Chief Warrant Officer Jared Kimber
has been dropping toys from a Black
Hawk over Iraqi villages while on
medevac missions.
Posted on 08/09/2004 5:53:45 AM PDT by eagles
The Toy Bombers of Iraq
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How it started:
CWO Jared Kimber and his crew, from the 82nd Medical Company, were flying North of Kirkuk where he was stationed a couple of weeks ago, when they noticed some kids kicking a flat soccer ball. As they circled around they saw lots of kids skipping and clapping and noticed that the only toy any of them had, was the one flat soccer ball. They flew on to base, gathered up all of the balls and Frisbees they could get their hands on and flew back to the village and dropped the balls and Frisbees to the kids.
The children were absolutely delighted. The parents of the children came to the Air Base to thank them and were directed to the Air Force pilots, who told them it hadn't been the Air Force, but rather the Army. Anyway the kids were delighted to have something to play with, and the parents were absolutely in tears to think the Americans cared enough about their children to give them something to play with.
Jared says they fly over these little villages all the time and they are mud huts and tent villages, with dozens of children and nothing to play with. He says there are hundreds of these villages around.
On his return trips the military has agreed to allow him to drop candy, gum, and toys to the Iraqi children, so Jared is asking for all of the toys they can get their hands on. Toys that groups of children would want to play with. Kind of like whatever you would see in a school yard in the USA. That would include balls of all kinds, but soccer and kick balls would be really nice, as the sender could let the air out of them before shipping to Iraq. Frisbees, baseballs, basketballs, jump ropes, dolls, or whatever else one can dream up. The only requirement is that they have to be able to withstand a drop of 50 to 100 feet to the ground from the helicopter, as it is dangerous for Jared to land in these villages.
The Bombers and their families wish to thank all of you who are making this possible. The Kimber Family Room is filling up with toys faster than we can ship them out. We hope it continues that way. Thank-you for supporting our beloved troops, and most of all, thank you for supporting the Iraqi people in their time of difficulty. What you've done here today will be remembered for a generation! Long after our troops have left Iraq...
A bit of History, and the reason we call them Toy Bombers:
Jared is carrying on a great Utah tradition. Post WWII a Utah resident, Gail Halverson of the Army Air Corp, dropped candy bars from his C-54 Skymaster bomber to excited German children and earned the title "The Candy Bomber." www.hill.af.mil/museum/history/candy.htm Or you can hear Col. Halverson tell his own story here. (7.9 MB MP3) Jared grew up in the same community and attended the same Bear River High School that the Candy Bomber graduated from and is proud to be doing the right thing for the children of Iraq in todays conflict.
Update: July 14, 04
In mid June, Jared sent an email expressing his thanks for all of the toys that he is receiving. He said he had received a huge shipment of toys. He wrote he is now dropping toys by the box full. Before he had been dropping toys one at a time. He said that all the children were able to go home with toys now instead of having to decide who gets to take the toys home.
June 29, 2004 Jared wrote to tell us that he was receiving toys from "people all over the place." He now has two other pilots with teams in other areas of Iraq helping him deliver toys to the Iraqi children in other areas of the country.
With your help, we have shipped toys to these pilots, Aaron and Travis as well as to Jared. Aaron wrote about taking a few toys to the children that they had gathered. I would like to share some of the quotes from his newsletter.
"Soldiers from Fort Riley's 82nd Medical Company (AA) dropped toys in a nearby abandoned missile base that has since been turned into a village."
"Children swarmed the service members to receive clothing, toys, shoes, candy, and bottled water."
"A 14-year old boy named Usaim speaking through an interpreter said, "I am happy. Today I got a soccer ball. I wish next time you come back I can get some tennis shoes. I want you to come back again." The boy was dressed in old plastic sandals and a faded multi-colored windbreaker despite the 95-degree temperature."
"Living conditions in what its people call Unit No. 4 are poor at best. Few of the children have shoes on their feet, and people live in old military bunkers and the remnants of crumbling buildings, and mud huts they've built."
"They think the water (we bring them) is blessed because it's clear. They can see through it so they hold on to it."
"Though some of the villagers wore traditional Arab garb, most of their clothing was a hodgepodge of Western hand-me-downs."
"Lukmin, a thin, darkly tanned man with a deeply furrowed brow and a scraggly black beard, wore a T-shirt with "New York" emblazoned across the front. He told the interpreter the villagers "Have a lot of love for America. We don't have a school or power, but we hope you come back again to make us all happy. Thank you very much for stopping by," he said.
