2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re In God\u2019s Hands Now\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The 21-year old American B-17 pilot glanced outside his cockpit and froze. He blinked hard and looked again, hoping it was just a mirage. But his co-pilot stared at the same horrible vision. \u201cMy God, this is a nightmare,\u201d the co-pilot said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to destroy us,\u201d the pilot agreed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The men were looking at a gray German Messerschmitt fighter hovering just three feet off their wingtip. It was five days before Christmas 1943, and the fighter had closed in on their crippled American B-17 bomber for the kill.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"image002\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s Crippled B-17 Stalked by Stigler\u2019s ME-109<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The B-17 pilot, Charles Brown, was a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy on his first combat mission. His bomber had been shot to pieces by swarming fighters, and his plane was alone, struggling to stay in the skies above Germany . Half his crew was wounded, and the tail gunner was dead, his blood frozen in icicles over the machine guns.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer \u201cPinky\u201d Luke, looked at the fighter pilot again, something odd happened. The German didn\u2019t pull the trigger. He stared back at the bomber in amazement and respect. Instead of pressing the attack, he nodded at Brown and saluted. What happened next was one of the most remarkable acts of chivalry recorded during World War II.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image003\"<\/a><\/p>\n

USAAF Lt. Charles Brown<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Charles Brown was on his first combat mission during World War II when he met an enemy unlike any other.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Revenge, not honor, is what drove 2nd Lt. Franz Stigler to jump into his fighter that chilly December day in 1943. Stigler wasn\u2019t just any fighter pilot. He was an ace. One more kill and he would win The Knight\u2019s Cross, German\u2019s highest award for valor.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Stigler was driven by something deeper than glory. His older brother, August, was a fellow Luftwaffe pilot who had been killed earlier in the war. American pilots had killed Stigler\u2019s comrades and were bombing his country\u2019s cities.Stigler was standing near his fighter on a German airbase when he heard a bomber\u2019s engine. Looking up, he saw a B-17 flying so low it looked like it was going to land. As the bomber disappeared behind some trees, Stigler tossed his cigarette aside, saluted a ground crewman and took off in pursuit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As Stigler\u2019s fighter rose to meet the bomber, he decided to attack it from behind. He climbed behind the sputtering bomber, squinted into his gun sight and placed his hand on the trigger. He was about to fire when he hesitated. Stigler was baffled. No one in the bomber fired at him.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He looked closer at the tail gunner. He was still, his white fleece collar soaked with blood. Stigler craned his neck to examine the rest of the bomber. Its skin had been peeled away by shells, its guns knocked out. One propeller wasn\u2019t turning. Smoke trailed from another engine. He could see men huddled inside the shattered plane tending the wounds of other crewmen.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Then he nudged his plane alongside the bomber\u2019s wings and locked eyes with the pilot whose eyes were wide with shock and horror.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"image004\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Luftwaffe Major Franz Stigler<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stigler pressed his hand over the rosary he kept in his flight jacket. He eased his index finger off the trigger. He couldn\u2019t shoot.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It would be murder.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stigler wasn\u2019t just motivated by vengeance that day. He also lived by a code. He could trace his family\u2019s ancestry to knights in 16th century Europe . He had once studied to be a priest. A German pilot who spared the enemy, though, risked death in Nazi Germany. If someone reported him, he would be executed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Stigler could also hear the voice of his commanding officer, who once told him: \u201cYou follow the rules of war for you \u2014 not your enemy. You fight by rules to keep your humanity.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Alone with the crippled bomber, Stigler changed his mission. He nodded at the American pilot and began flying in formation so German anti-aircraft gunners on the ground wouldn\u2019t shoot down the slow-moving bomber. (The Luftwaffe had B-17s of its own, shot down and rebuilt for secret missions and training.) Stigler escorted the bomber over the North Sea and took one last look at the American pilot. Then he saluted him, peeled his fighter away and returned to Germany .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck,\u201d Stigler said to himself. \u201cYou\u2019re in God\u2019s hands now\u2026\u201d Franz Stigler didn\u2019t think the big B-17 could make it back to England and wondered for years what happened to the American pilot and crew he encountered in combat.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"image005\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles Brown, with his wife, Jackie (left), with Franz Stigler, with his wife, Hiya.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As he watched the German fighter peel away that December day, 2nd Lt. Charles Brown wasn\u2019t thinking of the philosophical connection between enemies. He was thinking of survival.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He flew his crippled plane, filled with wounded, back to his base in England and landed with one of four engines knocked out, one failing and barely any fuel left. After his bomber came to a stop, he leaned back in his chair and put a hand over a pocket Bible he kept in his flight jacket. Then he sat in silence.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown flew more missions before the war ended. Life moved on. He got married, had two daughters, supervised foreign aid for the U.S. State Department during the Vietnam War and eventually retired to Florida .