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. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.720 And by the way, to check out our Our American 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:26.360 Stories podcast, subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:30.720 get your podcasts. Up next, the story of Gail Halverson, 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.960 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 --> 0:00:47.040 war torn Soviet blockaded Berlin following World War Two. And 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.199 we're telling this story because on this day in nineteen twenty, 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.480 Gail Halverson, the Candy Bomber, was born. Here's Colonel Halverson 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.880 with the story beginning with the three weasons why he 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:04.840 and his fellow servicemen saw the Berlin Airlift as necessary. 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.720 I stayed in the Air Force, the Army Air Corps 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.000 at the time after the war and wanted to keep flying. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.760 And we were briefed in our pilot meetings all the time, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.840 every month about the world situation after the war. And 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.920 we knew from these briefings the new enemy was stalling 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:38.760 and Communism. He'd just taken Czechoslovakia, had the popular Democratic 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:44.640 leader assassinated taking Hungary. We knew his headed west. The 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.360 second factor was we knew that most of the two 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:54.280 million two point five million people in Berlin, in West Berlin, 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.520 we're women and children, very few men, and the starve 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:05.760 and take fresh milk or food from babies, from from 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:10.760 women and children. That's a mitigating factor and how we 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.600 felt about what we're doing. The third one was when 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:19.320 I landed that my first trip into Berlin of twenty 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.080 thousand pounds of flour, and opened that have that back door. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.760 A crew chief went back, opened the door. In came 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.040 these Germans, about six of them, unloading about six in 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.799 the semi trail. I wonder how these superman are gonna look. 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.840 And they had mixed uniforms, part uniform, parts of wading 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.839 pot doctors or vomuk privates altogether for one purpose. They 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:49.160 needed freedom, they needed flower. We had both. And when 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.239 Night got out of the cockpit and walked back, the 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.960 lead man came right up, put his hand in mind 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.720 and gripped it and looked me in the eye, and 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.160 his eyes remoist and looked down at that flower like 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.160 rangels from heaven. And we were on the same page. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.680 So there's three factors. So I got to go to 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.760 Berlin and see it on the ground. I had a 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.600 friend in Berlin who says, you get here. I got 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.000 a Jeep four in a driver you take you over 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.720 and see everything. And so one day I came back 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.400 and it was about the seventeenth of July. Came back 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:28.040 and landed that the Rheine mine about noon, A beautiful day, sunshine. 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:29.799 I'm supposed to go to bed and fly that night, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.480 having a movie camera in my hand. And Bill Christian, 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.720 a buddy from Mobile, Alabama, was in the year and 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.800 an airplane, the next hardest fan, load of dry potatoes, 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.120 ready to go to Berlin, just getting ready to start 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.160 the engines. But holy cow, what an opportunity. A beautiful day, 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.240 Bill's going. I'll just jump on the airplane with him. 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.640 I'm not going to bed. I got a jeep wointing 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.360 for him in Berlin. I get off the flight line. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.480 I'll go over the sea and get these great movies. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.160 And so I told John Pickering, my co po, go 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.839 to bed, John, you and Elkins get to bed. I'm 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.240 going to Berlin. You're crazy, I said, I know it, 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.160 but I'm going to Berlin. If this thing stops tomorrow, 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:12.680 they're going to send us all home. They're not going 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.800 to let anybody go side the end of Berlin. And 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.039 I want to see Berlin. I want to see Hitler's bunker. 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.880 I want to see the rice dog got posed. I 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.880 loved history, and here I was right in the middle 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.159 of it. I said, I want to it's gonna be 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.600 where I'm going to Berlin. I'll see it before I 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:29.800 go back. All you need is the uniform. Airplanes come 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.279 back five, no reservations required. So I jumped on the 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.920 airplane went back. We called in and the jeepest waiting. 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.719 But before I went around town, I wanted to get 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:44.880 on the end of the runway and take pictures of 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:46.840 the airplanes coming over the buildings before he had to 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.520 come between the building. And that's that's that's how dumb 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.200 I was. I thought it was going to be over 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.640 that quick. But I was there to get movies if 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:57.640 I ever had any kids, to show them the approach. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.839 And so I went went around there and started shooting movies. 