Some of you from Provo and BYU are acquainted with Colonel Gail Halvorsen known in Germany as The Berlin Candy Bomber. I know him as my husband's old flying buddy from post-WWII. They roomed together and flew out of West Palm Beach, Florida prior to my husband's being sent to China as an advisor to the Chinese Air Force and Gail's assignment to the Berlin Airlift. Gail went on to become an historical icon and a hero in Germany and around the world.

As most of you remember, in 1948 Russia attempted to seize control of West Berlin and put it under communist rule. Stalin blockaded the roads, railroads, and canal routes to cut off West Berliners from all food, clothing, heat and electricity. Without outside help, over 2.2 million people would have died. The Berlin Airlift began a humanitarian rescue mission that utilized British and American airplanes and pilots to fly in needed supplies. As one of the American pilots, Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen, wishing to ignite hope, got the idea to parachute candy to the hungry war-weary children of West Berlin.

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot is a wonderfully illustrated children's book about the Berlin Airlift and the candy that dropped from the sky. It is the true story of a seven-year-old girl named Mercedes who lived in West Berlin during the airlift and the American who came to be known as the Berlin Candy Bomber.

Margot Theis Raven, a writer of historical fiction, has written a charming, heartwarming account of this loving, hopeful operation. In a time when true heroes are once again being appreciated, this is a book to be enjoyed by children of all ages. It will make you proud to be an American and proud to know Brother Gail S. Halvorsen, Col. USAF-Ret.

(Note: Col. Halvorsen has written a more complete account of this wonderful story. It is called The Candy Bomber and it is published by Horizon Publishers.)

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Nan McCulloch
Draper, UT