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Late in life, though, the encounter with the German pilot began to gnaw at him. He started having nightmares, but in his dream there would be no act of mercy. He would awaken just before his bomber crashed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown took on a new mission. He had to find that German pilot. Who was he? Why did he save my life? He scoured military archives in the U.S. and England . He attended a pilots\u2019 reunion and shared his story. He finally placed an ad in a German newsletter for former Luftwaffe pilots, retelling the story and asking if anyone knew the pilot.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On January 18, 1990, Brown received a letter. He opened it and read: \u201cDear Charles, All these years I wondered what happened to that B-17, did she make it home? Did her crew survive their wounds? To hear of your survival has filled me with indescribable joy\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was Stigler.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He had had left Germany after the war and moved to Vancouver , British Columbia , in 1953. He became a prosperous businessman. Now retired, Stigler told Brown that he would be in Florida come summer and \u201cit sure would be nice to talk about our encounter.\u201d Brown was so excited, though, that he couldn\u2019t wait to see Stigler. He called directory assistance for Vancouver and asked whether there was a number for a Franz Stigler. He dialed the number, and Stigler picked up.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy God, it\u2019s you!\u201d Brown shouted as tears ran down his cheeks.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown had to do more. He wrote a letter to Stigler in which he said: \u201cTo say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU on behalf of my surviving crewmembers and their families appears totally inadequate.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The two pilots would meet again, but this time in person, in the lobby of a Florida hotel. One of Brown\u2019s friends was there to record the summer reunion. Both men looked like retired businessmen: they were plump, sporting neat ties and formal shirts. They fell into each other\u2019 arms and wept and laughed. They talked about their encounter in a light, jovial tone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The mood then changed. Someone asked Stigler what he thought about Brown. Stigler sighed and his square jaw tightened. He began to fight back tears before he said in heavily accented English: \u201cI love you, Charlie.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stigler had lost his brother, his friends and his country. He was virtually exiled by his countrymen after the war. There were 28,000 pilots who fought for the German air force. Only 1,200 survived.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The war cost him everything. Charlie Brown was the only good thing that came out of World War II for Franz. It was the one thing he could be proud of. The meeting helped Brown as well, says his oldest daughter, Dawn Warner.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"image006\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They met as enemies but Franz Stigler, on left, and Charles Brown, ended up as fishing buddies.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown and Stigler became pals. They would take fishing trips together. They would fly cross-country to each other homes and take road trips together to share their story at schools and veterans\u2019 reunions. Their wives, Jackie Brown and Hiya Stigler, became friends.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s daughter says her father would worry about Stigler\u2019s health and constantly check in on him.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just for show,\u201d she says. \u201cThey really did feel for each other. They talked about once a week.\u201d As his friendship with Stigler deepened, something else happened to her father, Warner says \u201cThe nightmares went away.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brown had written a letter of thanks to Stigler, but one day, he showed the extent of his gratitude. He organized a reunion of his surviving crew members, along with their extended families. He invited Stigler as a guest of honor.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

During the reunion, a video was played showing all the faces of the people that now lived \u2014 children, grandchildren, relatives \u2014 because of Stigler\u2019s act of chivalry. Stigler watched the film from his seat of honor.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody was crying, not just him,\u201d Warner says.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stigler and Brown died within months of each other in 2008. Stigler was 92, and Brown was 87. They had started off as enemies, became friends, and then something more.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After he died, Warner was searching through Brown\u2019s library when she came across a book on German fighter jets. Stigler had given the book to Brown. Both were country boys who loved to read about planes.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Warner opened the book and saw an inscription Stigler had written to Brown:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1940, I lost my only brother as a night fighter. 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.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The pilot, Charlie Brown, is for me, as precious as my brother was. Thanks Charlie.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Your Brother,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Franz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

~<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re In God\u2019s Hands Now\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Soli Deo gloria<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/strong><\/em>[<\/strong><\/span>Glory to God alone]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner,”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exodus 17:15 [I received the following inspiring World War II story too late for America’s observance of Armed Forces Day on May 18, 2013.] The lives of American Soldiers flying a United States Army Air Forces B-17 Bomber over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hope-rises"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlibertyundergod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}