Gale Halvorsen! I was shocked as our Bishop introduced our last speaker at church today and I recognized his name. You may know him, however, by one of the names the children of Berlin called him during the 1940s: der Rosinenbomber (the candy bomber) or Onkel Wackelflügel (Uncle Wiggle-wings). He distributed candy and chewing gum from his airplane while participating during the Berlin Airlift (1948/9), he’s 91 years old, he’s a proud American, and he’s Mormon.
He spoke lovingly of his mother and her influence on him and encouraged us to follow the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He said it was the Spirit that prompted him to give everything he had with him to the children standing near the fence of Tempelhof Airport, whom he then promised he would drop candy from his airplane when he flew back to Berlin the next day.
He was accompanied (although she neither spoke in Sacrament Meeting nor is a member of the church) by a woman named Mercedes, who has been a friend of the chocolate pilot since he responded to the letter she wrote him as a 7-year old girl. While she didn’t speak to the whole congregation, she did agree to speak to the primary children - and since I’m lucky enough to be a primary teacher, I got to be there too!
She told the children about her memories of the war - burning buildings, mothers looking for children who had gone missing during a bombing raid. How little food they had in the years after the war and how excited they were to just have a candy wrapper to smell and how eagerly they shared the candy the Americans brought with each other. She told us how important it is to remember that we are all God’s creations and that we must love each other and be friends with each other. She still lives in the same home in Friedenau that she did in 1948, although much has changed around her. I’m grateful she shared her story with me and the children today.
