WEBVTT - The Candy Bomber 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.920 This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:18.080 the show where America is the star and the American people. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:20.720 And by the way, to check out our Our American 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:25.880 Stories podcast, subscribe on the iHeart Radio app or wherever 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.760 you get your podcasts. Up next, the story of Gael Halverson, 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.959 a young pilot and the US Army Air Corps who 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.280 was assigned as a cargo pilot at the Berlin Airlift, 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.519 in which US forces flew much needed supplies into a 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:47.240 war torn Soviet blockaded Berlin following World War Two. Gail 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:49.720 grew up on a farm in Utah and joined the 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.840 Army Air Corps in June of nineteen forty two. Here's 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.480 Colonel Halverson with the story beginning with the three weasons 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:01.680 why he and his fellow serviceman saw the Berlin Airlift 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:10.560 as necessary. I stayed in the Air Force, the Army 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.600 Air Corps at the time after the war and wanted 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.000 to keep flying. And we were briefed in our pilot 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.120 meetings all the time, every month about the world situation 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:29.800 after the war, and we knew from these briefings the 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:35.920 new enemy was Stalin and Communism. He'd just taken Czechoslovakia 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:41.880 had the popular Democratic leader assassinated taking Hungary, we knew 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:47.400 his headed west. The second factor was we knew that 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.559 most of the two million two point five million people 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:56.840 in Berlin, in West Berlin were women and children. Very 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:01.280 few men and the starve man take fresh milk or 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:07.280 food from babies, from and from women and children. That 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:12.080 sub mitigating factor and how we felt about what we're doing. 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:16.440 The third one was when I landed that my first 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.760 trip into Berlin of twenty thousand pounds of flour, and 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.640 opened that have that back door. A crew chief went back, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:28.679 opened the door. In came these Germans, at six of them, unloaded, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.080 about six in the semi trail. I wondered how these 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:36.480 supermen are gonna look. And they had mixed uniforms, part uniform, 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.680 parts of eating quoth doctors or vomuk privates altogether for 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.880 one purpose. They needed freedom, they needed flour. We had both. 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.200 And when Night got out of cockpit and walked back, 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.800 and the lead man came right up, put his hand 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.960 in mind and gripped it and looked me in the eye, 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.240 and his eyes remoist and looked down at that flower 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.440 like rangel from heaven. And we're on the same pace. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.000 So there three factors. So I got to go to 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.080 Berlin and see them on the ground. I had a 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.919 friend in Berlin who says, you get here. I got 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.320 a jeep four in a driver you take you over 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.000 and see everything. And so one day I came back 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.720 and it was by the seventeenth of July. Came back 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:26.080 and landed at a rhine mine about noon. Was a 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.320 beautiful day, sunshine. I'm supposed to go to bed and 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.240 fly that night, having a movie camera in my hand. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.720 And Bill Christian, a buddy from Mobile, Alabama, was in 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:40.240 the and an airplane in the next Hardest Man, Lord 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.880 of dry Potatoes, ready to go to Berlin, just getting 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.320 ready to start the engines. That, holy cow, what an opportunity. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.680 A beautiful day. Bill's going. I'll just jump on the 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.320 airplane with him. I'm not going to bed. I got 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.880 a jeep waining for me in Berlin. I get off 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:56.960 the flight line. I'll go over the sea and get 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.960 these great movies. And so John Pickering, my co pot 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.920 go to bed. John, you and Elkins get to bed. 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.200 I'm going to Berlin. I said, you're crazy, and I said, 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.040 I know it, but I'm going to Berlin. If this 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.600 thing stops tomorrow, they're going to send us all home. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.600 They're not going to let everybody go side seeing to Berlin. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:15.680 And I want to see Berlin. I want to see 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.080 Hitler's bunker. I want to see the rice style got closed. 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.880 I loved history, and here I was right in the 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.360 middle of it. I said, I want to it's gonna 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.880 be where I'm going to Berlin. I'll see it before 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.120 I go back. All he needs the uniform. Airplanes come 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.599 back five, no reservations required. So I jumped on the 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.240 airplane went back. We called in and the jeepest waiting. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.039 But before I went around town, I wanted to get 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.200 on the end of the runway and take pictures of 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.159 the airplanes coming over the billings before I had to 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.839 come between the billing. And that's that's that's how dumb 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:51.520 I was. I thought it was going to be over 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.720 that quick. I thought I was there to get the movies. 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:56.960 If I were had any kids, to show them the approach. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:02.159 And so I went around there and started shooting movies. 