The translator Wurya "Woody" Shwani, a Kirkuk-born Kurd said, "I would like to help everybody, especially the poor. I feel sorry for the kids. They have no park, no kindergarten, no power. I hope one day they will have the same as American kids. So we have to teach the new generation about Democracy. Today we give them toys; the old regime gave them weapons and taught them how to kill," he said.
Travis said, "I wish we had more to give them. Now that I've been out there, I see more of what they need. They need school books, paper, crayons (markers). It's not just them. There's people like this all over the country."
"Villagers from Unit No. 4 waved good-bye to U.S. service members who had flown in to give them blankets, toys, shoes, and food."
Your help and support to the Toy Bomber project is making a difference to these people.
As I have said before, as you participate in this project, it is more than just collecting and gathering toys to send or donating funds for shipping. You have put love, charity, kindness, and service in action in support of the Toy Bomber and his teams and the Iraqi people. You are shipping your love and kindness with each toy. You are preparing hearts and a people for better things to come to Iraq as it did in Germany.
I am grateful for you and your support of Jared, his teams, the children in Iraq, and for your expression of love. You are one that is making a difference in this world.
Please feel of our love and gratitude for your support, and the difference you are making in the world, in the Iraqi children's lives and their families.
Cathy Kimber
The Toy Bombers: CWO Jared Kimber CW2 Travis Montgomery SPC Clayton Bennett SPC Dan Kreth CW2 John Garcia CW2 Jason Russel SGT Aaron Orr SSG Darren Bartoe
Suggestions to donate: Nerf balls Tennis balls Solid rubber balls Soccer Balls (deflated) Kick Balls (deflated) Stuffed animals Coloring books Markers Dolls Jump ropes Frisbees Marbles Crayons Candy Gum Yo-Yo's
Monetary donations to help with shipments can be made at Zions and Wells Fargo banks in the name of Jared Kimber's Kids, or you can send funds securely online through PayPal by clicking on the PayPal image below. It is however preffered that you ship them yourself.
Additional toy donations can be made at Kent's Market in Tremonton, Wal-Mart of Brigham City/Perry, and Thomas Market in Malad ID.
There are some postal requirements you'll need to consider before sending items.
No batteries 70 lb maximum per box 108 inch total in size measure the length and the girth (around the box). The total of these two measurements cannot be more than 108 inches. Parcel post rate is approximately $1.50/pound Jared's address to send items to:
CWO Jared L. Kimber 82nd Medical Company (AA) LSA Anaconda Balad APO AE 09391 Cathy Kimber
(435) 257-0352 toymom@toybomber.org
PayPal toymom@toybomber.org
Chief Warrant Officer Jared Kimber
has been dropping toys from a Black
Hawk over Iraqi villages while on
medevac missions.
PING.............
Possibly but the terrorists don't have helicopters.
Sadly that is what I thought of when I read the title of the article. I read that the Soviets used to make such bombs in Afghanistan. I do not know if it is true, but I can see someone copying the idea.
Nice story, and cheers to our guys for helping out the locals. But this troubles me:
"...withstand a drop of 50 to 100 feet to the ground from the helicopter, as it is dangerous for Jared to land in these villages."
Wouldn't slowing a chopper down at 50 or 100ft altitude, to drop toys etc, be a quick invite for small arms or RPG fire? Give me the willies just thinking about being that kind of target.
Any lib would make it an official government program, costing billions of dollars, with politically motivated toy selection. It is a better reflection of the American character when it is an unofficial program, even if the brass give it a wink and a nod.
BTTT
These stories are way underplayed by the media... There are bases in Iraq that collect anything from the clothes people have brought for their deployment to toys to books to anything that can make the life of the Iraqis just a little bit better. Many deployed personnel participate as it makes their bags a little bit lighter going home and is a good reason to give things away. Our box was constantly being refilled with fresh donations for the Iraqi citizens!
Our military= Awesome warriors with big hearts!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1171628/posts
Scroll down, we are going to be delivering the Sporting Goods this weekend.
We also collected over 75 Soccer balls in the package
You've got THAT right!
Thanks for the ping Fiddlstix
They don't need them, they can leave the toys where they are certain to be found. I think we underestimate the perversity of these Seventh Day $hiiters.
The commies did just that in Afghanistan.
ping!
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