Margot Theis Raven - Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot. A True Story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy That Dropped from the Sky

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

a true story of the berlin airlift and
the candy that dropped from the sky

By Margot Theis Raven
Illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

To the children of Berlin, the children of the World, and the children of Heaven,
especially Nick Ressler, who knew the power in a stick of gum.

MTR

To those who preserve our freedom.

GSH

Text Copyright 2002 Margot Theis Raven

Illustration Copyright 2002 Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

HERSEYS Milk Chocolate Bars is a registered trademark of
Hershey Foods Corporation. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief
excerpts in critical reviews and articles. All inquiries should be addressed to:

Sleeping Bear Press

315 E. Eisenhower Pkwy., Suite 200

Ann Arbor, MI 48108

www.sleepingbearpress.com

Sleeping Bear Press is an imprint of Gale.

Printed and bound in China.

14 13 12 11 10

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Raven, Margot Theis.

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot / by Margot Theis Raven

p. cm.

Summary: The true story of a young German girl, Mercedes Simon, and of the American pilot Gail Halvorsen, who
shares hope and joy with the children of West Berlin by dropping candy-filled parachutes during the Airlift.

ISBN: 978-1-58536-069-7

1. Berlin (Germany)HistoryBlockade, 1948-1949Juvenile literature. 2. Halvorsen, Gail S.Juvenile literature. 3. United States. Air Force. Military Airlift CommandBiographyJuvenile literature. 4. Air pilots. MilitaryUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 5. Simon, MercedesJuvenile literature. 6. Girls GermanyBerlinBiographyJuvenile literature. [1. Berlin (Germany)HistoryBlockade, 1948-1949Juvenile literature. 2. Halvorsen, Gail S. 3. Simon, Mercedes. 4. United States. Air Force. Military Airlift CommandBiography. 5. Air Pilots, Military 6. World War, 1939-1945Germany. 7. GermanyHistory1945-1955.] 1. Title.

DD881.R382002 943.1550874dc21 2002001887

Additional letters and first-hand accounts of the Chocolate Pilot can be found in his book,
The Berlin Candy Bomber. Order information is available at:

Further information about Colonel Halvorsen and the Berlin Airlift can be found on the
Berlin Airlift Veterans Association web page at: www.konnections.com/airlift/candy.htm

Endsheet art by Brbel Helgert

Authors Note

This book exists through the generous support and blessings of Col. Gail S. Halvorsen USAF (Ret.) and Mercedes Wild, Berlin, Germany. Thank you both from the depths of my heart for the honor and privilege of telling your story.

Thank you also to the following individuals and friends who went out of their way to help gather and give important information: Peter Wild (Berlin, Germany); Col. Kenneth Herman USAF (Ret.), past-president of the Berlin Airlift Veterans Association; Gudrun Fruehling, president and managing editor, Armed Forces Journal International; Christa Borgman, German language specialist; Ken Sansom; and Karin, Klaus, Marcel, and Frau Lilo Besier, caring neighbors.

Thank you also to my agent, Andrea Brown, for supporting this project from the very beginning, and a heartfelt thank you to my editor, Heather Hughes, associate editor Barb McNally, and publicist Mary Ann Riehle, for believing in the goodness of this story and getting its message out so quickly.

Lastly, a most loving thank you to my brother-in-law, Bob Weed, for your magical touch; my son, Scott, for our Adobe sessions; my husband, Greg, for your loving help in Washington; and most especially to my daughter, Ashley, who shared the books creation with me, from our trip to Utah to making endless weekends of photocopying so much fun!

Margot Theis Raven

I offer my undying gratitude to my dear friend, Mercedes, and to the exceptional professionals who captured the magic of her struggle to be free: author, Margot Raven; illustrator, Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen; and team Sleeping Bear Press.

Colonel Gail Halvorsen

Illustrators Note

As always, I would like to thank the models who helped me with my book. Ustina Treber Shives, a beautiful girl inside and out. You make a wonderful Mercedes. Ben Winkel, actor/body double. From Cornell Elementary, Ron McCurdys fourth grade class and from Gunnisonville Elementary, John Shivess fifth grade class. Most of all, my gratitude and respect to Colonel Gail Halvorsen and his gracious wife, Lorraine, for sharing their home and hospitality with me. The stories you shared helped make the book what it is. A story of hope, love, and forgiveness.

Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

There is no discussion. We stay in Berlin. Period!

President Harry S. Truman
June 28, 1948

The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949 is still one of the greatest humanitarian missions the world has ever known. Like a great sky bridge, airplanes flew 24 hours a day, three minutes apart, to feed 2.2 million people for 15 desperate months.

It began three years after WWII had ended, when defeated Germany and its capital, Berlin, were carved into four pieces like a pie by the Allied countries who had conquered Adolf Hitlers army. Josef Stalins Soviet Union (Russia) controlled the eastern sector of Berlin as well as East Germany. Great Britain, the United States, and France controlled the three western sectors of Berlin as well as West Germany.

At first, all four Allies ruled Germany in friendship, but on the fateful day of June 24, 1948, Josef Stalin tried to take both East and West Berlin for himself so he could eventually put all of Germany, then all of Europe, under his communist government. Since Berlin sat 110 miles deep within Russias territory, Stalin simply had to blockade the roads, railroads, and canal routes coming in and out of the city to cut off West Berliners from food, clothing, heat, and electricity.

What could the Allies do? If they freed West Berlin with guns and tanks there would be another world war! Only three air corridors, each 20 miles wide, were still open for the U.S., Great Britain, and France to utilize. And so the idea for the incredible sky bridge began.

From June 26th, 1948 to September 30th, 1949, the British and American forces flew more than 277, 000 missions, day and night, delivering more than 2.3 million tons of supplies. This is the same distance as going back and forth between the earth and the moon 130 times!

To keep people alive, Berlin needed 4,500 tons of food, coal, and essentials daily! Imagine packing, carrying, and unloading 646 tons of flour and wheat per day; 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes; 19 tons of powdered milk; 5 tons of fresh milk for babies and small children; 109 tons of meat and fat; 125 tons of cereal; and combined, over 5,000 tons of coal and kerosene during the summer and winter. And many other essential items were part of the cargo!

Nothing was easy about this rescue mission and there were many problems: the weather was terrible; the runways short; the skies crowded; the pilots had little sleep; Russian planes harassed the exhausted fliers in the air corridors; coal and flour dust caused mechanical problems.