Oct 20 2020 17 mins
On today's episode, I get to tell you a true story the Candy Bomber after World War II and three lessons we can learn from it.
3 Lessons from the Candy Bomber
- Little Things Can have a Big Ripple Effect
- Serving Others Heals
- Inspiring Hope Saves Lives
You can learn more about Gail S. Halvorsen, The Candy Bomber on his website: http://wigglywings.weebly.com/
Here is the transcription of today's episode:
Welcome to stories of hope in hard times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times. All with God's help. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
The Berlin Airlift
My true story today starts just after World War II in Germany during the Berlin airlift. You see, the city of Berlin then was starving due to the Soviet blockade. So in order to get food and supplies to the famished people, Allied Airmen flew over the city and dropped thousands of tons of food daily.
I now quote from a history that talks about that time period, "It was determined that the city's daily food ration would be 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, five tons of whole milk for children, three tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt, and 10 tons of cheese. In total 1,534 tons were needed to keep the over 2 million people alive on a daily basis. And that number did not include necessities like coal and fuel."
So really what they ended up dropping was about 4,500 tons on a daily basis. Isn't that crazy? But that is what was needed to keep that city alive during the Soviet blockade. And they did this by dropping food from airplanes to the people.
The Candy Bomber
One of the pilots who was part of this Berlin airlift was Gail Halverson and he just celebrated his 100th birthday this past week. So it is in memory of him and his service that I'd love to tell you a little bit about the impact two sticks of gum had not only on Berlin, but the ripple effect it had on the entire world.
Gail Halverson, known as "Hal" to his friends, was a rural farm boy from Utah, and he was serving as an Air Force pilot, then in the Berlin airlift. One day at the Tempelhof Airport, he noticed a line of children at the fence watching the planes fly over to bring them these life saving supplies. He felt he needed to go talk to these children. I now quote from his history.
The Two Sticks of Gum Which Changed Everything
"One day in July 1948, I met 30 kids at the barbed wire fence at the Tempelhof in Berlin. They were excited, they said, "When the weather gets so bad that you can't land, don't worry about us. We can get by on little food, but if we lose our freedom, we may never get it back. The principle of freedom was more important than the pleasure of flour. "Don't give up on us," they asked. The Soviets had offered the Berliners food rations, but they would not capitulate.
For the hour I was at the fence not one child asked for gum or candy. Children I had met during and after the war, like them in other countries had always begged insistently for such treasures. These Berlin children were so grateful for the flour to be free, that they wouldn't lower themselves to be beggars for something more. It was even the more impressive because they hadn't had gum or candy in months.
When I realized this silent, mature show of gratitude, and the strength that it took not to ask, I had to do something. All I had was two sticks of gum. I broke them in two and passed them through the barbed wire. The result was unbelievable. Those with the gum tore off the strips of wrapper and gave them to the others. Those with the strips, put them to their noses and smell the tiny fragrance. The expression of pleasure was unmeasurable.
I was so moved by what I saw and their incredible restraint that I promised them I would drop enough gum for each of them the next day as I came over their heads to land. They would know my plane because I would wiggle the wings back and forth as I came over the airport. When I got back to Rhine-main, I attached gum and even chocolate bars to three handkerchief parachutes. We wiggled the wings and delivered the goods the next day. What a jubilant celebration.
We did the same thing for several weeks before we got caught, threatened with a court martial, which was followed by an immediate pardon. General Tunner said, "Keep it up."
Candy and Healing Around the World
News of what Hal and his fellow pilots were doing dropping candy to the children of Berlin, spread like wildfire throughout the United States and allied countries. And packages with more candy began to pour in. A sense of love and forgiveness began to heal not only the givers, but also the receivers of the gifts.
Mercedes Story
I continue quoting from Hal's story, "Letters came by the hundreds. A little girl Mercedes wrote that I scared her chickens as I flew into land, but it was okay if I dropped the goodies where the white chickens were. "When you see the white chickens, drop it there. I don't care if it scares them." I couldn't find her chickens, so I mailed her chocolate and gum through the Berlin mail. Twenty-two years later, in 1970, I was assigned as the commander of Tempelhof. One letter kept asking us to come to dinner. In 1972 we accepted. The lady of the house handed me a letter dated November 1948. It said, "Dear Mercedes, I can't find your chickens. I hope this is okay. Your chocolate uncle." I had attached a box of candy and gum."
"The lady said, I am Mercedes. Step over here and I will show you where the chickens were. My family and I have stayed with Mercedes and her husband Peter over 30 times since 1972. And I will again in 2008."
