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FReeper Canteen ~ The Berlin Airlift Part 4: The Legacy ~ December 22, 2014
Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !!
| StarCMC
Posted on 12/21/2014 5:00:58 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska
Our Troops Rock! Thank you for all you do! |
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For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. |
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Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! |
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~ Hall of Heroes ~ The Berlin Airlift Part 4: The Legacy All info and photos from this website.
Link to Part One Link to Part Two Link to Part Three |
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THE AIRLIFT'S LEGACY The most obvious result of this confrontation was the 40-year Cold War with the Soviet Union, which ebbed with the construction of the Berlin Wall, and the Korean and Vietnam Conflicts. The US also forged a newfound friendship with Germany, its former foe, and established the Federal Republic of Germany as a result. In addition, the North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO) was formed as a result of the crisis.
Less politically, our aircraft and airway system we enjoy today was developed and perfected as a result of the Berlin Airlift. Ground Controlled Approach or GCA was greatly improved as a necessity for the aircraft to land in Berlin, and our air traffic control system is a direct development of that technology. Loading procedures and maintenance procedures are greatly improved as a result, too.
More importantly, the Berlin Airlift demonstrated the military need for Air Transport in addition to Bombers and Fighters. A result is the Air Mobility Command and aircraft like the C-141 Starlifter, the C-130 Hercules, the C-5 Galaxy, and our newest transport, the C-17 Globemaster III.
All of these political and logistical ideas came as a result of the resolve of the US, Great Britain, France, and Germany to resist totalitarian tactics and wage a battle of air transport. This battle saved over 2.5 million people without firing a single shot. In a matter of fifteen months in 1948-49, world history was changed by the greatest humanitarian aviation event in history, the Berlin Airlift. |
MEMORIALS: The Airlift Memorial at Rhein Main Air Base, Frankfurt, and on Luftbruckenplatz at Tempelhf Airport in Berlin. Each prong represents one of the 3 air corridors used during "Operation Vittles", and the names of the US and British Airmen killed in the process are inscribed on the base of each. |
31 Americans lost their lives during the Berlin Airlift, paying the ultimate price for the freedom of others. Let that not be forgotten.
1st Lt George B. Smith Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
Captain James A. Vaughan New Haven, Connecticut |
Cpl Norbert H. Theis Cunningham, Kansas |
1st Lt Leland V. Williams Abilene, Texas |
1st Lt Eugene S. Erickson Collinsville, Illinois |
PFC Ronald E. Stone Mt. Sterling, Kentucky |
Mr Karl V. Hagen New York, New York |
Sgt Richard Winter Seattle, Washington |
1st Lt Ralph H. Boyd Fort Worth, Texas |
1st Lt Charles H. King Britton, South Dakota |
Captain Billy E. Phelps Long Beach, California |
1st Lt Craig B. Ladd Minneapolis, Minnesota |
1st Lt Robert W. Stuber Arlington, California |
1st Lt Willis F. Hargis Nacogdoches, Texas |
TSgt Charles L. Putnam Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Major Edwin C. Diltz Fayetteville, Texas |
TSgt Lloyd G. Wells San Antonio, Texas |
1st Lt Robert P. Weaver Fort Wayne, Indiana |
Captain Willian R. Howard Gunnison, Mississippi |
AD/3 Harry R. Crites, Jr. Lafayette, Indiana |
1st Lt Royce C. Stephens San Antonio, Texas |
Captain Joel M. DeVolentine Miami, Florida |
1st Lt Richard M. Wurgel Union City, New Jersey |
1st Lt Robert C. von Luehrte Covington, Kentucky |
1st Lt William T. Lucas Wilson, North Carolina |
1st Lt Lowell A. Wheaton, Jr. Corpus Christi, Texas |
2nd Lt Donald J. Leemon Green Bay, Wisconsin |
PFC Johnny T. Orms Rhein-Main Air Base |
Captain William A. Rathgeber Portland, Oregon |
TSgt Herbert F. Heinig Fort Wayne, Indiana |
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Sgt Bernard J. Watkins Lafayette, Indiana |
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Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families. This is a politics-free zone! Thanks for helping us in our mission! |
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: berlinairlift; canteen; military; troopsupport
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To: All; beachn4fun; Kathy in Alaska; Arrowhead1952; LUV W; PROCON; Liberty Valance; SandRat; ...
