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The Berlin Candy Bomber
April 7, 2003, updated June 9, 2005 with "Christmas Drop" photo, and 1999 photos of deliveries in Albania, and updated May 17, 2008 with three newly acquired photos.
November 17, 2009 addendum:
Retired Col. Gail Halvorsen and Ursula Johnson had never met, but a chance encounter between the two conjured a touching reunion at the Randolph Air Show November 7, 2009. Sixty years earlier, Mrs. Johnson, a child born and living in Berlin, never thought she would come face to face with "The Candy Bomber," the man who had become a hero-of-sorts to so many German children. Photo credit: Melissa Peterson, USAF
May 17, 2008 addendum:
Retired Col. Gail Halvorsen displays the newly authorized Berlin Airlift streamer presented to him October 29, 2005 at the Airlift Tanker Association convention. Units that participated in the 1948-1949 humanitarian airlift can include the streamer on their units' guidons. Colonel Halvorsen is known as the "Candy Bomber" for dropping candy from his aircraft to German children during the airlift.
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen's bunk becomes a factory for miniature parachutes weighted with Lyons chocolate during the Berlin Airlift. The idea to drop candy to German children on the approach to Tempelhof Airport grew out of a chance meeting in July 1948 between Halvorsen and 30 German school children at the perimeter fence of the airport. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.
This undated photo shows a young Capt. Halvorsen surrounded by a group of Berlin children trying to express their appreciation for the thousands of packages of gum and candy he and his friends dropped over Berlin in tiny hand-made parachutes. Photo courtesy of The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
Editor's note: There is an Allied Museum, known as the Allierten Museum in German, in Berlin. We commend its web site to you.
 For those who remember World War II, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and any other wars in which Americans have fought, one of the hallmarks has always and persistently and continuously been that kids in need, the world over, have loved GIs and GIs have loved them.
A picture that comes to our minds as an example so vividly is the Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949, "Operation Vittles." Just a few years after the Allies destroyed Berlin and defeated Nazi Germany, American C47, C54, and C97 aircraft, and others, broke the Soviet grip on Berlin and brought in enough food and humanitarian supplies to take care of the Germans in the city until the Soviets finally gave up. During that operation, GIs aboard the aircraft also dropped bundles of candy, chewing gum and other goodies to young German kids waiting along the final approach into Berlin's Templehof Airport. These drops soon came to be known as "Operation Little Vittles."
 During a visit to Wright State University, April 4, 2003 in Dayton, Ohio, retired World War II Air Force pilot Col. Gail Halvorsen, known as the Berlin Candy Bomber, holds his book to show how he dropped candy from his plane to children in Berlin during the early days of the Cold War.
Col. Halvorsen wants to do the same for the children of Iraq. Too bad the Germans have forgotten what this guy and many others did. Who would refuse candy from a guy with that great face? April 7, 2003
Click on the photo or the title to order your copy. Photo credit: David Kohl, AP
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Gail S. Halvorsen, the famed "Candy Bomber," poses in front of a C-54 — the same type of plane he flew during the post-World War II Berlin airlift — during an air show at Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, June 11, 1984. While Halvorsen was carrying out his mission of ferrying supplies into the blockaded city in 1949, he met a group of Berlin children and realized how much they savored the pieces of gum he gave them. On his next trip into the city, he attached bags of candy to three handkerchief parachutes and dropped them — against regulations — to the kids below; it was the start of what would later be dubbed Operation Little Vittles. Halvorsen was a dean of student affairs at Brigham Young University at the time of his 1984 visit to Berlin in conjunction with the 35th anniversary of the airlift. Photo credit: Stephanie James, Stars and Stripes
Retired Col. Gail Halvorsen and his wife, Lorraine, inspect a stuffed bear before it was dropped December 21 during the 50th anniversary flights of Christmas Drop. For 50 years people at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, have gathered Christmas gifts and supplies to be airdropped to Pacific islanders. A C-130 Hercules and crew from Yokota Air Base Japan, did the duty this year, delivering the goods to the islands of Anatahan, Agrihan, and Alamgan, which are north of Guam. Among the cargo dropped was rice, fishing gear, and machetes. Halvorsen is the famed "Candy Bomber" who dropped candy to the children of Berlin during the Berlin Airlift. Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Strang
The "Candy Bomber," retired Colonel Gail Halvorsen, and Major Paul Double, an operations planner from Joint Task Force (JTF) Shining Hope, exit the rear of a C-130 transport after arriving in Tirana, Albania, May 18, 1999. He came to observe JTF Shining Hope humanitarian relief operations and flew to Camp Hope to deliver school supplies, toys and candy to the children. Photo credits: Tech. Sgt. Joe Bela, USAF
The "Candy Man" can.
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The Candy Man
Sammy Davis Jr.
Candy Man, Hey Candy Man
Everybody gather around and listen because, I'm the Candy Man
Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew. Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in the sky, Soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Now you talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes
Oh, who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream. Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can. The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious. Talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream. Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can. The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
Yes, the Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
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