Gail S. Halvorsen joined the United States Army Air Forces in May of 1942 at 22 years old. After completing pilot training in Miami, Oklahoma, he was ordered to Germany on July 10th, 1948 to be a pilot in the Berlin Airlift. Lieutenant Halvorsen was one of the pilots to land every 13 minutes with supplies to help nearly 2 million starving Germans during the 15-month operation.
Intrigued by photography, in his spare time, Halvorsen would often wander around the city to capture film on his personal hand-held camera. On one of his days off, Halvorsen made his way towards the barbed-wire fence line of the airbase to capture video of planes taking off and landing. While getting some great footage, his attention was directed to a group of children playing along the other side of the fence.
Halvorsen remembers: “I met about thirty children at the barbed wire fence that protected Tempelhof’s huge area. They were excited and told me that ‘when the weather gets so bad that you can’t land, don’t worry about us. We can get by on a little food, but if we lose our freedom, we may never get it back.'”
As Halvorsen said goodbye and took only a few steps, he was stunned by the childrens humble nature and reached into his pocket to pull out two pieces of gum. Breaking each piece of gum in half, Halvorsen reached out his small offering to the children and observed as they shared the gum amongst themselves, and those who did not end up receiving a piece, were given the wrappers to embrace the scent of the sweet candy.
Feeling compassion for these children, Halvorsen noted that he would have enough gum for them all the following day and that he would drop candy to them from his plane. When the children asked how they could identify which plane was his, Halvorsen told the children he would wiggle his wings before the drop. Hence, how Pilot Halvorsen received the nickname “Uncle Wiggly Wings.”
The following day, as Halvorsen flew across the field to drop three small parachutes full of candy from the sky, he noticed the group of children eager for his appearance and sweet treat. After landing, Halvorsen’s eyes looked to the fenceline where the children had been waiting to see three white handkerchiefs waving delightfully in the air as a token of gratitude.
This act of kindness grew and grew, until it officially became “Operation Little Vittles” on September 22nd, 1948. His story became nationally recognized as donations and supplies of both chocolate and handkerchiefs were donated to the base to continue spreading joy, love, and hope to all the German children.
