Post by AztecWilliam on Oct 12, 2021 17:14:49 GMT -8
I wonder whether Rose-Mary Fricke is still alive. If so, she would be at least my age (79 as October 16th of this year), probably older. I became aware of her when doing additional research for a topic that all Americans should be aware of. That topic is the story of the Candy Bombers. That story is no doubt forgotten by most Americans. That’s a real shame.
The Candy Bombers were part of the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49. To be brief, Josef Stalin took time out from his sincere effort to build the workers’ utopia in the USSR to try to choke West Berlin by means of a blockade of all land routes to that city. He wanted to crush the U.S., U.K, and French sectors of the German capitol. No doubt he had in mind the tactics he had used in his mid-1930s blockade of the Ukraine, a project that resulted in the starvation deaths (murders, really) of hundred of thousands of his fellow citizens.
It’s important to understand that the people of Berlin were freezing and close to starvation in 1948. We, the Americans and our allies, realized at once that something had to be done, and fast. We instituted an airlift in which thousands of planes carried the necessities of life to the beleaguered city. This airlift had to be organized from scratch. Both military and private planes had to be used.
As the tempo of the airlift grew, it became apparent that the Western powers might be able to pull off the impossible: indefinitely supplying an entire city by air alone. More than 277,000 flights delivered over 4.6 billion pounds of food and other supplies over the fifteen-month airlift.
This operation was actually very dangerous. The Soviets did not fire on the planes, but they did harass the effort. A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 40 Britons and 31 Americans.
Now we come to the Candy Bombers. Lieutenant Gail Halverson, one of the airlift pilots, had seen the rag-tag German kids congregating outside the fence around his base and gave them pieces of chewing gum. He got the idea of dropping candy from his plane as it was landing in Berlin. The candy was carried to earth in little parachutes made from handkerchiefs. As this idea spread, kids began lining up by the thousands to grab the gifts drifting down from the many planes that were helping Berliners to survive. Those kids were grateful, as the following message sent to Allied headquarters from young Rose-Mary Fricke indicates.
I've become pretty cynical in my old age. Not many things make me want to cry, but the photos of the little kids waving at the U.S. and UK planes as they landed in Berlin with vital supplies comes close.
The next time someone tells you that this is a horrible country, tell them about the Candy Bombers and the airlift that saved many thousands of Berliners. Only four years earlier, those flyers were dropping bombs, not food and candy. All Americans, including a former First Lady who seemed to be ignorant of this amazing story, should be proud of what we did to save the lives of people who only four years earlier had been our bitter enemies.
AzWm
PS: I recommend this story about the Candy Bombers. stmuscholars.org/the-candy-bombers-of-the-berlin-airlift/
You might also watch the 1950 film The Big Lift, a high budget film by 20th Century Fox starring, among others, Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas. Filmed on location just after the blockade of Berlin by Stalin had ended. Pretty good film; well produced and very important from an historical perspective. The scene where Douglas' character encounters an ex-Nazi who had tortured him during the war is marvelous.
The Candy Bombers were part of the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49. To be brief, Josef Stalin took time out from his sincere effort to build the workers’ utopia in the USSR to try to choke West Berlin by means of a blockade of all land routes to that city. He wanted to crush the U.S., U.K, and French sectors of the German capitol. No doubt he had in mind the tactics he had used in his mid-1930s blockade of the Ukraine, a project that resulted in the starvation deaths (murders, really) of hundred of thousands of his fellow citizens.
It’s important to understand that the people of Berlin were freezing and close to starvation in 1948. We, the Americans and our allies, realized at once that something had to be done, and fast. We instituted an airlift in which thousands of planes carried the necessities of life to the beleaguered city. This airlift had to be organized from scratch. Both military and private planes had to be used.
As the tempo of the airlift grew, it became apparent that the Western powers might be able to pull off the impossible: indefinitely supplying an entire city by air alone. More than 277,000 flights delivered over 4.6 billion pounds of food and other supplies over the fifteen-month airlift.
This operation was actually very dangerous. The Soviets did not fire on the planes, but they did harass the effort. A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 40 Britons and 31 Americans.
Now we come to the Candy Bombers. Lieutenant Gail Halverson, one of the airlift pilots, had seen the rag-tag German kids congregating outside the fence around his base and gave them pieces of chewing gum. He got the idea of dropping candy from his plane as it was landing in Berlin. The candy was carried to earth in little parachutes made from handkerchiefs. As this idea spread, kids began lining up by the thousands to grab the gifts drifting down from the many planes that were helping Berliners to survive. Those kids were grateful, as the following message sent to Allied headquarters from young Rose-Mary Fricke indicates.
I've become pretty cynical in my old age. Not many things make me want to cry, but the photos of the little kids waving at the U.S. and UK planes as they landed in Berlin with vital supplies comes close.
The next time someone tells you that this is a horrible country, tell them about the Candy Bombers and the airlift that saved many thousands of Berliners. Only four years earlier, those flyers were dropping bombs, not food and candy. All Americans, including a former First Lady who seemed to be ignorant of this amazing story, should be proud of what we did to save the lives of people who only four years earlier had been our bitter enemies.
AzWm
PS: I recommend this story about the Candy Bombers. stmuscholars.org/the-candy-bombers-of-the-berlin-airlift/
You might also watch the 1950 film The Big Lift, a high budget film by 20th Century Fox starring, among others, Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas. Filmed on location just after the blockade of Berlin by Stalin had ended. Pretty good film; well produced and very important from an historical perspective. The scene where Douglas' character encounters an ex-Nazi who had tortured him during the war is marvelous.
