Thread:JeielYozama/@comment-26517142-20190602114114/@comment-25808351-20190615213532

You could write 14 books on the stories people tell of their experiences through that war, and still not scratch the surface of the conflict. So many amazing individuals on every side of that war. Listening to them now is inspiring, enlightening, tear jerking and morally boosting. Whether you’re American, British, Russian, German, Japanese, god damn I can’t even think of them all, there is always a story buried beneath the ruins that will bring pride to you.

My personal favorite story from WW2 is the story of Charlie Brown (no joke).

A B17 bomber pilot by the name of Charles Brown was flying a mission over the city of Bremen in Germany on December 20, 1943. Charles’ bomber was shot to hell by flak canons and German fighter planes alike. To put it bluntly, Charlie’s plane had no business to be up in the air after everything it suffered through. Charlie thought he was dead when a German fighter plane was spotted at the rear. With no ammo left Charlie and his surviving crew were as good as dead. But the German pilot didn’t shoot.

The German fighter ace (a proven badass of the sky) by the name of Franz Stigler, flew up alongside Charlie’s cockpit and signaled them to follow him. Franz got on the radio and told all his fellow airmen, to back the fuck off. Franz felt Charlie and his crew earned their right to go home. Franz escorted the tattered B17 all the way to allied lines before turning around and heading back to his base.

Franz did an unbelievable kindness in a time where there was none to go around, at the threat of his own life. Allied planes and flak guns could have killed Franz, yet he escorted them anyways.

That’s a story that brings a smile to the face.