A little courtesy, even among enemies

Courtesy of my friend Kelley, this story out of World War Two:

Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England. His B-17 was called Ye Old Pub and was in a terrible state; having been hit by both flak and fighters. Their magnetic compass was damaged and they were flying deeper into enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.
After they flew over a German airfield, a pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. When he neared the bomber, he could not believe his eyes. In his words, he “had never seen a plane in such a bad state”. The tail and rear section was severely damaged and the tail-gunner wounded. The upper gunner was all over the top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and there were gaping shrapnel holes everywhere.
Despite having ammunition, Franz flew close alongside the B-17 and looked directly at the young American pilot. Brown was exhausted, very frightened and battling to maintain control of his damaged and blood-stained aircraft. Realising the B-17 crew had no idea where they were heading, the Me-109 pilot gestured to Charlie to turn 180 degrees. Franz then escorted the stricken bomber back to and out over the North Sea towards England. He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away; back to Europe. After landing he informed his CO that the B-17 had been shot down over the sea and never told the truth to anybody. Charlie Brown and the survivors of his crew told of the strange encounter at their de-briefing, but were ordered never to talk about it.
More than forty years later, Charlie Brown decided to discover if the Luftwaffe pilot who had saved he and his crew was living and, if possible, locate him. After years of research, Franz was located. He had never talked about the incident; not even at post-war reunions. They finally met in the USA at a 379th Bomber Group reunion; together with 25 people who exist now, all because Franz never fired his guns that day
Research shows that Charlie Brown lived in Seattle and Franz Steigler had moved to Vancouver, BC after the war. When they finally met, they discovered they had lived less than 200 miles apart for the past fifty years!