February 19, 2022

"Lieutenant Halvorsen and his two crewmen joined with fellow American airmen to drop a total of 23 tons of candies, chocolate and chewing gum wrapped in tiny parachutes from their planes..."

"... while preparing to touch down at Tempelhof airfield with vast quantities of other supplies in an effort to break a Soviet land blockade of Berlin’s Allied-occupied western sectors.... A 9-year-old named Peter Zimmerman sent him a homemade parachute and a map providing directions to his home for a candy drop. Lieutenant Halvorsen searched for the house on his next flight but couldn’t find it. ... Peter sent another note reading: 'No chocolate yet.... You’re a pilot... I gave you a map.... How did you guys win the war anyway?' Lieutenant Halvorsen sent Peter a chocolate bar in the mail. 'Gail Halvorsen enchanted the children of Berlin,' recalled Ursula Yunger, who had been one of those children and later settled in the United States. 'It wasn’t the candy,' she told The Tucson Citizen in 2004. 'It was his profound gesture, showing us that somebody cared.' Ms. Yunger had met Mr. Halvorsen for the first time at a reunion of airlift veterans in Tucson in September 2003. 'I was just shaking,' she said. He hugged her and handed her a Hershey bar."

From "Gail Halvorsen, ‘Candy Bomber’ in Berlin Airlift, Dies at 101/Lieutenant Halvorsen came up with the idea to drop candies, chocolate and chewing gum for the children of West Berlin during a tense Cold War standoff" (NYT).

32 comments:

Purpleslog said...

This is all covered nicely in the great pop history book “The Candy Bombers” which should be made into a big budget streaming mini-series.

Bob Boyd said...

Genius.

Temujin said...

Great story.

Birches said...

I was surprised to see someone I know well featured in Althouse and as the subject of a positive NYT obituary. Halvorsen was a member of our church and everyone in our circles has been talking about him since Thursday. He was featured in a documentary about church members a few years ago, Meet the Mormons. My kids know who he is because of the movie.

Howard said...

Much later, Dr. Bill Wattenberg figured out you could do high altitude drops of granola bars without parachutes

1993
A method Bill suggested for getting food to starving refugees was used to feed hostage Bosnians in the town of Srebrenica. Instead of dropping large pallets of supplies by parachute (easily stolen by hostile soldiers) he suggested dropping tons of individual granola bars out of planes. (The Army used surplus MREs, which one White House official termed “MRE meteors” at the time.)

RoseAnne said...

I first heard of the candy drop when I was a child (66 now). One of the manufacturing plants in my area sponsored a number of German immigrants after the war. I first heard the story from one of them Dad invited home to dinner. I never knew the name of the person responsible and doubt they knew it either, but he will never be forgotten for his contribution.

Andrew said...

Everytime I read a story like this, I can't help but think, "How far we've fallen."

Now we'd make sure each chocolate bar contains a rainbow flag.

Sebastian said...

OK, nice.

But as a former Cold Warrior, I now wonder: as an act of foreign policy, how did it benefit us? Strategic advantage? Lasting gratitude of Germany? Stronger allyship? Germany paying for all troops stationed there?

Big Mike said...

Everytime I read a story like this, I can't help but think, "How far we've fallen."

@Andrew, same.

Jupiter said...

Too bad about Hershey's chocolate.

JK Brown said...

'It was his profound gesture, showing us that somebody cared.'

I was struck by this insight and how it could have helped the situation in Canada right now. Or New Zealand, Australia, etc. For all the faults people heap on Trump, he did always seem to show people that someone cared. That they had been seen, and heard.

Heartless Aztec said...

In the 1950's Lt Daddy was stationed at Memphis Naval Air Station while he finished college at the Univ of Mississippi. To keep up his flight pay he would check out Navy yellow SNJ trainers and fly over our neighborhood in Oxford, Mississippi. He would come in wing waggling at about 500' with his canopy open, roll over and drop candies with parachutes to all of the neighborhood kids. The candy recovery rate was low but we had a large time traipsing the fallow cotton fields looking for the treats sheparded by our mothers. No doubt he got the idea from the Berlin Airlift just a few years prior. Can you ever imagine a stunt like that happening today over a small American city?

John henry said...

I've heard the story before and always found it touching. Thanks for reposting it.

John LGBTQBNY Henry

MadTownGuy said...

Perhaps we could parachute some cannabis gummies into the Antifa camps to mellow the participants.

Joe Smith said...

OK...I'm as cynical as the next guy, but that was a sweet story (no pun intended)...

Wince said...

Lieutenant Halvorsen came up with the idea to drop candies, chocolate and chewing gum for the children of West Berlin during a tense Cold War standoff."

Is there any question the Soviets would have "de-banked" Halvorsen, if only they could have, for providing support to dissenters?

Joe Smith said...

'Perhaps we could parachute some cannabis gummies into the Antifa camps to mellow the participants.'

Like carrying coal to Newcastle...

Michael K said...

Evidence that the good do not all die young.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“Everytime I read a story like this, I can't help but think, "How far we've fallen."”

Fallen? We’re not even the same species anymore. Like house cats envying the exploits of tigers.

Gahrie said...

But as a former Cold Warrior, I now wonder: as an act of foreign policy, how did it benefit us? Strategic advantage? Lasting gratitude of Germany? Stronger allyship? Germany paying for all troops stationed there?

NATO played a large part in winning the Cold War.

