#18
Title: A Higher Call
Author: Adam Makos w/ Larry Alexander
Genre: Biography/Non-Fiction
Rating: A
Published: 2011
Dates: 3/29/16 – 4/25/15
Pages: 392
This is not your typical World War
II story. While it is true and based
upon the lives of two men – one American, one German, the title of the book
refers to an ethic both men lived by – to treat others better than they or
their loved ones had been treated, with respect, compassion and love, and
mostly with dignity. Ultimately, not to
treat evil with evil.
Five days before Christmas, 1943, a
badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over war torn Germany. At its controls was a young pilot. Half his crew of nine lay wounded or
dead. It was their first mission
together. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape
pulled up on the bomber’s tail. The ace
pilot of the Messerschmitt fighter could have taken them out with the squeeze
of his trigger. What happened next would
defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between
enemies”.
My husband encouraged me to read the
book, knowing I would like it. He was
right, I read it and loved it. Another cool thing about the story is that the
author at the age of 15 decided to become a journalist. At the time he, his siblings and best friend
were enamored with World War II aviation and began printing a publication. Not
until Makos’s own morality spoke to him did he pursue, to a greater extent, the
way he interviewed his subjects – mostly those pilots who flew on the opposite
side.
For me it confirmed what I know
already to be true – there is a God, loving, full of compassion, a
miracle-worker.
