Overview
How far can a small kindness reach? How much of a difference can two sticks of gum make?
Colonel Gail Halvorsen was a pilot in the United States Air Force delivering supplies to West Berlin when it was blockaded by the Soviets. One day he approached children gathered outside the airport with two leftover sticks of gum. One day, he approached children gathered outside the airport with two leftover sticks of gum. After sharing the gum through the fence, he watched in surprise as they passed the wrappers around so everyone could sniff the minty smell.
Inspired by the children’s kindness and sympathetic to the way blockades were cutting off their access to simple pleasures like sweets, Halvorsen began airdropping candy, using his own rations and wiggling his wings to alert the kids below that it was time for treats. When a package of chocolates literally dropped on a reporter’s head, news quickly spread of “Uncle Wiggly Wings” or “the Berlin Candy Bomber.”
Soon, Halvorsen’s Operation Little Vittles—born of one man’s courage to be kind—grew to include other pilots and donations from American families and ended up dropping over twenty tons of candy to the children of war-torn Berlin.
This book title, Bittersweet (Based on the True Tale of the Berlin Candy Bombers), ISBN: 9781665960588, by Christy Mandin, Christy Mandin, published by Margaret K. McElderry Books (October 28, 2025) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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