Authors: Adam Makos
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II (57 page)
From above, the circle of people blended as they hugged near the bomber’s wing, becoming just one mass, bigger and greater as the gaps between them vanished.
*
“It was such an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Charlie would remember. “I believed that I had a better chance of winning the lottery than finding him alive, some forty years later.” Jackson’s film of Charlie and Franz’s reunion is now available for viewing on the author’s website.
I
N
1955,
THE
United States and her allies formally welcomed West Germany into NATO and revived the German Air Force. In recognition of their honorable service to their country during World War II and absence of affiliation with The Party, the following officers were reinstated at their old ranks and led successful careers in the new German Air Force.
Gerhard “Gerd” Barkhorn
retired as a three-star general.Gustav Roedel
retired as a one-star general.Hannes Trautloft
served as the inspector general and retired as a three-star general.Erich Hohagen
retired as a one-star general.Walter “the Count” Krupinski
retired as a three-star general.Erich “Bubi” Hartmann
joined the new Air Force after ten years in Soviet P.O.W. camps and later retired as a colonel.Johannes “Macky” Steinhoff
joined the new Air Force and climbed the ranks in spite of his severe disfigurement from his burns. He eventually served as the Air Force’s commander and retired in 1974 as a four-star general. In 1997, the German Fighter Wing 73 was given the honorary name “Steinhoff,” one of the few wings named after a man. Today, the Steinhoff Wing flies regularly alongside the Richthofen Wing, named for the Red Baron.
I
N
1957,
AT
a 379th Bomb Group reunion, Charlie revealed his true age to his crew. The Quiet Ones were surprised but not offended. They figured Charlie had done a fine job of getting them home, the only measure that mattered.
C
HARLIE NEVER HAD
contact with Marjorie after the war, but last heard she had gotten married and never stopped flying.
I
N THE YEARS
following their reunion, Franz and Charlie traveled across North America telling their story to any civic clubs, air museums, or military units that requested them. This was their last act of service to build a better world. Their message was simple: enemies are better off as friends.
Franz Stigler succumbed to illness in March 2008. Shortly before he died, Franz asked Hiya to cremate his body but to keep his ashes close. “I promise I won’t be a bother,” he said. After fifty-two years of marriage he died in Hiya’s arms.
Charlie Brown died in November 2008, eight months after Franz.
Prior to Charlie’s death, the U.S. Air Force completed a lengthy investigation into the events of December 20, 1943, and the actions of Charlie and his crew. The Air Force ruled that military officials had made a mistake in how they had handled the case sixty-four years earlier.
In April 2008, the Air Force summoned Charlie to the Florida State Capitol and awarded him the nation’s second highest medal for valor—the Air Force Cross. The Air Force also presented Charlie’s last living crewman, Albert “Doc” Sadok, with the Silver Star and posthumously awarded a Silver Star to each of the eight deceased members of the crew.
Today, with a combined nine Silver Stars and one Air Force Cross, the crew of
Ye Olde Pub
remains one of the most decorated bomber crews in history.
Franz Stigler never got the Knight’s Cross, but as he always said, he got something better.
