A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Dec 2012 · Penguin
4.4star
343 reviewsreport
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400
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About this ebook
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story...worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News
A “beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies” emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture.
December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger...
What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.”
The U.S. 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention for fear of facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever.
A “beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies” emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture.
December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger...
What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.”
The U.S. 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention for fear of facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever.
Ratings and reviews
4.4
343 reviews
Patrick L. Cavanaugh Sr.
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October 28, 2017
A very human story of individuals thrust into war. Every day is a new quest to survive. Kill or be killed are the simple instructions for each day. And yet in the middle of all the carnage there are moments when war weary soldiers feel the pain of their enemy. To see someone so battered, bloody and with little hope of survival. They leave their enemy alone and let them die in peace. Why add additional horror and pain to to what is most likely, their last moments of life. So in the middle of fighting a war where the question of existence is measured with every passing second. Humanity surfaces and the human spirit for compassion is uncovered .
10 people found this review helpful
daniel morris
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April 3, 2016
When a book causes one to knit brows or break a smirk or go so far as erupt a vocal laugh only a fraction into a 'story', then one has made a worthwhile purchase and encourages one to read more. The tone, fluidity and knowledge puts me in the pilot's seat and I've got 200+ pages to read yet~
1 person found this review helpful
Len Schattler
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February 9, 2014
Excellent and indept story of war, and how it altered the lives of two adversaries, and in the process created a friendship that lasted until death. A simple act of kindness and compassion allowed the birth of a family that never would have happened if the normal rules of combat had been followed. A wonderful, and true look into the compassionate side of human nature.
5 people found this review helpful
About the author
Hailed as “a masterful storyteller” by the Associated Press, Adam Makos is the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Higher Call, Spearhead, and Devotion, the subject of the major motion picture. Inspired by his grandfathers’ service, Makos chronicles the stories of American veterans in his trademark fusion of intense human drama and fast-paced military action, securing his place “in the top ranks of military writers,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In the course of his research, Makos has flown a World War II bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American airman.
Larry Alexander is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers. He is also the author of Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth. Alexander has been a journalist and columnist for the Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for nearly twenty years and has won numerous state-level awards for excellence in journalism.
Larry Alexander is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers. He is also the author of Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth. Alexander has been a journalist and columnist for the Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for nearly twenty years and has won numerous state-level awards for excellence in journalism.
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