The Berlin Candy Bomber

Known as The Berlin Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen was an officer and pilot in the Air Force. He joined the service in May 1942 and, six years later, was ordered to travel to Germany in order to serve in the Berlin Airlift effort, which lasted from 1948 to 1949. During this deployment, he began a movement to raise morale in Berlin by dropping candy out of his cargo plane for the children.

The pilot was inspired to begin this initiative after seeing the impoverished and empty-handed children of Berlin. At the start, Halvorsen pooled candy rations each week for 3 weeks with his copilot. Worrying about harming the children from the high drop, he attached handkerchiefs to the small packages of candy and gum, which served as parachutes for the sweets.

However, Halvorsen was doing this without the permission of the airlift commander, Lieutenant General William H. Tunner. When the commander was told about this repeated action, he ordered that the effort must be expanded and officially began the project on September 22, 1948. Quickly gaining support, the effort became known in the United States, encouraging children and candymakers throughout the country to contribute. By November 1948, Halvorsen had to pass on the project on to Mary C. Connors, a college student in order to sustain the national project. This was due to the fact that he could not keep up with the preparation of the candy and the handkerchiefs while completing the tasks asked of his job. This support and influx of supplies allowed the candy drops to be multiplied and occur every other day. The American candy bombers became known and loved by both the children of Berlin and the United States, as they displayed a philanthropic image.

In total, this operation was able to drop over 23 tons of candy from over 250,000 parachutes. Additionally, Halvorsen was awarded several medals and titles, such as the Congressional Gold Medal for this effort. Over the following 25 years, Halvorsen encouraged and completed candy drops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Japan, Guam, and Iraq.