Final Unsung Hero Painting, Gail Halvorsen

Title: Thumbs Up

Name: Will Ahrens

Age: 15

Grade: 9

Purpose:

To promote positive role models in the lives of students;

To empower students to stand up for what they believe is right;

To create a personal work of art based on students’ interpretation of an Unsung Heroes' character and actions;

To reflect on your experiences by writing an impact paper that articulates your personal journey and interprets their work for the viewer.

I was inspired to portray Colonel Gail Halvorsen in my painting because he went out of his way to help people that weren’t asking for help. He gave candy and chocolate to children on the edge of starvation even though they didn’t ask him to. It takes a person with true integrity and selflessness to do something like that. Colonel Halvorsen’s fearlessness also inspired me. The United States Air Force has strict rules and regulations and Gail knew that when starting to drop candy parachutes and he got in trouble for it. Thankfully, the press got word of what was happening and Halvorsen was allowed to continue dropping candy.

My unsung hero is Colonel Gail Halvorsen. He was in the United States Air Force during and after World War II and died in 2022 at the age of 101. During WWII, he ferried transport planes to England, Italy, and North Africa. However, even though he didn’t see the battlefield, he was still affected by the second World War. Many of his close friends died during the war. He decided to stay in the military after the war and continued to transport planes. In June 1948, he was given less than an hour’s notice to participate in the Berlin airlift. The Soviet Union cut off ground access to Berlin, so the only way the city wouldn’t starve was through airlifted supplies. During the start of the operation, the Americans were short on planes so Halvorsen flew three flights a day and had 7 hours to sleep. Later in the month, he decided to do some sightseeing. In previous operations in different countries, kids would follow Gail around asking for candy but the Berliners were quiet and respectful and only asked that they didn’t abandon the airlift if the weather turned bad. The children told Halvorsen that they could survive for some time without food, but “if we lose our freedom we may never get it back.” Halvorsen searched his pockets for gum, and gave a group of seven or so kids two sticks of gum that they split up and passed around. Touched, Halvorsed promised to bring more candy the next day. When asked how the kids will know it’s him, he said he’ll wiggle his wings when coming in for his landing. This landed him the nickname “Uncle Wiggly Wings.” That night, he came up with the idea of using handkerchiefs as parachutes and dropping them down into the city. That group of kids waiting for candy to fall from the sky turned into a crowd, and soon the paper got word. Gail’s habit spread through the Air Force, with 25 participants in his squadron alone. Word got out in the States, and soon people were sending money and candy to Halvorsen. By January 1949, 250,000 handkerchief parachutes had been dropped on Berlin. Halvorsen later returned to America and raised a family, but still maintained his connections to Germany by attending celebrations of the airlift and wrote with one of the recipients of his operation.