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:05.960 The aeroplanes coming over barbar fence in front of me, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.719 bombed out billions a couple hundred yards over and then suddenly, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:16.440 here here are the kids. See the color of their 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.960 eyes are right up against me looking at this uniform 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.480 was bowing them three years before, maybe killed their dad 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.600 and mom, who knows, And I didn't know how they 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:29.560 get I looked on all of a sudden, these thirty 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.440 kids about ruffie thirty stand right on their side of 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:37.960 the barbar from me, looking at me, and they were friendly, 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.280 And I thought, why would they be friendly? You know, here, 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:47.040 here's that uniform right here, And it was the first 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.320 time they've seen a uniform, of course the military rushing 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:56.240 the first which is terror and occupation guys. Later then 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:00.280 I found out later why they were so friendly because 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.599 their aunts and uncles or arbitrarrily cut off with the border. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.120 Not cut off because you can walk across the border then, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.720 but they could walk across the border. Their aunt's uncles 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:15.600 and whoever the close family taught come over to West 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:20.120 Berlin to use the library to see what's going on 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:25.159 in the world. They'd lost their freedom, they lost freedom 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.000 of the press, the freedom of expression, freedom of travel, 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:33.400 freedom of religion, freedom of electing who they wanted to 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:37.279 be their ruler. They'd lost that. So they were over 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.520 there and they were telling their aunts and uncles, man, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.960 I can't travel, I can't do this, you can't do that, 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:49.800 And they knew. They knew then what comments like. They 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.200 had missionaries from the commist not for this program, but 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:58.880 negative missionaries said hey, this is not very cool, buddy, 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.520 No way you do these guys, so they were friendly. 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.640 And you're listening to Colonel Gail Halverson tell the story 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.960 of why the Berlin Airlift was necessary. The people who 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.160 Germany knew who we were. We were on their side 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.080 and on the side of freedom. When we come back, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.320 more of this remarkable story not told enough in America's classrooms, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.920 the story of the Cold War, the story of the 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:33.120 Berlin Airlift. Here on our American Stories. Lei Habibi here 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.320 the host of our American Stories. Every day on this show, 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.480 we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.880 from our big cities and small towns. But we truly 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.680 can't do the show without you. Our stories are free 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.400 to listen to, but they're not free to make. If 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.200 you love what you hear, go to our American Stories 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.160 dot com and click the donate button. Give a little, 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.280 give a lot. Go to our American Stories dot com 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:12.040 and give, and we continue with our American stories and 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.640 the story of Colonel Halverson, and in the end, the 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.760 story of the Berlin Airlift and why it was so 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:24.080 necessary and in the end so remarkable and emblematic of 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.320 the people the country that made it happen. American style 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.480 freedom was their dream, and Hitler's passed and Stalin's future 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:38.559 was their nightmare. They knew, those kids, they ate the fourteen. 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.240 They were giving me a lesson about freedom. Look, I said, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.280 it's pretty good here in July. You know, the weather's 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.760 not too bad to get some storm. But you wait. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.760 They had school English. They spoke. Someone spoke pretty good English. School. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:57.000 I couldn't spin any German. They said, come to winter 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.720 in the fall. You can't get in here. It's going 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.240 to be bad. Kids to give me a lecture, said, 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:10.120 but when that happens, don't worry about us. We don't 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.880 have to have enough to eat. Just don't give up 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:19.000 on us. Someday we'll have enough to eat. But if 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:24.040 a loser freedom, we'll never get it back. American style 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.559 freedom with their dream, and he knew about the other systems. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.880 They didn't want him. Those kids were incredible. I just 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.679 did the whole he count, and I got so interested 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.120 in listening to them. I looked at whilst some acts. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.880 I've been there over an hour, and I said, boy, 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.079 he might not be waiting. I gotta get out of here. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.080 So I started to run, so see you later, kids, 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.760 and I got about five steps and then the kids 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.720 I stopped. I said, boy, these incredible kids. I said, well, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.400 they got a postgraduate degree in international relations. They know 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.960 what's important. They got their head screwed on. They really 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.880 know it's important. And it started walking and the little 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.600 voice just kept came back again. I don't know how 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.040 it overcame to get to the jeep. You're late, but 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.080 it did. It don't treat me. And then I knew 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:18.120 in a flash why why? And it was because during 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.040 the war and after the war, walked down the street 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.320 in the foreign country where the kids had some chocolate, 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.839 not much, but had something. And those kids that changed it. