US military pilot Gail S Halvorsen — known as the Candy Bomber for his airdrops of sweets during the Berlin Airlift after World War II ended — has died aged 101.
Colonel Halvorsen died on Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by most of his children.
The American was beloved and venerated in Berlin. He last visited the city in 2019 during 70th anniversary celebrations marking the day the Soviet Union lifted its post-World War II blockade which cut off supplies to West Berlin.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox also praised Colonel Halvorsen, who was born in Salt Lake City but grew up on farms before getting his pilots licence.
"I know he's up there, handing out candy behind the pearly gates somewhere," he said.
After the US entered World War II, Colonel Halvorsen trained as a fighter pilot and served as a transport pilot in the south Atlantic Ocean before flying food and other supplies to West Berlin as part of the airlift.
According to Colonel Halvorsen, he had mixed feelings about the mission to help the US's former enemy after losing friends during the war.
But his attitude changed and his new mission was launched after he met a group of children behind a fence at Berlin Templehof Airport.
He offered them the two pieces of gum that he had, and was touched to see those who got the gum sharing pieces of the wrapper with the other children, who smelled the paper.
He promised to drop enough for all of them the following day as he flew, wiggling the wings of his plane as he soared over the airport, Colonel Halvorsen recalled.
He started doing so regularly, using his own candy ration, with handkerchiefs as parachutes to carry them to the ground.
Airflift dropped supplies to West Berlin
Soon other pilots and crews joined in what would be dubbed Operation Little Vittles.
After an Associated Press story appeared under the headline Lollipop Bomber Flies Over Berlin, a wave of sweets and handkerchief donations followed.
The airlift began on June 26, 1948, in an ambitious plan to feed and supply West Berlin after the Soviets — one of the four occupying powers of a divided Berlin after World War II — blockaded the city in an attempt to squeeze the US, Britain and France out of the enclave within Soviet-occupied eastern Germany.
Allied pilots flew 278,000 flights to Berlin, carrying about 2.3 million tonnes of food, coal, medicine and other supplies.
Finally, on May 12, 1949, the Soviets realised the blockade was futile and lifted their barricades. The airlift continued for several more months, however, as a precaution in case the Soviets changed their minds.
Memories in Germany of US soldiers handing out sweets, chewing gum or fresh oranges are still omnipresent — especially for the generation born during or right after the war.
Many Germans fondly remember eating their first lollies and fresh fruit during an era when people in bombed-out cities were starving or selling their family heirlooms on the black market for small amounts of of flour, butter or oil just so they could get by.
Colonel Halvorsen's efforts to reach out to the people of Berlin helped send a message that they were not forgotten and would not be abandoned, James Stewart, the director of the Gail S Halvorsen Aviation Education Foundation, said.
Despite his initial ambivalence about the airlift, Colonel Halvorsen, who grew up poor during the Great Depression, recognised a bit of himself in the children behind the fence and made a connection with them, he said.
AP
