The Humanitarian corridor and the Candy Bombers

DefenseLink:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates helped to dedicate a Pentagon corridor here today that recognizes the efforts of America’s men and women in uniform to bring hope to people in need of help around the world.

The “Humanitarian Relief Efforts at Home and Abroad” corridor has exhibits highlighting 27 major events, from the late 1940s to the present day, in which Defense Department personnel brought aid and comfort to those in need.

“The U.S. military is the greatest fighting force in the world – but there is another side to what they do,” Gates said. “That side is represented in this exhibit. The suffering caused by war and natural disaster prompts a compassionate nation to respond.”

The exhibit’s displays include photographs from the operations, written words explaining what happened, and three-dimensional objects such as simulated mud, snow, debris, trees and containers with food and supplies.

“These vivid displays take us around the world, and back in time, to understand more about the relief operations of our military,” Gates said. “Some of these missions of mercy have been carried out on foreign soil, others here in the United States. Some are legendary; many more deserve to be.”

Gates mentioned the 462-day Berlin Airlift in 1948-49, in which U.S. and allied forces dropped food and supplies to a city blockaded by the Soviet Union. Many Berliners’ lives may have been saved by the U.S. forces’ actions, and 31 American servicemen gave their lives in the process.

Gates also spoke about the help U.S. forces provided Hungarians fleeing Soviet forces in 1956. He noted that the military has been increasingly involved in different types of humanitarian operations and has become more active in delivering humanitarian aid during disasters around the world.

...

As an example of this desire to help people, Gates pointed to Air Force Col. Gail S. Halvorsen, who earned worldwide acclaim as the “Candy Bomber” during the Berlin Airlift. While flying missions during the airlift, Halvorsen began dropping chocolate bars with tiny parachutes to Berlin’s children. His actions earned him the love and gratitude of Berliners and the acclaim of people in the United States and throughout the free world.

Halvorsen was on hand to help to dedicate the corridor, and he also spoke during the ceremony. He reminisced about his experiences and how he was inspired by some German children he met at the Berlin fence in 1948 who told him, “Someday, we’ll have enough to eat. But if we lose our freedom, we’ll never have it back.”

Feeling the need to do something extra to help Berlin’s children, Halvorsen began dropping candy to them, and his deeds earned him his Candy Bomber nickname, along with others such as “Chocolate Pilot” and “Uncle Wiggly Wings.”

Halvorsen spoke of a visit back to Europe in 1998, when he was approached by a man who remembered being a boy in Berlin and having one of the chocolates drop out of the clouds on a parachute. “It wasn’t the chocolate that was important,” the man told Halvorsen. “What was important was that someone in America knew that I was in trouble. Somebody cared. … I can live on thin rations, but not without hope. Without hope, the soul dies.”

Halvorsen said the efforts of those who took part in the Berlin airlift not only resulted in gaining the gratitude of the German people, but also helped to fulfill the U.S. forces who had an opportunity to be of service to others and put service before themselves.

...

I have mentioned in recent posts Andrei Cherny's excellent book The Candy Bombers which gives the background and details of Halverson's contribution to the breaking of the Berlin blockade. Halverson thought he would get into trouble for breaking regulations, but when the story hit the media he was seen as a hero in both Berlin and the US.

He came back to the states and spoke about his mission on the airlift and candy executives spoke with him and offered to sends tons of candy and gum. Others volunteered hankerchiefs to be used for parachutes.

It finally grew so big that planes were allowed to take the candy as part of the essential supplies that lifted the spirits of the Germans in Berlin. In fact the Germans refused the Russian ration cards and stayed with the meager supplies provided by the air lift in opting for freedom.

The book also provides the details on the formation of the Marshall Plan and NATO. It also demonstrates how the success of the airlift lifted Truman's campaign to victory in 1948.

I highly recommend the book.