Happy Monday To The Canteen
Wishing You A Merry Christmas Week
(((HUGS)))
61
posted on
12/22/2014 8:10:16 AM PST
by
MEG33
(God Bless America And Our Troops)
To: LUV W
Oh My!!!You work at a very popular store.
Love your owls.
62
posted on
12/22/2014 8:12:31 AM PST
by
MEG33
(God Bless America And Our Troops)
To: LUV W
I hope you get a chance to sit a bit this week - looks like working where you do can be a real pain in the legs and back!
63
posted on
12/22/2014 9:35:31 AM PST
by
HiJinx
(I can see Mexico from my back porch...soon, so will you!)
To: beachn4fun
That long and longer. It is tiring but everyone seems to be in a good mood for the most part.
64
posted on
12/22/2014 10:13:23 AM PST
by
luvie
(All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris, Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!)
To: Kathy in Alaska
Kathy,
Sorry to post so late to this thread, but post I must. My MIL has lived with us for the past three years. She turned 100 years old last May. She was born in Berlin. Her father was a German Mennonite farmer whose family, generations before, had been invited by Catherine the Great to Russia to teach farming to the rural folks. After a required 2 year stint in the Russian Forestry Service, he had gone to Berlin to get a degree in Divinity so he could teach in the local college when he went back to Russia. But, things got crazy in 1914.
While in Russia, near the Black Sea, he had met his wife, an English woman whose father was a factory owner in Sheffield. She was a widow with 4 children having previously married another Mennonite farmer who died suddenly from a virus. Man did they click. They married and whole family (which had already increased by one) went to Berlin while the
father studied. There, my MIL was born in May near a street lined with Linden trees. One night in August, her mother said to the family that they must get up from dinner and all go to England immediately. They got up from the table, grabbed a few clothes, and walked out of the house with dirty dishes still on the table. She knew war was going to break out and they could not return to their home in Russia, nor stay and get stranded in E. Berlin. They headed for the harbor and the family of 8 hopped one of the last ships out of Germany before the war broke out the next day.
They arrived in England and stayed a couple of months with her family in Sheffield, but could not stay there because of her father being German. So, they found a distant relative in the United States to sponsor them and once again the family, mother pregnant again with her 7th child, went to Canada, down the St. Lawrence and finally settled in Nebraska, then Kansas, Indiana, Detroit, Texas, and finally Missouri. All together the family wound up as 2 brothers and 2 sisters (from first husband) and 6 more sisters with husband number two.
My MIL has spent 3 years telling me the stories and it’s been so amazing. She had a stroke about a month ago and is now hospicing in our house. (Anyone with good advice about hospice, please feel free to let me know.) I’ve been pulling night detail as I can sleep better in a chair than a bed because of my back and so everyone gets a decent night sleep. It’s about time for me to hit the hay so I can get to my post by 11:00 pm.
I hope you enjoy the little story from a long absent poster.
BSW
65
posted on
12/22/2014 1:32:43 PM PST
by
CH3CN
To: CH3CN
I don’t know if you know it or not, but you are blessed.
66
posted on
12/22/2014 1:50:22 PM PST
by
Repeal The 17th
(We have met the enemy and he is us.)
To: Repeal The 17th
You better believe I know it! It has been such a reward having this lady stay with us. I’ll be forever grateful to my husband for bringing her here.
67
posted on
12/22/2014 1:56:25 PM PST
by
CH3CN
To: HiJinx
I actually did get a chance to sit and do some stuff in the back for a while today, so I’m glad you wished it! :)
2 more days. The line was ever bit as long when I left this afternoon. We’re also running out of stuff. We’ll have angry peeps by the time it’s over. Not that they couldn’t have come in 2 or 3 weeks ago or anything! Right?
68
posted on
12/22/2014 5:08:48 PM PST
by
luvie
(All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris, Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!)
To: Kathy in Alaska; LUV W
69
posted on
12/22/2014 5:25:17 PM PST
by
SandRat
(Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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