Mercy in the Crosshairs

He had the perfect kill shot lined up… and the world expected him to take it.

December 1943, an American B-17 limps across the German sky. Engines failing.

Crew bleeding. The pilot, 20-year-old Charlie Brown, barely conscious.

Then, a German fighter locks on, Franz Stigler. One more kill,

and he earns the Knight’s Cross. But when he flies closer, he doesn’t see an

enemy. He sees boys, terrified, dying, still trying to

make it home. So instead of firing… he does the unthinkable. He flies beside them,

shielding the bomber from German guns all the way to the sea. He salutes… and