Free Republic

U.S. military pilot Gail S. Halvorsen - known as the 'Candy Bomber' for his candy airdrops during the Berlin airlift after World War II ended - has died aged 101. Halvorsen died Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by most of his children, James Stewart, the director of the Gail S. Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation, said Thursday. Colonel Gail Seymour 'Hal' Halvorsen is best known as the 'Berlin Candy Bomber' or 'Uncle Wiggly Wings' and gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin airlift from 1948 to 1949. Halvorsen was beloved...

Gail Halvorsen, a former U.S. airman known as the “Candy Bomber” for delivering sweets to children during the Berlin Airlift, died on Wednesday at the age of 101. The Gail S. Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation confirmed the veteran's death in a statement on Thursday. The foundation said he passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at the Utah Valley Hospital following a brief illness. Halvorsen gained his "Candy Bomber" moniker during the 15-month Berlin Airlift after World War II that saw western allies drop essential supplies into West Berlin after it was blockaded by the Soviet Union. The airman had...

Gail Halvorsen, a former U.S. airman known as the “Candy Bomber” for delivering sweets to children during the Berlin Airlift, died on Wednesday at the age of 101. The Gail S. Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation confirmed the veteran's death in a statement on Thursday. The foundation said he passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at the Utah Valley Hospital following a brief illness. Halvorsen gained his "Candy Bomber" moniker during the 15-month Berlin Airlift after World War II that saw western allies drop essential supplies into West Berlin after it was blockaded by the Soviet Union. The airman had...

In 1948, when he was a young U.S. Air Force pilot ferrying humanitarian aid in the Berlin airlift, Gail Halvorsen encountered a group of German children standing by the runway at Tempelhof Airport. As the kids peppered him with questions, he reached in his pocket and found two sticks of gum, which he broke into pieces and passed around the crowd. But it wasn’t nearly enough. Looking at the faces of all the kids who had been left out, he had a brainstorm. Tomorrow when he flew in his load of cargo, he promised the children, he would drop small...

It’s a sweet story that doesn’t grow old, and the same might be said about the man telling it. Gail S. “Hal” Halvorsen needs no prodding to talk about something he’s been talking about for 72 years. Relaxing in the shade of an apple tree in the backyard of the house he built in 1974 when he retired from the U.S. Air Force and returned to Utah, he enthusiastically launches into a retelling of the time he was called on the carpet by his commanding officer in the summer of 1948. He had just returned to his airbase after flying...