I’ve been commuting between my house and the hospital where I’m having my treatments every day this week. During the hour + drive I listen to NPR because, frankly, I wouldn’t begin to know what music channel to listen to. The other morning a story came on that was an endearing trip down memory lane. Like a lot of GI’s kids I had the great privilege of living in Germany as a child. We lived in a German neighborhood for the first year or two and then on Rhein Main AFB for the rest of the time. When we lived off base we were bussed in to school. I attended Halverson elementary school. Our school was named for the famous “Candy Bomber” known to post WWII East German children as “Uncle Wiggle Wings”. This story always makes me cry. After the war Germany was sliced up like a pie. The Allies (US, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union) took control of portions of Germany. The Soviet Union’s plan to rebuild Germany differed so much from the other allies plans that they ordered everyone out and stopped supplies from getting in to East Germany. The people in East Germany, having just been through a war had lived on sub-starvation rations for years already. Tensions were high, any attempt to alleviate suffering could easily have led to WWIII. A British Commander suggested an alternative, an airlift. Allied forces would drop food, fuel and supplies from the air. It was a beautiful moment in history in my opinion. Lt. Gail S. Halverson was one pilot who was a part of the effort to get food to the East Germans. The NPR story talked about how Halverson split two sticks of gum he had to share with some East German children. He was so struck by their reaction that he decided to do something he named “operation little vittles”. He told the children to look for his plane and he’d drop candy to them. When they asked him how they’d know it was him, he said he’d wiggle his wings as a sign. He bought up all the candy he could find and took up donations from his friends and coworkers from their rations and tied chocolate and gum to handkerchiefs so that he could drop candy from his plane. These were children who didn’t have enough food to eat. The idea of candy was magical for them. The NPR story said that to this day, Col. Halverson is a celebrity in Berlin and 70 year olds will come up to him with the handkerchiefs they collected from his candy drops. Then Lt. Halverson was breaking the rules to do this sweet act of compassion and charity. He was nearly courtmartialed, but when other pilots heard about his operation, they began dropping candy as well. I got to meet Col. Halverson when he came to Germany for our elementary school dedication. I also attended church with his grandchildren so as an added bonus he also was there for my little brother’s first pinewood derby race in cub scouts. I shyly asked if he would pose for a picture with my brother and his car. He was such a sweet, down to earth guy. He not only posed for the picture, but he hammed it up as well. I have got to dig up those pictures somewhere. It is men like Halverson that keep hope alive in this world. Things are looking bleak, there are so many things to worry about and get uptight about. But I know that whatever is likely to descend on us there will be people who will hold up beacons of hope and compassion. I know it because humanity is created by God, its in our nature to bridge the chasms of ugliness and brutality.
