Mercy in the Midst of War
Stigler had been prepared to fire the entire time, but never squeezed the trigger. He remembered one of his officers telling his pilots never to shoot a man in a parachute or he would shoot them when they landed. Such morality was present in the Western front as similar cultures bred a level of empathy. Shooting parachuting pilots did happen, but was rare; of course, such civility was almost entirely absent in the East as millions of Russian and German P.O.W.s were executed without cause.
Stigler viewed the crippled bomber in the same light as parachuting men. They and their equipment were broken and defeated. Not only was it not a fair fight, they weren’t even trying to shoot him (many of their guns had actually stopped working). So, Stigler tried to communicate with Brown that he needed to change course and head to Sweden where he would be held but also given medical care.
Brown admitted to never really understanding Stigler’s intentions, he saw the gestures through the windshields but was so weak that he only had one thought in his mind and that was to return to his base. It didn’t take Stigler long to figure this out, but he still had some interest in this aircraft and its stubborn pilot.
Instead of shooting them down, or even just leaving, Stigler decided to continue flying close to the bomber. A German aircraft so close to a bomber ensured that no AA gun would fire shots at the Americans. In this way, Stigler “escorted” Brown and his crew to the English Channel before breaking off to return to German territory.
Amazingly, only the tail gunner was killed in the fighting, the remaining nine survived, though some with permanently debilitating injuries. Charlie Brown would continue to fly bombers for the remainder of the war. He told his superiors about the German pilot who didn’t shoot and escorted the crew to safety, but the commanders hushed it up. It was important to keep the men’s fighting spirit up, and sharing stories of Luftwaffe compassion wasn’t the way to do that. At the very least, Brown and most of the crew could take a few needed days of rest and celebrate Christmas.
Stigler, on the other hand, knew not to say a single word to anyone ever, as long as the war still raged. Despite the circumstances of pity and mercy that overrode the already difficult task of killing, leaving even a barely functional bomber to return to be repaired and fight again was treasonous. Men had been killed for similar acts before and with the tides of war surging against them, the Germans would likely have executed Stigler as an example to the remaining fighters. Despite his status as a respected ace, Stigler feared for his life but did survive the war.
Years later, Charlie Brown would recount this incident, and almost like he heard it for the first time himself, he was intrigued and set out to find the mysterious Luftwaffe savior. After writing to many veteran organizations Stigler finally picked up on the story and set up a meeting with Brown. The two had a grand time meeting and retelling stories. From 1990 until their deaths in 2008, the men were the closest of friends.
This is but a small mention of a fantastic story. A book about these men’s lives and a superbly in-depth look at the engagement can be found in Adam Makos’ book, A Higher Call. The war history-inspired rock group Sabaton also wrote a song about this engagement titled “No Bullets Fly”. A true gem of a WWII story, the story of compassion and empathy in an otherwise terrible time is too often forgotten.