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.640 The aeroplanes coming over barbar fence in front of me, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.960 bombed out billings a couple hundred yards over and then 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:16.960 suddenly here here were the kids. See the color of 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.039 their eyes are right up against me looking at this 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.920 uniform was bowing them three years before maybe killed their 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.280 dad in law. No, and I didn't know how they 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.240 get I looked on all of a sudden, the thirty 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.200 kids about roughie thirty then right on the oreside the 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.640 barbar from me, looking at me, and they were friendly, 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.039 And I thought, why would they be friendly? You know, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.760 here's that uniform right here. And it was the first 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:51.000 time they seen the uniform up course, the military Russian 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:56.920 the first which is terror and occupation guys. Later then 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.000 I found out later why they were so friendly because 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.279 their aunts and uncles there arbitrarily cut off with the border, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:06.800 not cut off because you can walk across the border then, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.960 but they could walk across the border. Their aunts and 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:15.840 uncles and whoever, the close family type come over to 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.720 West Berlin to use the library to see what's going 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.520 on in the world. They'd lost their freedom, they lost 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.680 freedom of the press, the freedom of expression, freedom of travel, 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:34.080 freedom of religion, freedom of electing who they wanted to 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.960 be their ruler. They'd lost that. So they were over 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.279 there and they were telling their aunts and uncles man, 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.640 I can't travel, I can't do this, you can't do that, 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.800 And they knew, they knew them what Colm is like. 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.800 They had missionaries from the commist not for this program, 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:59.560 but negative missionary said, hey, this is not very cool, buddy, 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.800 you know why you do These guys though, they were 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.839 fratling and you're listening to Colonel Gail Halversen tell the 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.480 story of why the Berlin Airlift was necessary. The people 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.440 who Germany knew who we were. We were on their 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.760 side and on the side of freedom. When we come back, 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.000 more of this remarkable story not told enough in America's classrooms, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.600 the story of the Cold War, the story of the 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:33.080 Berlin Airlift. Here on our American Stories. Lei Habibi here 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.320 the host of our American Stories. Every day on this show, 0:07:36.480 --> 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 0:07:43.920 --> 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 --> 0:07:52.160 you love what you here, go to our American Stories 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.160 dot com and click the donate button. Give a little, 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.200 give a lot. Go to our American Stories dot com 0:07:58.280 --> 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 --> 0:08:24.000 necessary and in the end so remarkable and emblematic of 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.280 the people the country that made it happen. American style 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:32.920 freedom was their dream and Hitler's passed and stall in 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.760 the future but their nightmare. They knew. Those kids they 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.839 ate the fourteen there will give me a lesson about freedom. Look, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.679 it said, it's pretty good here in July. You know 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.160 the weather is not too bad against some storm. But 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.720 you wait. They had school English. They someone were pretty 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:57.000 good English schooling. Icons began German. They said, come the winner. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.680 In the fall. You can't get in here. There's going 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.600 to be bad kids. Give me a lecture. Said, but 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:10.240 when that happens, don't worry about us. We don't have 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.079 to have enough to eat. Just don't give up on it. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.400 Someday we'll have enough to eat. But if you're losing freedom, 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.880 we'll never get it back. American style freedom with their dream, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.520 and they knew about the other system. They don't want. 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.880 Those kids were incredible. I just did the whole way out, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.960 and I got so interested in listening to them. I 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.320 looked at whist some acts. I've been there over an hour, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.240 and I said, boy, he might not be waiting. I 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.840 gotta get out of here. So I started to run 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.840 to see you later, kids, and I got about five 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:52.040 steps and the kids I stopped. I said, boy, these 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:58.080 incredible kids. Well they got a postgraduate degree and international relations. 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.360 They know what's important. They got their head screwed on. 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.240 They really know it's important. And it started walking and 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.400 the little voice just kept came back again. I don't 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.640 know how it overcame to get to the jeep. You're late, 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.800 but it did. It don't treat me. And then I 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.800 knew in a flash why why? And it was because 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.760 during the war and after the war, walked down the 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.280 street in the foreign country where the kids had some chocolate, 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.839 not much, but had something. Those kids that changed it. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.480 Going down the street, intercept you and surround you begging 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.400 for chocolate, and government, of course the military, since the 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.960 Continental Army was Washington, going through the town to give 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.640 kids stuff from the ration. They had a little piece 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.680 of chocolate or hard attack or somebody give it the kids. 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:50.439 That's nothing new. And but then I said, they haven't 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:55.880 had any chocolate for months. They haven't had gum. They 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.439 hardly knew what gum was it anyway, but no chocolate 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.000 for months, and not one of those kids would lower 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:08.000 themselves to be a beggar for something mostravgous chocolate when 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.160 they had flower to be free, and they wouldn't ask 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.640 for more than freedom, lower themselves to beg for something more. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.080 It blew my mind. When somebody gives you a million dollars, 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.600 you don't ask for four bucks more. Yeah, you wouldn't 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:28.480 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 --> 0:11:35.320 for what freedom meant to them. When I realized that, 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:39.160 I just the 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 --> 0:11:47.160 reflection indicated which you got some chalk or something? Not one. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.160 So I reached my pocket and just had two sticks 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.640 are gone, the holy cow, two sticks are gone. You're 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.960 gonna have fights, You're gonna have blade noses. Get out 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.600 of here, and well, I've never seen these kids again. 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.000 I'll be flying twenty four hours. I'll sleep. I'll be 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.480 sleeping on the autopilots flying coming to going the copile, probably, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.800 But I can't come to the fence anymore. I'll never 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:14.800 see these kids again. How can how could I possibly 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.679 get something? That's what everybody? Well? I said, well give 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.679 it to him. It's all you got. Broke in a 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.119 half four pieces through the barbar. The kids that were translating, 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.560 I gave them half a stick that did most of it. 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.440 And boy, they looked like they got a hundred dollar bill. 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.960 And boy they'd got a hold of that. And then 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.480 here came the rest of kids, and no fight. They 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.440 just wanted a piece of the wrapper. And the kids 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.600 of the half a stick jum tore off the outer 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.160 wrapper and the tinfoil and handed the kids that didn't 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.920 get any anything at all. And the kid that got 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.319 a piece of paper put it up their nose and 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.840 smelled it and smelled it a piece of paper. I 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:01.080 stood there, the flattened them. Could believe what I've seen? 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.560 Holy cow? For thirty cents, I could buy him thirty 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.760 sticks of gum, and they could have the rapper and everything. 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.199 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 would 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 --> 0:13:24.160 right and run away behind me. And I got to 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:29.000 the idea, I'm coming in tomorrow. I'm delivered to these kids. 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.719 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 --> 0:13:46.800 the clearance. And then I rationalized, and that's how you 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.480 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, darving two million people, not 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.800 according to oil anyway, what's a few sticks of gum? 0:14:00.840 --> 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 aeroplane 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 volved, you'll volve, will share it. They said, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.720 you bet, and bouncing up and down, and I started leaving. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.800 They called me back to what's the matter. You gotta 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.480 know what airplane you're in? Every five minutes was an 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.920 aeroplane coming by here? Well, I didn't know what aeroplane 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:39.200 because the airplanes from Alaska I had ridden noses and 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.320 red tails. They crashed in the snow they could find them. 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:48.560 And the aeroplanes from Hawaii had coconut palms and stuff. 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.240 Arm everybody had a different signet. And I flew whatever 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.480 airplane was loaded. I don't know what airplane though, for 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:58.040 I'm just sure it was a four engine. You're a 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.360 lot of two engine see forty se it was still 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.080 fun before engine, and said I not enough, We're gonna know. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.640 They had told him, wiggle the wings when I come 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:11.080 over the beacon of first before we go ice Berlin, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.040 to come around land, all wiggle the wings. Boys. Let's 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.560 let's get out of here. Let's start this thing, trolling 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.160 all over town. Got the movies you see in every 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.360 documentary every major producer put out, and got my film 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.160 in it. I took around the city and off of 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.680 the airlift as it went on, and I took those pictures. 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.280 Went back to several hours Agay to start flying that night. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.600 Went the basic change open twenty four hours a day. 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:43.080 Bought all I could. I'm a weekly ration and I 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.320 didn't have enough. So I went to my crew and 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.120 I said I gotta have your ration. They gave me. 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:52.560 There's that big double handful of chocolate, chocolate bars, rashy bars, 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:58.680 Babe ruth bounds and double mint gun and then broke 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:03.160 up in three piece, put three parachutes on it, anxious parachutes, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.320 and the next day flew that night, of course, and 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:12.720 the next day fore noon that weather was good. Looked 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.520 down there and those kids were right in the open 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.480 place between the botted out buildings for the barbar fences. 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.160 They hadn't told anybody else in a small group, and 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.240 we'll go to the wings. And he went crazy, still 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.040 see their arms, and they came over the bottom out 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.840 building right behind the policy there's a flair shute where 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:33.000 emergency flares pushed out in case you have emergency in flight. 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.560 It's easy for the Q chief stamp between the policies 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.880 access that. So as he came over, the head just 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.320 told push it out, and he pushed it out, unloaded 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:47.000 twenty thousand pounds of flower. The Germans did and worried 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.320 that somebody had seen the airplane as parachutes to get 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.480 me in trouble and wind up to take off, and 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.240 or they pulled the parachutes over barbed wire where they 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.720 couldn't get him in on the field to assal out 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.680 there three hanktive wavering through of all the airplanes. The 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.240 mouth were going up and down. We waved and I said, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.440 they wouldn't do that, waiving all airplanes. I love. That's 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.919 how it starving. And you're listening to Colonel Gail Halverson 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.960 tell the story of how the Berlin Airlift came to be. 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:26.320 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 0:17:32.400 --> 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 --> 0:17:42.199 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 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.439 Gail Halverson, the Candy bomber, born on this day in 0:17:52.520 --> 0:18:08.040 history in nineteen twenty. Here on our American stories, and 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.800 we continue with our American stories and the story of 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.240 the Berlin Airlift, how it came to be, how it happened, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.879 And we're telling this story because on this day in 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:23.280 nineteen twenty, Gail Halverson, the candy bomber, was born. Let's 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.000 continue where Gail last left off after the first drop. 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:31.520 Let's see, it was about three weeks later when I 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:36.720 got called in and and chewed out because I didn't 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.440 have permission like Colonel Hall. And it was about that 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.640 long ago. And then they said, it's okay, but you've 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.200 got to report down to Frankfort, to the press center 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.560 at Frankfort. They won't know all about it. This news 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:56.360 release came out, so it was then I knew that boy, 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:02.000 something read somebody thought this was a crazy idea. So 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.719 I went in and all the news, all the news agencies. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.720 Of course we're covering the brown earlier. So they were 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.960 all there in this big press center in Frankfort, and 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:14.199 I was pretty humble. The first of litten guy and 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.119 had a chauffeur and the driver and took me in 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.200 the Frankfort in a hurry, and and all these guys 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.640 waiting for me. Wow, what do I call? What had happened? 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.240 Then I knew, and then I was crazy. Everybody was 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:35.160 talking about it. When the word got out. We came 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.360 back from Berlin to the beds and there'd be boxes 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:46.040 of chocolate at bars gum. The guys give the ration, 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:54.080 and we figured that overall we must have dropped about 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.320 two hundred and fifty thousand parachute during the during the 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.439 course of the flock cape we we're able to drop. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.480 My buddies dropped after I had left. They kept dropping 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.320 and dropped until the end of September nineteen forty nine, 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.520 so it went on that long. What happened is that 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:20.440 the American Confectioneers Association that represents all the candymakers in 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.280 America got a hold of me when I was in 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:26.800 New York in September nineteen forty eight to pick up 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.680 an airplane. General Tunner had me stay for a week 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.440 in New York and appear on the early television program 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:39.760 We the People and a number of radio talk shows 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.000 and to inform people about what the airlift was like 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:48.920 and my operation. And they, representing the American Confectioneers Association, 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.000 said how much of this stuff can you use? And 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:59.080 gave him some ridiculous number, And later they sent six 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.760 thousand pounds of chocolate bars by boat and by rail 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:07.800 and drew Bremerhaven down the Rhine Mine. I came back 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:13.040 Berlin one day and and an officer met me and 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:18.400 there with a cheep and said come with me, and 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.480 with four and said I'll show you. Went over the 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.080 railway spur on Rhine Mine and there was a box 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.520 car with arm guard. And then I said, what's in 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:33.480 the box car? This is chocolate bar. And it was 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.880 two shipments of one three thousand pounds one thirty five 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.360 hundred pounds of chocolate bar. And we couldn't drop that 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.440 much because we didn't count tie up the parachute. We 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:49.120 were busy, and so we decided to have a Christmas 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:53.119 party in Berlin with that. And we we got that 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.159 about the middle of Eastumber nineteen forty eight, those shipments, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.720 and and we hadn't we put it and loaded to 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:05.240 put it in the you know, supply building. Somebody there 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:08.680 all the time to guard it. To boy that there's 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:11.679 enough chocolate to buy King doing his castle on the 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:17.160 black market. There's an incredible value. And so we accumulated 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:21.119 all of it before Christmas. And on the twenty fourth 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:26.159 of December nineteen forty eight, the German youth association in 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:30.159 Berlin was the Youth of West Berlin and the military 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.880 teamed up and had Christmas parties for the kids all 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:36.960 of the west Berlin for that amount. But from then 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:40.200 on they said, I said, we can't, we can't handle 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:44.639 it this way. If we had it ready to drop, 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:48.800 then we could drop it over the city as we 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:55.159 came in. And so they said, okay. I don't know 0:22:55.160 --> 0:23:00.000 how they found it, but ELM's Junior College in Chickabee, Massachusetts, 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:05.400 and missus a miss O'Connor said we'll handle that project 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.960 for him to send all the candydas and we'll tie 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.000 up the parachute, put in the boxes ready to drop 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:17.040 and ship it. And Chickapee, mass they had a fire 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.240 station and old fire station that they get a new 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:22.639 and so the city gave it to them. They had 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.560 a big sign up from Operation a Little Bittle and 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:31.440 twenty two schools with alternate tying up. Parachute and sail 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:36.200 boat companies donated old sail cloth off they have cut 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:39.320 it up parachutes about the size of man's hankstif a 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:43.479 little bigger, and the twine companies gave them all the twine. 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.680 The cardboard companies gave them all the cardboard. They had 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:55.240 processed eighteen tons through that facility by January nineteen forty 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.359 nine and west over Air Force Bases right next to 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:02.800 the Chickapee mask there's one of the big transport basis 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:06.800 that supported Rhyme Mine and there's airplanes going back and 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:09.800 forth all times. And so I had all my squadron 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.560 were there organized so that we had a map of 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:18.680 Berlin with pins on the map on the best places 0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:22.800 to drop through the cloud when it was cloudy. We 0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:27.160 knew where the homing beacons were around the city for navigation, 0:24:27.240 --> 0:24:30.440 and so we knew where the biggest playgrounds or where 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:34.880 the children most likely cargating. So we'd bring that those 0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:38.040 boxes in and the pilot would take them out, and 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:40.720 we quit dropping on the end by the end of 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:44.560 the runway because the crowd was got too big and 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:49.960 concentrated area. Afraid the kids get hurt, bigger guys running 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:54.040 over and for the stuff, and so we started dropping 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:57.200 randomly all over the city. So when we come over 0:24:57.800 --> 0:25:00.280 different parts of the city where we wanted to d up, 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:04.480 why the creacie should go back and just check this 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:07.800 kept the top of the cardboard bosh and just check 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.400 it up against the escape patch. And the stuff had 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:13.000 come out like popcorn and just blow all over the 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:16.399 place and scatter all over the countryside. We dropped it 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:19.359 from the thousand feet to two thousand feet and they 0:25:19.520 --> 0:25:22.520 just go all and I've got letters from kids that 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:28.760 but see one man. In nineteen ninety eight we flew 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:33.479 the I'm still flying the Berlin Airlift Flying Museum, the 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:38.800 Spirit of Freedom, the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation aeroplane and 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:41.159 we make parachute drops out of it a lot and 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:43.280 go to the air shows all over the country. In 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:47.120 nineteen ninety eight we flew across the North Atlantic back 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:52.399 to Europe, fifty nine days in Europe, air shows and 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:57.080 air drops in Great Britain, France, Luxembourg, the Berlin twice, 0:25:58.080 --> 0:26:02.760 and then Berlin. When the people had come through the aeroplane, 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:06.520 you could tell immediately those who were there doing the blockade. 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:10.320 They're very emotional about telling you thanks for our freedom, 0:26:10.760 --> 0:26:13.399 and with moist eye they'd tell you how much it 0:26:13.520 --> 0:26:16.760 meant to them. And you've been listening to Colonel Gail 0:26:16.880 --> 0:26:21.000