Onkel Wackelflugel
*Inspiring post alert*
Good news, friends! Gail Halvorsen is doing a candy drop on Friday! For those of you who don't know who the amazing Gail Halvorsen is, click on this! Go down to the "Impressions of a Berlin Airlift Pilot" and read it. I promise, it'll make you a better person.
The first time I heard the name Gail Halvorsen, I was in my first month of working at BYU Broadcasting as a closed-captioner. We did a show back then called "Inspiring Lives", and my first one I ever got to do was about "The Berlin Candy Bomber", or Gail Halvorsen. I was putting in some extra hours later one afternoon and when I opened the video, I thought it would just be a meh job, not as bad as a Food Nanny but not as good as a men's volleyball game. And man. I was totally wrong. Out of all the things I've captioned on BYUtv and KBYU over the years, this is hands-down the best, most inspiring show I've ever captioned. Unfortunately, I can't find the video anywhere. I'll keep looking though.
If you didn't click on the link because you're lazy, I'll give you a brief synopsis.
Gail S. (Hal) Halvorsen piloted C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin Airlift (AKA "Operation Vittles"). The Berlin Airlift was essentially bringing in tons (not lots, literally tons) of food by air for the starving people of West Berlin, who were getting starved, frozen, and cut off from the rest of the world by the Soviets in hopes they would surrender their democracy and embrace communism. While military couldn't get in on the ground, there were three 20-mile wide air corridors that remained open. The Soviets didn't believe there was a strong enough force in Germany to mount an airlift, so they mounted a blockade around the entire city. When General Lucius D. Clay (the highest-ranking American officer in West Germany) heard about this, he passed it on to Lt. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, the commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. Clay asked if the planes could airlift supplies into the soon-to-be destitute city, and LeMay responded "Sir, the Air Force can deliver anything." With that, plans were made and pilots started delivering as much as they could with the limited airfields and food they could bring in. It was estimated they needed over 2,000 tons of coal and 1,439 tons of food per day to meet the basic needs of the people of Berlin, which seemed an impossible task. Nevertheless, they tried their best.
Enter Gail Halvorsen, who flew a C-53 cargo airplane to ferry supplies into Berlin. On his days off, he liked to sight-see in Berlin. One day he saw a group of childen huddled at a fence at the Tempelhof airport, watching the airplanes land. He realized that these children had nothing if he didn't do his job to bring the food and coal in for these people. He was their lifeline. He looked in his pockets to see if he had any food or candy to give them, and all he found were a couple sticks of gum. He gave it to the children, and in his account he mentions how astounded he was that no one fought over it, but divided it up into tiny pieces, and let the kids who didn't get any gum get to smell the wrapper. Filled with compassion, he told them he would bring enough gum for everyone the next day when he flew his load in. They would know it was him because he would wiggle the wings of his plane before he landed. When he got back to base he bartered cigarettes (which he didn't use, being LDS) for chocolate, gum, and handkerchiefs, which he tied to the candy so they would parachute down. As he flew over the next day, they made the candy drop. He continued to do this once a week. When his commander heard of this, he called him in and commended him on his efforts and expanded it into "Operation Little Vittles." News spread in the States about Halvorsen's efforts and children (and eventually candy companies) started sending candy to be dropped. By the end of the war, they were doing drops every other day. It is estimated that about 25 different plane crews dropped 23 tons of chocolate, gum, and other candies over Berlin from 1948-1949.
Ever since I heard this story, I've felt such a random connection to this man and all the good he did in Germany. When reading his biography, there was a quote from him that always stands out to me.
"My experience on the Airlift taught me that gratitude, hope, and service before self can bring happiness to the soul when the opposite brings despair."
I mean, he was in one of the most despairing places on Earth, and he found a way to turn it around through gratitude and service. How hard is my life compared to the West Berliners? Ha. Not hard. But even when it feels hard, how often am I grateful for my blessings, as opposed to depressing my apparent lack of them? Every time I hear this story, I am reminded that I can bring hope to those around me by the way I live my life, much like Gail Halvorsen did. Even if I don't affect as many as he did, I can still affect someone. And if I can, so can you.
