Operation Little Vittles

Berlin, 1948

“It’s called service before self,”

- Col. Gail Halvorsen, Candy Bomber

Like many great innovations in giving, what eventually led to 23 tons of candy being parachuted down to the children of West Berlin began with one simple act of kindness. During a supply mission to aid Berlin during Stalin’s blockade of the city in 1948, First Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen met a group of German children. Struck by the fact that the children asked him for nothing, the pilot offered them the last two sticks of gum he had left in his pocket.

Rather than fight over the sticks, the children gathered and divided the gum into tiny pieces so as many as possible could have a small taste. Those who didn’t get a sliver of gum were given pieces of the foil wrapper so they could smell the sugar.

Impressed by their selflessness, Col. Halvorsen made a decision to fly back with more candy. At the risk of a court-martial, he told the children to watch the skies and look for the aircraft that wiggled its wings so they would know it was safe to come out and wait for candy being dropped down.

Upon returning to base, Col. Halvorsen asked other pilots to donate their candy rations and handkerchiefs so he could make tiny candy parachutes to drop to the children. During his supply runs over the next few weeks, he dropped the sweet chutes down to the growing number of children below.

Returning from one mission, the pilot found a message waiting for him to report to the colonel’s office immediately. After letting loose on the young pilot, the colonel showed him an article about “Uncle Wiggle Wings” that had been published in a German newspaper. The article generated press around the world for the man dubbed the “Candy Bomber”.

Soon manufacturers and individuals donated candy and handkerchiefs by the thousands. When pilots could no longer keep up with the donations, service clubs popped up to make the parachutes laden with candy for more aircraft to drop across the besieged German city.

As part of the Berlin Airlift, the effort that came to be known as “Operation Little Vittles” dropped 23 tons of candy and kindness to the German people. Fittingly, Colonel Halvorsen won the 1948 Cheney Award for “…an act of valor, extreme fortitude or self-sacrifice in a humanitarian interest.”