Fueling Hope
"In 1998 on a visit to Berlin flying an old airlift C-54, The Spirit of Freedom with Tim Chopp, A 60 year old man told me he caught a parachute in 1948 with a fresh Hershey candy bar. "It took me a week to eat it. I hid it day and night. But the chocolate was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that someone in America knew I was in trouble and someone cared. That meant hope." With moist eyes he said, "Without hope the soul dies. I can live on thin rations, but not without hope."
"Hope is what the British French and American airlift, it's flour, dried eggs, dried potatoes, dried milk and coal meant to the Berliners hope for freedom. Everyone needs hope today as much as the West Berliners needed it then. Hope is a universal need."
My experience on the airlift taught me that gratitude, hope and service before self can bring happiness to the soul when the opposite brings despair. Because not one of 30 children begged for chocolate, thousands of children in Berlin received over 20 tons of chocolate them and goodies delivered on the ground or dropped from a C-54 Skymaster aircraft over a 14 month period. It all came from other aircraft and other crews in addition to myself."
3 Lessons from the Candy Bomber
My dear friends, I love this story of Gail Halverson, who became known as The Candy Bomber. And I think that there are three important lessons that are so applicable not only to the people of Berlin, but to us today because I think that there are many people out there who are struggling who feel perhaps that their lives have been bombed out and who need nourishment. These are the three things that I think we can learn and apply from Hal's story.
Lesson #1. Little things can have a big ripple effect
The Dalai Lama said, "Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into the water, the actions of individuals can have far reaching effects."
Isn't that beautiful? Think of the good that those two sticks of gum did. Those two sticks of gum ended up changing not only Berlin, but the world. And our actions have that power to impact people for good or for bad. So we need to be careful and cautious, which ripple effects we send out into the world. My invitation is that you send out ripple effects of good.
Lesson #2. Serving Others Heals
Steve Maraboli said, "A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal."
To build on that quote, John Holmes stated, "There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up."
What I love about these two quotes is that they teach us that service has healing properties, not just for the receiver, but for the giver as well.
I love how Jesus Christ taught his disciples in Matthew 25,
"For I was in hungered, and he gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee or thirsty and gave the drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took the in? Or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me."
My friends, there is an amazing power that comes through service. And I don't know quite how it works. But the what I do understand is that God is powerful, and can heal not only us as we serve, but He can heal, and lift and inspire others and heal them as well. And I think He does that because as we serve others, we serve God. And He just naturally blesses us because of that. And I've seen that not only in the story of The Candy Bomber, but I've seen it in my own life. Service heals.
So if you need healing, find some little ripple effect, maybe two sticks of gum that you can serve with.
Lesson #3. Inspiring Hope Saves Lives
Desmond Tutu said "Hope is being able to see that there is light, despite all of the darkness."
And don't we feel the darkness around us at times, guys? I know I do. I've been down in the dumps before. And I've had a lot of time to think about what hope really means.
And here's how I would define hope. I would describe it as the spark of light in the darkest night. The speck of light when in a long, dark tunnel. The step into darkness when trusting God will open the way. The belief that no matter how dark the night, the sun will rise. Hope is one of the grandest and noblest of human emotions. And although it has been written and sung about for ages, hope is fragile. Hope can be crushed, doused and broken. But it can also be reignited, refueled by faith. And it can go from a spark to an inferno when nurtured through love and service.
My dear friends, just like the man who got the chocolate bar, which gave him a spark of hope, hope can save lives. Oh my friends. Let's apply these principles. I invite you you to do one of these three things today, to do a little thing that might just have a big ripple effect in someone's life to serve, because it heals, and to inspire hope, because it saves lives.
You don't have to be a candy bomber to change the world. God uses the least of us to make the biggest ripple effects in the lives of others. I invite you to pray today and ask God, what small thing you can do to love or show service to someone else. And then act on that, and will begin a ripple effect of hope between you, me and others, which can indeed inspire the world and ignite a flame of hope.
Hope on my friends!
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. I know that there are many of you out there that are going through a hard time and I hope you found things that have been useful today. As you listen to the podcast. If you would like to access the show notes from today's podcast, visit my website. That is stories of hope podcast.com. That is where you'll find favorite quotes from today's episode. And shareable means and those are fun because you can share them with your friends on social media. You will also find the links mentioned throughout today's episode so you don't have to remember what those were. And also all the tips that were shared. Sometimes tips are shared so much throughout an episode you forget. What were those great things. So go to the show notes, stories of hope podcast calm to look up these fantastic resources. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this with them. Maybe there was a story shared or a tip that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this episode with them. May God bless you, especially if you're struggling with hope to carry on and with the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help bear that burden. Above all outs. Remember God loves you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai