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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTwo Enemies Discover a 'Higher Call' in Battle (Incredible Story)
(CNN) -- The 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.
"My God, this is a nightmare," the co-pilot said.
"He's going to destroy us," the pilot agreed.
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.
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 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.
But when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer "Pinky" Luke, looked at the fighter pilot again, something odd happened. The German didn't pull the trigger. He nodded at Brown instead. What happened next was one of the most remarkable acts of chivalry recorded during World War II. Years later, Brown would track down his would-be executioner for a reunion that reduced both men to tears.
"My God, this is a nightmare," the co-pilot said.
"He's going to destroy us," the pilot agreed.
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.
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 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.
But when Brown and his co-pilot, Spencer "Pinky" Luke, looked at the fighter pilot again, something odd happened. The German didn't pull the trigger. He nodded at Brown instead. What happened next was one of the most remarkable acts of chivalry recorded during World War II. Years later, Brown would track down his would-be executioner for a reunion that reduced both men to tears.
(Emphasis added)
Read more of this incredible story at CNN.
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Two Enemies Discover a 'Higher Call' in Battle (Incredible Story) (Original Post)
Fantastic Anarchist
Oct 2013
OP
I think PBS had a documentary on that. I watched it and enjoyed it immensely.
kestrel91316
Oct 2013
#1
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)1. I think PBS had a documentary on that. I watched it and enjoyed it immensely.
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)2. I bought and read the book.
It is a good read.
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)3. It has inspired several paintings:
Both pilots. They both survived the war.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)4. Amazing. Thanks for posting that.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)5. What an amazing story.
Actually had me in tears. knr.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)6. Yeah, I had something in my eye ...
Maybe a piece of dust or something.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)7. Probably allergies.
They always get me in the fall.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)8. Yep, yep, we'll go with that.
How ya doin', bunnies?
bunnies
(15,859 posts)9. :)
Doing alright. Still on this side of the dirt so... How bout you? Things going well I hope?
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)11. Yeah, things could be worse, as they say.
Just trudging along.
JI7
(89,249 posts)10. incredible story, the line in the article about how enemie soldiers sometimes feel closer to each
other than those back home they are fighting for is important to think about . they know the other is putting their life on the line just as they are.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)12. Yeah, that stuck out at me too.
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)13. B-17s were an amazingly tough airplane to shoot down.
Some of them took incredible battle damage and made it back.
This one was almost cut in two by a mid-air colllision with a German fighter.
Appears to be a flak hit in the tail section.
How did the pilot keep this one under control?
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)14. Damn good pilots, I'd say.
And to think some of them were 18 years old.
Wow.