The Warrior's Code

[Linda Anderson]

This very moving article about a World War II American bomber pilot's encounter with a German fighter pilot comes from the New York Times best-selling book, A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/09/living/hig...?hpt=hp_c1

[LincolnMan]

Quite an amazing story. I thought of the Union and Confederate veterans who met at the fifty year anniversary of Gettysburg.

[BettyO]

OMG - thanks, Linda for a beautiful story!

This is a real "feel good" story - please read it, ya'll!

I really want to get this book. Not a lot of you may be aware, but I also have always had a deep interest in WWI and WWII aviation - just another interest....

Thanks!

Yes there was quite a bit of this "sharing between enemies/brothers" during the Civil War as well....one remembers the "Angel of Marys Heights" - the Confederate soldier who ran out onto the battlefield in the middle of the fighting to aid a Union soldier - there is a beautiful statue on the Fredericksburg battlefield commemorating this action -

[L Verge]

I knew the story of the WWII incident. I think the reunion was featured in the newspapers or something. This entire article, however, should be forced reading for all Americans right now. Civilians as well as the military need lessons on a code of humanity - from Afghanistan to the streets of Chicago and the halls of Congress. We are all warriors on earth in some way.

---

On a similar vein, did y'all read or hear about the burial of the remains of two soldiers from the U.S.S. Monitor at Arlington yesterday? They had been in their watery grave since the ship sank in a storm in 1862.

[HerbS]

I feel that I must share this"Honor Code"story with you.My uncle was a "waist gunner"in a B-24 Bomber in WW-2.He was killed on a bomb-run over Austria.I decided to interview[by phone] the survivors about what happened that day they were shot down by a German fighter plane.The turrett gunner came down and removed a part of propeller that pinned the co-pilot in his seat.They jumped out of the bomb-bay doors into snow banks and were taken prisoner for the rest of the war.The amazing part of this,was that the German pilot protected them down to the ground.

[My Name Is Kate]

That is a wonderful story. But it makes me wonder how that German pilot, who obviously had a good measure of humanity in him, could be fighting for something as inhumane as Nazi ideals. I know my questions are sometimes off-topic from this forum, but there's not much of anything in this world that I understand, it seems.

[Gene C]

Many Germans were not Nazi's. They were loyal to their country and people, but their govenment had changed. The Nazi's got control of the govt. through deception and intimidation. Once they had control it was difficult to stop them, although many tried. There were attempts on Hitlers life. Many people who did not agree with the Nazi regime were killed. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was one of many who were killed by the Nazi government.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rommel.htm

[HerbS]

Who knows what goes through the minds of "enemies"during their time in battle?But,I think a lot of being humane plays a large part in one's mind! I know a few years ago,we told our quarterback to"take a knee" on the one yard line rather than score.the score was 52-0.He reluctantly took a knee.We then explained,what difference did it make.

[LincolnMan]

Perhaps he was in the German military before Hitler came to power? Just wondering. Anyway, I agee with Gene on this. Like everything, it's complex!

[Laurie Verge]

I agree with Gene's assessment also. I think the rise of Hitler's regime should serve as an eternal warning to democratic people to pay close attention to the direction that their government leaders are taking. Devious minds can completely transform government, society, and history.

To relate it to our Civil War: Let's take slavery out of the equation just for the moment and focus on the idea of which form of government would have better served the growing United States -- the large, central government as viewed by many Republicans, or the confederation of states as envisioned by the South? Economics would play a large part in the debate, and economics was a large part of the German issues in the 1930s as Hitler rose to power. I guess what I'm trying to say is "follow the money" because it can transform your government and your way of thinking - and even your humanity. How's that for waxing philosophically...

[My Name Is Kate]

I was just thinking of starting a new thread asking the exact same question...would we be better off, slavery taken out of the equation, with more power to the states and much, much less to the central government, but I thought maybe that would be foolish to even think about. I think it's a really bad idea to have so much power concentrated in so few hands...but then there are those who think the opposite...that a one-world government is the way to go...

[Laurie Verge]

There are so many forms of government in our world that it is a little frightening to me to consider which way we could go in trying to establish a one-world government. I think that same thing frightened those who formed the Confederacy -- or even Thomas Jefferson in his arguments with Alexander Hamilton.