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:32.280 Going down the street, interception and surrounded begging for chocolate, 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.360 and government, of course the military, since the Continental Army 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.400 was Washington, going through a town to give kids stuff 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.160 from the rushing they had a little piece of chocolate 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.120 or hard attack or somebody give it. The kids that's 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:50.600 nothing new. And then I said, thought, they haven't had 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:56.280 any chocolate for months. They haven't had gum. They already 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:59.880 knew what gum was anyway, but no chocolate for months. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.880 And not one of those kids would lower themselves to 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.040 be a beggar for something, go striving against chocolate when 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.280 they had flower to be free. They wouldn't ask for 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.640 more than freedom, lower themselves to beg for something more. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.040 It blew my mind. When somebody gives you a million dollars, 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.640 you don't ask for four bucks more. Yeah, you wouldn't 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.520 ask for that. Well they didn't. They didn't ask for 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.880 that cream on the top, because there was so thankful 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.280 for what freedom meant to them. When I realized that, 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:39.160 I just said, holy cow, can't believe it. Not one 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.000 child put out their hand, not one by voice in 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:46.560 reflection in the kid, which you got some chocolate or something? 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.600 Not one. So I reached my pocket and just had 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.959 two sticks are gone. The holy cow, two sticks are gone. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.800 You're gonna have fights, You're gonna have Blaine noses. Get 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.160 out of here, and said, well, I'd never see these 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.640 kids again. I'll be flying twenty four hours, I'll sleep, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.360 I'll be sleeping when the autopilots flying coming to going 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.600 a copile. Probably, But I can't come to the fence anymore. 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:14.200 I'll never see these kids again. How can how could 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.280 I possibly get something that's everybody? Well, I said, well 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.640 give it to him. It's all you got. Broke in 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.280 a half four pieces through the barbar. The kids that 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.040 were translating. I gave them half a stick. They did 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.440 most of it, and boy, they looked like they got 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:32.840 a hundred dollar bill. And boy they'd got a hold 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.240 of that. And then here came the rest the kids, 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.880 and no fight. They just wanted a piece of the rapper. 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.319 And the kids with half a stick um tore off 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.760 the outer wrapper and the tinfoil and handed the kids 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.520 that didn't get any anything at all. And the kid 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.319 they got a piece of paper, put it up their 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.640 nose and smelled it and smelled it a piece of paper. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:01.120 I stood there just flattened them. Believe what I've seen, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.600 Holy cow. For thirty cents, I could buy them thirty 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.760 sticks of gum and they could have the rapper and everything. 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.240 But how do I deliver it? I can't come out here. 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.840 Could I get some German to deliver it? Who knows 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.679 what kids will get it, or if you'd even deliver it. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.160 About that time, an aeroplane flew over my head, landed 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.400 right the runaway behind me, and I got to the idea, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.000 I'm coming in tomorrow. I can deliver to these kids. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.760 I can put it in that open place and I'll 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.920 get enough for everybody. And boy, and then the red 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.960 light came on. So you got to have permission for that. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.080 You can't drop stuff out of airplanes unless you get 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.840 the clearance. And then I rationalized, and that's how you 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.520 get in trouble. That's the first step getting off the path. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:57.040 And so I thought, well, starving two million people, not 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.839 according to oil anyway, what's a few sticks of gum. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:05.360 And so I found myself almost horrified, saying, kids, you 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.040 come back tomorrow. Stand in this open place. When I 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.800 come into land, I'll drop enough out of the airplane 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.280 who is before I land. If you'll share it, I 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.200 know you'll vold your vold will share it. They said, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.760 you bet, and bouncing up and down, and I started leaving. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.720 They called me back, said I said, what's the matter. 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.200 You gotta know what airplane you're in. Every five minutes 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.120 there was an aeroplane coming by here. Well, I didn't 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.680 know what aeroplane. Because the airplanes from Alaska had ridden 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.120 noses and red tails. They crashed in the snow they 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.840 could find them, and the airplanes from Hawaii had coconut 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.120 palms and stuff on them. Everybody had a different singing. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.640 And I flew whatever airplane was loaded. I don't know 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.760 what airplane do for. I'm just sure it was a 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.800 four engine. You'd a lot of two engine see forty. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.120 It was still fun. So four engine, they said, I 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.800 not enough. We're gonna know. They had told wiggle the 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:10.320 wings when I come over the beacon of first before 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.560 we go hice Berlin to come around land all wiggle 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.920 the wings. Boy said let's let's get out of here. 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.240 Let's start this thing. So I went all over town. 