The Story of the Candy Bomber

I can't help but think about the candy bomber story of WWII when I think about bulk candy. I can only imagine the volume of bulk candy that pilot must have had on board his plane to get the response he did from the German children who lived through that war.

Gail Halvorson, a WWII pilot was the candy bomber. He was charged with flying food packages and supplies into Berlin at the end of the war. The soviets were trying to get the Americans back out of Berlin with road blocks so the Americans did what they had to do by air. Delivering tons of food and supplies by plane to circumvent the soviet roadblocks and keep West Berlin free.

Gail was deeply moved by the state of the buildings and landscape he could see from the air and found it difficult to comprehend how the Germans were living amongst that rubble, but over 2 million Germans were. There was also such a lot of sadness and mistrust between the Germans and the Americans from years of fighting. The wounds of war ran deep.

It was this emotion and passion that prompted Gail's idea for a bulk candy drop over Berlin. This was the most amazing and memorable bulk candy drop in all of history, without a doubt. This unique war hero dropped tiny parachutes filled with bulk candy to German children watching the planes land at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport. The response was instant and deeply moving. Hundreds of German children and their parents wrote to Gail offering their thanks and appreciation.

Gail Halvorson eased the tension between the Germans and Americans, and he made children happy who had survived and lived with such horrors in their young lives, with a candy drop.