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Students Contact Famous WWII Candy Bomber
American pilot Col. Gail Halvorsen became world famous for dropping candy and gum to the children of Berlin, Germany during the Soviet occupation in 1948.
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They made contact with a World War II pilot whose “sweet” impact is still being felt today.
In 1948 Germany was defeated and its capitol city was divided by Western and Soviet forces. Morale was low, especially among the children of Berlin. But an American pilot named Col. Gail Halvorsen wanted to do something to raise their spirits, so he began dropping candy and gum from his airplane.
Col. Halvorsen’s candy drops soon became world famous. But more than 60 years later, third graders at South Hamilton Elementary School are just learning about them.
“It all started when our teacher pulled out a book that she’d never read called ‘Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot’,” said John Owczarak, third grader.
Mercedes wrote a letter to him and so he wrote back to her and he also sent her a box of candy,” said Maddy Brunner, third grader.
The students decided to follow in Mercedes’ footsteps.
“As far as we knew he was still alive and would be celebrating his 89th birthday on October 10, so when they heard that they wanted to send him birthday cards,” said Deb Culberston, third grade teacher.
With the help of their teacher, they found his address through the Facebook social networking website. They sent him a packet of letters and even did a candy drop of their own.
“We sent him a big Hershey’s chocolate bar,” said Brunner.
In less than 2 weeks, they got a response.
“All of us wanted to know these questions like if he still flies the plane and he still does,” said Owczarak.
The kids are also getting a lesson in their own heritage, past and present.
“We did this project about bringing in WWII things and my grandfather was actually in WWII and he died in 2006,” said Brunner.
Now they’re hoping for one last thing to complete their project.
“If his plane wasn’t too big or the playground wasn’t too small, he could drop his plane on the playground so we could meet him,” said Owczarak.
Col. Halvorsen retired from the Air Force in 1974 after 31 years of service. He now divides his time between homes in Utah and Arizona. He still makes candy drops to children all over the world.
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Latest Comments on "Students Contact Famous WWII Candy Bomber"
posted by: AnitaMcIlveen on 1:53 pm on 11/06/09
Your story was very good and interesting but there is another story in the display items of the 3rd grade of South Hamilton Elementary School in Franklin County. The hat, coat and picture in the video clip is my father, John F. Stenger, who served in W W I. He was born in 1899 and lied about his age so he could join the army before he was 18 years old. His great granddaughter, Ericka Vaughn is in the third grade and contributed to this display. -Anita McIlveen
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