As for the Germans, it's complicated. First of all, they remember that it was us entering both world wars that led to their ultimate defeat. But then, that is tempered by the fact that we never sought vengeance as others did. During the Cold War, Western Germany was grateful for our protection. The anti-American and anti-nuke movements in Europe were created and run by the Soviets. The complete abandonment of self-defense (I always spell that word the English way, it seems more correct to me) is due to simple greed. The largest economy in Europe spends less than 2% of its GDP to defend itself. Its military is pathetic. Of course, the French and the Russians like it that way. (The French and the British are the only two European powers remotely prepared to defend themselves, and it's partly from each other) Today the Germans resent our economic and diplomatic power. They accept our military dominance, because they know we present no threat to them. (Hell, we've occupied their country for the last seventy years already)

When you start to dig deeper, you realize that the vast majority of Germany's problems stem from former East Germans. This drive to make Germany dependent upon Russia, and to drive a wedge between our countries is no accident. Putin has been playing the long game, and seeks to gain what the Soviet Union could not, domination of Europe.

Narr said...

RIP Lt. Halvorsen. That smart-ass German kid (how did you guys win?) reminds me of Captain Buck, our instructor during the mandatory two semesters of AFROTC in college (1971-72, the last year of the requirement for male students).

He had been about 7 in early 1945, and says that when he went outside and looked up at those silver bombers (zose silber bommers) he decided then and there that he would rather be in one of them than down below. Immigrated, joined the USAF as an enlisted man. Might have made major eventually--the guys who manned those programs were generally the old, tired, and used up. They certainly didn't have a chance against the hairy masses of pseudo-hippy Boomers they were presented with.

Different worlds.

Clyde said...

I was stationed in West Berlin from '85-'89. The story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy Bomber was well known to us. RIP, Lt. Halvorsen and thank you for representing our country so well.

madison mike said...

I can't believe the coincidence of my watching a PBS DVD about the airlift with a lot of time devoted to Halverson whom I had never heard of and the next day he dies.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Peter sent another note reading: 'No chocolate yet.... You’re a pilot... I gave you a map.... How did you guys win the war anyway?'

Cheeky. Made me laugh.

Narr said...

NATO served its purposes of keeping the Germans down, the Americans in, and the Russians out. Good job.

Since then it has been a boondoggle, and has now become the mirror image of its old foe--acquiring buffers, and then buffers for the buffers. And just to be safe . . . Putin threatens NATO primarily because NATO keeps edging up to Russia. Already it appears Zelensky is demanding entry into NATO. It may at least clarify some things.

Or we could compare NATO now to the French Cordon Sanitaire of the Interwars era.

Plague Monk said...

I took a few graduate level courses in international relations while I was earning my masters in medieval history during the early 1980s. The professor discussed the incident with us, and though he thought it cute, said that it was detrimental to our relations with Germany, which he felt should have been more strident and firm.
My cousin, who retired as a Lt Col, flat out said that the candy bomber should have been court-martialed for fraternization; he commanded units in both Korea and the early stages of the Vietnam war, and he was harsh with his men who fraternized with the locals. Going thru his thousands of pages of records after he died, he referred at least two dozen men for court martial just during the immediate occupation in Japan after the end of WWII.
What would really set him off was any mention of Boyington and the Black Sheep Squadron, with whom he had serious conflicts during the war in the Pacific. I think that if the service allowed dueling, my cousin would have challenged Boyington.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Sebastian said...
But as a former Cold Warrior, I now wonder: as an act of foreign policy, how did it benefit us? Strategic advantage? Lasting gratitude of Germany? Stronger allyship? Germany paying for all troops stationed there?

Did you ever read Armageddon, by Leon Uris?

The Soviets were going from one triumph to another. Then they tried to cut off Berlin and make it only their city.

And the US Air Force stuffed them.

Non violently, with only a few deaths, the US Air Force established "we're ever so much better than you", while the US Government established "we're not going to roll over and let you win".

The Russians (USSR) didn't think we could do it, didn't think we had the logistical ability to keep West Berlin going. When we did it, it forced them to reassess, to ask themselves what else we could do that they didn't think we could do.

The Berlin Airlift might very well have stopped WWIII.

The Candy Bombers, OTOH, made us look much nicer than the Nazi or Soviet troops

Richard Aubrey said...

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a program including interlocutors, music, characters, and a story. I caught one with Tom Brokaw as the interlocutor about Halvorsen. Halvorsen was there. Wonderful stuff.
The Scholastic did a piece, called, "The Chocolate Pilot", a less rough title than anything like "bomber." On the up side, they did lay out the Cold War issue pretty straight.
The Mormons also did one on the composer of "It Is Well With My Soul"--unbelievable. Interlocutor was Hugh Bonneville--Downton Abbey

Richard Aubrey said...

Oh, yeah. Tons and tons of candy were donated by manufacturers and citizens.

Narr said...

I agree with GregTCT about the airlift. American (+Brits and even some French IIRC) know-how,
creativity, and cool-headedness over Red bullying. A great Macguyver in geostrategy.

As for fraternization with Germans, that became legal in late 1945 and the Airlift was from mid-1948. American soft power was a great advantage, whatever crusty old profs and colonels thought.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Narr said...
Since then it has been a boondoggle, and has now become the mirror image of its old foe--acquiring buffers, and then buffers for the buffers. And just to be safe . . . Putin threatens NATO primarily because NATO keeps edging up to Russia.

Oh, please.

Russia is a thuggish third world State that has nuclear weapons.

Putin threatens NATO because Putin wants to conquer the world, and NATO gets in the way
Wah, wah, wah. poor Putin!

BudBrown said...

Nice for the kids. Maybe some grateful adults when the regular flights delivered whiskey and cigarettes.