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.480 Got the movies you seene in every documentary, every major 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.440 producers put out has got my film in it. I 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.960 took around the city and off of the airlift as 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.200 it went on, and I took those pictures, went back 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:36.040 to several hours, ready to start flying. That night went 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.880 the basic Change opened twenty four hours a day, bought 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:43.480 all I could. I'm a weekly ration and I didn't 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.640 have enough. So I went to my crew and I said, 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:48.680 I gotta have your ration. They gave me. There's a 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:53.160 big double handful of chocolate, chocolate bars, hers, she bars, Babe, 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:59.000 ruth bounds and double mint gum, and broke up in 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.240 three piece. Put three parachutes on it, anxious parachutes, and 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.800 next day flew. That night, of course, and the next 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:13.120 day fore noon that weather was good. Looked down there 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.360 and those kids were right in the open place between 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.120 the bottom doll buildings and the barbar fences. They hadn't 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.720 told anybody else. It's small group. Wingled the wings and 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.360 he went crazy. Still see their arms that they came 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.480 over the bottom doll building. Right behind the policy. There's 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.600 a flair shute where emergency flares pushed out in case 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.320 you have emergency in flight. It's easy for the cuchief 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.040 stamp between the policy just access that. So as he 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.000 came over, the head just told push it out, and 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.800 he pushed it out, unloaded twenty thousand pounds of flower. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.200 The Germans did and worried that somebody had seen the 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.440 airplane as parachutes to get me in trouble, and lined 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.880 up to take off and or they pulled the parachutes 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.000 over the barbed wire where they couldn't get him in 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.200 on the field, but he tacks it out. There're three 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.480 hanctors waving through it, all airplanes. Their mouths are going 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.480 up and down, and we waved, and I said, wish 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.440 they wouldn't do that, waving all airplanes. I love. That's 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.960 how it started. And you're listening to Colonel Gail Halverson 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.960 tell the story of how the Berlin Airlift came to be. 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:26.400 Two million people trapped without any means of really supporting themselves. 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:30.080 We had bombed many parts of Germany to bits and 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.359 leave it to American gis to come up with the 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.200 idea or one. As he said, a light bulb went 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.760 off in my head. But then he realized, quote, you 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:42.239 can't drop stuff off out of airplanes without permission. And 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.199 then he added, Then I rationalized, and that's when you 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.040 get in trouble. More. This remarkable story, the story of 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:53.080 the Berlin Airlift, the story of American compassion and ingenuity. 0:17:53.520 --> 0:18:09.440 Here on our American stories, and we continue with our 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.080 American stories and the story of the Berlin Airlift, how 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.760 it came to be, how it happened, and the man 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.200 on the ground. Then, who's now telling us this story 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.080 is Colonel Gail Halverson. Let's continue where Gail last left off. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.119 After the first ye off, Let's say it was about 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:32.879 three weeks later when I got called in and and 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.400 chewed out because I didn't have permission like Colonel Hall. 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:42.120 And it was about that long ago. And then they said, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.480 it's okay, but you've got a report down to Frankfort, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.679 to the press center at Frankfort. They want to know 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.919 all about it, this news release that came out. So 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:58.320 it was then I knew that voice something read. Somebody 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.320 re thought this was a crazy idea. So I went 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.959 in and all the news, all the news agencies. Of 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.040 course we're covering the Brunerla. So they were all there 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.320 in this big Prescott center in Frankfort, and I was 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.280 pretty humble. The first lieutenant guy and had a chauffeur 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.200 and the driver and took me into Frankfort in a hurry, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.119 and and all these guys waiting for me. Wow, what 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.760 do I call? What had happened? Then I knew, and 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.840 from then I was crazy. Everybody was talking about it. 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:34.920 When the word got out. We came back from Berlin 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.280 to the beds, and there'd be boxes of chocolate at 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:48.000 bars gone. The guys give the ration, and we figured 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:53.560 that overall we must have dropped about a two hundred 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.760 and fifty thousand parachutes during the During the course of 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.639 the flockade, we were able to dropped. My buddies dropped 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:06.280 after I had left. They kept dropping and dropped until 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.760 the end of September nineteen forty nine, so it went 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.679 on that long. What happened is that the American Confectioneers 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.960 Association that represents all the candymakers in America got a 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:22.879 hold of me when I was in New York in 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:27.240 September nineteen forty eight to pick up an airplane. General 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.240 Tunner had me stay for a week in New York 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:34.119 and appear on the early television program We the People, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:40.160 and the number of radio talk shows and to inform 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.560 people about what the airlift was like and my operation. 