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Notable Alumni". Lycoming College. Archived from the original on November 20, 2022 . Retrieved November 20, 2022. I just finished reading A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World 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. A Higher Call is an eye-opener.” Stiglerは，もとは戦前はルフトハンザの旅客機のパイロットで，志願して空軍に入り，下士官から苦労してたたき上げた経歴の持ち主で，その目からみたドイツ空軍の内情が詳述されている．特に興味深いのは，ドイツ空軍のパイロットの多くはナチ党員ではなく，ナチとのたゆまざる確執があったこと，特に連合国軍のドイツ爆撃による被害拡大後は，空軍のトップのゲーリングが防衛に当たる戦闘機パイロットを執拗に責め立てたという点である．連合国軍の圧倒的物量の前に，追い詰められてゆくドイツ空軍の悲哀は日本軍のそれに重なる．また大戦末期，ドイツ軍はジェット戦闘機を開発して実戦に投入したが，未完成のため事故が多く，戦果を挙げられないままに敗戦を迎えた様子も描かれている． In December 1943, there were 235 men in K company. The amount who ended up alive and well at the end of Okinawa was 19.”The final section of the book is how the two men eventually met and became fast friends until their deaths in 2008. After the war Stigler spent many years trying to find fate of the men he spared but, was unsuccessful until they finally met at reunion in the late '80s.

While ace records keepers might wonder where his score would be today since he claimed hardly any kills for years after sparing this one crew - that's the point! He clearly was in the company of ace 'giants' whose actual scores were public. For Mr. Stigler, such things were a shameful burden he avoided, and he refocused his job on keeping the rookies alive and competent for their own sakes, and the illusory glory of war was lost to his earlier overachieving self. Can good men be found on both sides of a bad war?’ The author asks the question and delivers the answer. A powerful, haunting read.” plenty of questions about the prudence of war and the person we call the enemy. But mostly it begs a question of goodness.” This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—2nd Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II. I appreciate how the authors wove the stories of the two men in an excellent chronological method. It’s not your typical memoir. The writing puts the reader side-by-side with the two men as their paths slowly, but surely converge on that fateful meeting in 1943 over the war torn skies of Germany.Devotion: an epic story of heroism, friendship and sacrifice. Atlantic Books. 2015. ISBN 9780593722336. War II. I was a little skeptical about the use of the word "incredible" in the title. I discovered that the author chose it for the best of reasons- it's totally accurate. This is an incredible book to read and experience from a personal and historical point of view; plus the story it weaves about two pilots from opposing sides is truly incredible! It is difficult to write this review without sounding sappy or as if I am gushing...it is that good. a b "Meet the Author: Adam Makos". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022 . Retrieved November 21, 2022. 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.

a b Ward II, Thomas E. (14 May 2014). "A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of Wo". Air University (AU). While this book is the story of the two pilots, Charlie Brown (yes that’s really his name) who was piloting the B-17 and Franz Stigler, who was flying the ME109, this narrative is mainly Stigler's story. At the time of the encounter Stigler was just a victory away from completing the requirements for being awarded a Knights Cross, one of Germany's highest awards for valor. Remarkably, Franz decides to let the B-17 go and even escorted through a flak belt until it reached the North Sea. While Mr. Makos tells both men’s story the majority of the narrative follows Lt Stigler. The author follows Stigler through his war and how he became a fighter pilot and eventually to fly the ME-262 jet fighter in the closing days of the war. Never a Nazi, Stigler is portrayed as a man who was fighting the good fight for a bad cause. A prewar Lufthansa pilot, he became civilian instructor pilot for the Luftwaffe, where he taught many of the men who flew with the Condor Legion in Spain. He was eventually dragooned into the Luftwaffe when he complained that he got no respect from the aviation cadets because he was a civilian. A Higher Call is the true story of a German fighter pilot who had a wounded American bomber and its crew in its crosshairs. It was five days before Christmas and the aviator did the unthinkable by sparing the lives of the Americans and escorting the bomber to safety.I was also in awe of the US bomber crews. This book gives you an appreciation of how dangerous these missions were. The 8th air force lost more airmen then the entire Marine Corp in Pacific theater. the twenty-eight thousand German fighter pilots to see combat in WWII, only twelve hundred survived the war.” When I first phoned the World War II bomber pilot named Charlie Brown, all I wanted was thirty minutes of his time. But what I found was a beautiful story worth every minute of eight years.” Pond, Neil (May 5, 2013). " 'Voices of the Pacific' Book Review". American Profile. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022 . Retrieved November 21, 2022.

Charlie and his crew know they are done when they see the plane. The German pilot keeps making a motion to them they don’t understand. As the throbbing plane warmed up Charlie silently prayed, or, as he referred to it, conducted "a short briefing with my third pilot.” Still, I read it through because somewhere in all this, I learnt a lot more about what life was like for German airmen supporting the Africa Corps in WW2. Considerably more interesting was Luftwaffe experience of the last days of the Third Reich and even more, the truth about the World's first jet warbird, the ME 262, under actual combat conditions.I have to say this book is mainly about the German pilot who according to his amarican counterpart was the ‘hero of this story’. 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.