Posted on 05/12/2019 5:53:47 AM PDT by DFG
A former U.S. Air Force pilot famous for dropping candy to starving children during the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and 1949 has returned to the German capital as a guest of honor 70 years after the end of the crisis.
Gail Halvorsen, 98, received a hero's welcome as he donned his military uniform, signed autographs, and posed for photos with city residents on Saturday.
Halvorsen became known as the 'Candy Bomber' after inventing the idea to airdrop small bags of sweets to children in West Berlin, who were going hungry after the Soviet Union blocked railway, road and canal access to the city.
The blockade lasted from June 1948 until May 1949 and became known as the first crisis in the Cold War.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Loads of videos on YT...here’s one
https://youtu.be/Hjz8yu5MWC0
Sweet!
My screen is suddenly blurry and it looks like the wrinkles have been wiped off the man as I look at him....”sniff”!
What a story!
He still fits into his uniform!!!!!
Interview with Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin Candy Bomber
https://www.historynet.com/interview-with-gail-halvorsen-the-berlin-candy-bomber.htm
One of the comments:
“Halvorsen didn’t bother to ask official permission to drop candy to the children, he and his crew just did it. His commanding officer didn’t know of it until he learned about it from a reporter. The commander called him into his office and demanded “What have you been up to, Halvorsen?” And then continued, “Well keep it up!!” American school children and candy companies donated treats to be air-dropped to the children in Berlin. One German boy wrote to him asking that candy be dropped near his home, since he was bed-ridden and gave the exact location. After waiting several days for delivery he wrote again “Why can’t you even find my house? How did you Americans manage to win the war, anyway?”
How many of our WWII pilots earned wings from our country and the RAF?
I had the same problems!
Two reasons- The Soviet Red Army, and this from a German General debriefed after the war:
"The reason the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices it on a daily basis."
A really great and down to earth guy. He has visited our Boy Scout troop several times.
In the first photo in the Daily Mail article on the extreme right in her Girl Scout shirt is my friend Vanessa. She has been friends with Gail for ages and helps to keep this story alive to all living in Berlin today that might forget.
And yes, every time I hear him repeat his story my vision gets blurry.
Much of the food was in the form of CARE packages. Quite literally, a lifesaver for many int he EU.
This is the best novel I ever read.
“The reason the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices it on a daily basis.”
A former Marine once told me that the reason the Marine Corps does so well in battle is because the entire Corps is kept in an eternal pissed off state and is howling for someone to kill when the balloon goes up.
Just what I’ve heard.
It doesn’t bear repeating
Anti military pacifism is the stuff of progressive Ameritrash
16 This is the best novel I ever read.
My high school political science teacher had us read it and Exodus during our senior year. I later read most of LU's novels.
Agree! He was great looking then and he is still great looking, and still fitting into his uniform! God bless this kind man!
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