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:49.560 And they represented the American Confectioneers Association said how much 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:53.280 of this stuff can you use? And I gave him 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:59.360 some ridiculous number, and later they sent six thousand pounds 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:03.040 of chocolate hours by boat and by rail from through 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:07.240 Bremerhaven down to Rhine Mine. I came back to Berlin 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:12.640 one day and and an officer met me and there 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:17.879 with a cheep and said come with me, and with 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.879 four in said I'll show you. Went over the railway 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.280 spur on Rhine Mine and there was a box car 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.480 with a armed guard. And then I said what's in 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.520 the box car? And he says chocolate bars? And it 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.640 was two shipments of one three thousand pounds one thirty 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.080 five hundred pounds of chocolate bar. And we couldn't drop 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.679 that much because we didn't couldn't tie up the parachute. 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:47.520 We're too busy, and so we decided to have a 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:51.960 Christmas party in Berlin was had. And we we got 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.320 that about the middle of the East summer nineteen forty eight, 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:59.520 those shipments, and and we hadn't we put it unloaded 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.440 and put it in the you know, supply building where 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.040 there's somebody there all the time to guard it. Because 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:10.399 the boy that there's enough chocolate the Viking dings castle 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.480 on the black market, there's an incredible value. And so 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:19.280 we accumulated all of it before Christmas. And on the 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.640 twenty fourth of December nineteen forty eight, the German Youth 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:28.280 Association in Berlin was a useful of West Berlin, and 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.320 the military teamed up and had Christmas parties for the 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.640 kids all over West Berlin for their amount. But from 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.159 then on they said, so we can't, we can't handle 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.680 it this way. If we had it ready to drop, 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.800 then we could drop it over the city as we 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:54.119 came in. And so they said, okay, I don't know 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:58.960 how they found it, but ELM's Junior College in Chickabee, Massachusetts, 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:04.360 and missus a miss O'Connor said, we'll handle that project 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.680 for him and send all the candy dust and we'll 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.560 tie up the parachutes, put in the boxes ready to 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:15.680 drop and ship it. In Chickapee, mass they had a 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:19.000 fire station and old fire station that they get a 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.439 new and so the city gave it to them. They 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:23.720 had a big sign up from Operation a Little Viddles 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:29.000 and twenty two schools with alternate tying up parachutes, and 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:35.120 sail boat companies donated old sail cloth. They have cut 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:38.240 it up parachutes about the size of man's hankshif a 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.399 little bigger, and the twine companies gave them all a twine. 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:46.680 The cardboard companies gave them all the cardboard. They had 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:54.400 processed eighteen tons through that facility by January nineteen forty nine. 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:59.040 And west Over Air Force Bases right next to Chickapee 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:02.560 mass is one of the big transport basis that supported 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:06.679 rhind Mine and there's airplanes going back forth at all times, 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:10.720 and so I had all my squadron were there organized 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:14.640 though that we had a map of Berlin with pins 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:18.360 on the map on the best places to drop through 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:22.280 the cloud when it was cloudy. We knew where the 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:27.280 homing beacons were around the city for navigation, and so 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:30.119 we knew where the biggest playgrounds or where the children 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:34.439 most likely cargoding. So we'd bring that those boxes in 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:38.080 and the pilot would take him out and we quit 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:40.280 dropping on the end by the end of the runway 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:45.160 because the crowd was got too big and concentrated area. 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:48.960 I was afraid the kids get hurt bigger guys running 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:53.000 over them for the stuff, and so we started dropping 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.160 randomly all over the city. So when we come over 0:24:56.760 --> 0:24:59.200 different parts of the city where we wanted to drop, 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:03.440 why the creachie should go back and just check this 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:06.760 cut the top of the cardboard box and just check 0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:09.320 it up against the escape hatch and the stuff would 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:11.919 come out like popcorn and just blow all over the 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:15.359 place and scatter all over the countryside. We dropped it 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.359 from the thousand feet to two thousand feet and they 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.520 just go over And I've got letters from kids that 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:27.680 but see one man. In nineteen ninety eight, we flew 0:25:27.760 --> 0:25:32.399 the I'm still flying the Berlin Airlift Flying Museum, the 0:25:32.440 --> 0:25:37.760 Spirit of Freedom, the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation aeroplane and 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:40.119 we make parachute drops out of it a lot and 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:42.240 go to the air shows all over the country. In 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:46.080 nineteen ninety eight we flew across the North Atlantic back 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:51.320 to Europe, sixty nine days in Europe, air shows and 0:25:51.840 --> 0:25:57.119 air drops in Great Britain, France, Luxemburg, Berlin twice, and 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:01.639 then Berlin. When the people had come through the aeroplane, 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:05.480 you could tell immediately those who were there doing the blockade. 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:09.240 They're very emotional about telling you thanks for our freedom, 0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:12.640