-K
For more information:
http://www.historynet.com/berlin-airlift-operation-vittles.htm
http://wigglywings.weebly.com/the-candy-bomber.html
http://www.heraldextra.com/citycelebrations/freedom-festival/candy-bomber-to-drop-candy-bars-over-scera-park-event/article_9c28c190-3a73-5ba3-8786-722cc7cddc63.html
Good news, friends! Gail Halvorsen is doing a candy drop on Friday! For those of you who don't know who the amazing Gail Halvorsen is, click on this! Go down to the "Impressions of a Berlin Airlift Pilot" and read it. I promise, it'll make you a better person.
The first time I heard the name Gail Halvorsen, I was in my first month of working at BYU Broadcasting as a closed-captioner. We did a show back then called "Inspiring Lives", and my first one I ever got to do was about "The Berlin Candy Bomber", or Gail Halvorsen. I was putting in some extra hours later one afternoon and when I opened the video, I thought it would just be a meh job, not as bad as a Food Nanny but not as good as a men's volleyball game. And man. I was totally wrong. Out of all the things I've captioned on BYUtv and KBYU over the years, this is hands-down the best, most inspiring show I've ever captioned. Unfortunately, I can't find the video anywhere. I'll keep looking though.
If you didn't click on the link because you're lazy, I'll give you a brief synopsis.
Gail S. (Hal) Halvorsen piloted C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin Airlift (AKA "Operation Vittles"). The Berlin Airlift was essentially bringing in tons (not lots, literally tons) of food by air for the starving people of West Berlin, who were getting starved, frozen, and cut off from the rest of the world by the Soviets in hopes they would surrender their democracy and embrace communism. While military couldn't get in on the ground, there were three 20-mile wide air corridors that remained open. The Soviets didn't believe there was a strong enough force in Germany to mount an airlift, so they mounted a blockade around the entire city. When General Lucius D. Clay (the highest-ranking American officer in West Germany) heard about this, he passed it on to Lt. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, the commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. Clay asked if the planes could airlift supplies into the soon-to-be destitute city, and LeMay responded "Sir, the Air Force can deliver anything." With that, plans were made and pilots started delivering as much as they could with the limited airfields and food they could bring in. It was estimated they needed over 2,000 tons of coal and 1,439 tons of food per day to meet the basic needs of the people of Berlin, which seemed an impossible task. Nevertheless, they tried their best.
Enter Gail Halvorsen, who flew a C-53 cargo airplane to ferry supplies into Berlin. On his days off, he liked to sight-see in Berlin. One day he saw a group of childen huddled at a fence at the Tempelhof airport, watching the airplanes land. He realized that these children had nothing if he didn't do his job to bring the food and coal in for these people. He was their lifeline. He looked in his pockets to see if he had any food or candy to give them, and all he found were a couple sticks of gum. He gave it to the children, and in his account he mentions how astounded he was that no one fought over it, but divided it up into tiny pieces, and let the kids who didn't get any gum get to smell the wrapper. Filled with compassion, he told them he would bring enough gum for everyone the next day when he flew his load in. They would know it was him because he would wiggle the wings of his plane before he landed. When he got back to base he bartered cigarettes (which he didn't use, being LDS) for chocolate, gum, and handkerchiefs, which he tied to the candy so they would parachute down. As he flew over the next day, they made the candy drop. He continued to do this once a week. When his commander heard of this, he called him in and commended him on his efforts and expanded it into "Operation Little Vittles." News spread in the States about Halvorsen's efforts and children (and eventually candy companies) started sending candy to be dropped. By the end of the war, they were doing drops every other day. It is estimated that about 25 different plane crews dropped 23 tons of chocolate, gum, and other candies over Berlin from 1948-1949.
 |
| Halvorsen making some parachutes in his downtime. |
"My experience on the Airlift taught me that gratitude, hope, and service before self can bring happiness to the soul when the opposite brings despair."
I mean, he was in one of the most despairing places on Earth, and he found a way to turn it around through gratitude and service. How hard is my life compared to the West Berliners? Ha. Not hard. But even when it feels hard, how often am I grateful for my blessings, as opposed to depressing my apparent lack of them? Every time I hear this story, I am reminded that I can bring hope to those around me by the way I live my life, much like Gail Halvorsen did. Even if I don't affect as many as he did, I can still affect someone. And if I can, so can you.
-K
For more information:
http://www.historynet.com/berlin-airlift-operation-vittles.htm
http://wigglywings.weebly.com/the-candy-bomber.html
http://www.heraldextra.com/citycelebrations/freedom-festival/candy-bomber-to-drop-candy-bars-over-scera-park-event/article_9c28c190-3a73-5ba3-8786-722cc7cddc63.html
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