The Farmer's Wife: Sharing a bit of WWII history

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Hospice nurses read the obituaries, I can guarantee you; plus, ladies of a certain age do, too. Furthermore, the papers make note of famous folks who have died, and often, I recognize the names; at least, if they are past 80 years of age. I noticed one last week that caught my eye; it said Gail Halvorsen, the “candy bomber”, age 101, had died. 

I had a vague recollection of the story; the Berlin Blockade happened in 1948, and I would have been ten  years old then. I knew the Allies flew a bunch of supplies to Berlin, and that Halvorsen had also included candy for the kids, but to be honest, I had no idea why the airlift was needed. So, to Wikipedia, my history source.

Believe it or not, and those of you under the age of 60, will find it hard to believe, Russia was considered an ally of ours during WWII. And to be sure, that country's resistance to German troops was truly note worthy, and their advance from the East,I'm guessing, helped to bring the war in Europe to a close.

However, there were some on our side who felt Stalin was not to be trusted, and time showed that to be the case. In order to understand the Blockade, you will have to read about the strange plan to divide Germany, and Berlin, in four, with Russia, France, Great Britain, and the US each in charge of one quarter.  (We won't discuss how foolish that sounds today).  And, already, three years after the truce, Russia was showing its true colors and threatening to subdue Germany, especially Berlin, by starving and freezing its citizens. This, after many starved and froze during the war.

You will need to research the story as I did to appreciate what it took for Britain and the US to mount an airlift that would ultimately deliver 5000 TONS of food and coal every day to the 2 million people of Berlin, who were shut off from rail, boat, and auto. At one time, turnaround on the tarmac was 30 MINUTES!! Think about the manpower to load, and unload, this amount of supplies in order for the next load to land. In Germany, this was done by civilian volunteers, who even did maintenance on the planes.  

You've heard the name of General Curtis Lemay? When asked if he thought his planes could haul this kind of cargo, he supposedly answered, “We can haul anything!” That phrase should be in the history books next to “Damn the torpedoes!”

Well, Halvorsen walked around the airbase while his plane was being unloaded; he shared his last two pieces of gum with some of the kids standing around. When he realized what a treat that was, he promised to deliver more, the next time he flew. They asked how they would know it was him, and he said he would wiggle the plane's wings.  

And he did, and he sent candy bars with little parachutes made of handkerchiefs (that is what we used to blow our noses before Kleenex was invented!) Soon, kids from America were sending candy and hankies to Uncle Wiggly Wings and the “Candy Bomber” became part of our great stories. By the end of the Berlin Airlift, 15 months later, it was estimated he had dropped 3 TONS of candy! That is a story worth repeating; sometimes, it's not the big jobs that should be repeated; after all, this airlift accomplished miracles, but the little things that also meant a lot; to the kids who had survived the horrors of war and probably had not had a piece of candy for years. The death of Gail Halvorsen deserves to be noted.  

And, sadly, Russia has been playing games ever since, and we are still wary of the Bear!