General Mark A. Milley

Two years ago today you took your last breaths.
Staff Sgt. Vincent P. Marketta, 33, of Brick, New Jersey, (left) and Sgt. Tyler M. Shelton, 22, of San Bernardino, California, (right) were killed late during aviation training on San Clemente Island.

🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Honoring Gail S. Halvorsen: US Army Air Corps: The "Berlin Candy Bomber"

In 1942 Gail Halvorsen, a native of Salt Lake City Utah, joined the United States Army Air Forces as an aviator. During the war he flew C-54 cargo planes in the South Atlantic, stationed in Natal, Brazil.

According to the Desert News Group: "After the war ended in 1945, Halvorsen remained in the service, choosing to make the US Air Force his career. His proficiency flying the C-54 resulted in his being assigned to the yearlong Berlin airlift that began in July of 1948 in a divided Germany. Halvorsen was one of dozens of pilots assigned to transport food, clothing and other necessities from air bases in West Germany to citizens living in the western sector of Berlin."

After meeting a group of children at the end of a runway at the West Berlin Airport, Halvorsen began a mission to bring a small bit of joy into the lives of these young survivors. Gail Halvorsen would come to be known as the "Berlin Candy Bomber" by some and "Uncle Wiggly Wings" by others but by all accounts this hero made a lifetime impression on many of the children of West Berlin. Gail earned the nickname because he wiggled his wings in flight so the children would know it was him. This operation of goodwill would come to be known as "Operation Little Vittles."

"When news of the Berlin Candy Bomber filtered back to America, the story met with considerable interest and attention. Halvorsen and his squadmates were flooded with cards and letters of support. National candy companies contributed candy and other confections that were collected in Massachusetts and sent to Germany. In 1949 Halvorsen received the Cheney Award, given by the Air Force to recognize humanitarian action, from General Hoyt S. Vandenberg for the inception of Operation "Little Vittles".

On April 16, 1949 Gail married Alta Jolley in Las Vegas Nevada. The couple had five children. Halvorsen earned his Master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and worked in research and development at various bases in the US and abroad from 1952 to 1970. Gail retired from service in 1974 with the rank of Colonel. In 1976 he served as the Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brigham Young University - a title which he held for 10 years.

After the passing of his wife Alta on January 25, 1999 Gail remained in Utah. Five years later he married Lorraine Pace and the couple resided on their family farm in Spanish Fork Utah.

Gail S. Halvorsen passed away on Wednesday February 16, 2022 at the age of 101 years old. He lies in rest at Provo Cemetery in Provo Utah.

Please join us at WWII uncovered in remembering the life of Colonel Gail S. Halvorsen - aviator, humanitarian and World War II veteran. A grateful nation thanks you for a lifetime of service. Lest We Forget.



WWII uncovered ©️ original description and photos sourced by: Desert News Lee Benson author January 17, 2022, National US Air Force Museum, Isaac Hale | The Daily Herald via AP and The Office of the Governor of Utah (Fair Use Photos)

(Aug, 16, 2022) VETERAN OF THE DAY -- WWII Vet Who Escaped N***s Finally Gets Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal Nearly 80 Years Later.

"I feel like I have been living in a shadow and I've turned the lights on," said William "Willie" Kellerman.

For nearly 80 years, World War II veteran and D-Day survivor William "Willie" Kellerman hadn't received official recognition of his sacrifices due to a paperwork error.

That changed on Tuesday, when the 97-year-old was presented with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Prisoner of War Medal by Gen. James C. McConville, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, at Fort Hamilton Community Club in Brooklyn, New York.

"I feel like I have been living in a shadow and I've turned the lights on," Kellerman recalls. "I will never forget the experience I had back in 1945."

After growing up in the Bronx during the Great Depression, 19-year-old Kellerman ended up on a war ship off the shores of Normandy on June 6, 1944, which became known as D-Day. Within days, he landed on Utah Beach, France, joining the fight against the N***s.

Just a few weeks later, on July 4, Kellerman's radio was shot while he faced heavy gunfire. With no way to communicate, his captain sent him to find his Battalion's headquarters.

"I said, 'Where do I go?" recalls Kellerman, a private first class at the time, "and he just said, 'Just head that way.'

But as he was jumping through hedgerows and dodging bullets, Kellerman came face-to-face with a German tank and was taken prisoner.

"They came out of the tank with machine guns," says Kellerman, who had to stay with the N***s in a tent that night. "The next day they took me back where they had about 60 to 70 other Americans that they had gotten."

Kellerman recalls being given one slice of bread a day and only being able to walk at night. "Our planes would shoot anything moving in the daylight," he explains.

Thankfully, he managed a daring escape: "I crawled into the bushes, and when they were out of sight, I ran in the opposite direction," he says. "I got to a farmhouse, and it was becoming daylight."

Kellerman says he knocked on the door and tried to explain that he was an American who had escaped, but the residents didn't speak English.

"They gave me all their French clothes and took my uniform and burned it," he recalls.

They wouldn't let him stay because they could all be killed if the Germans found them, so he took off on foot and walked along the railroad tracks, Kellerman recalls.

"Then I got brave," he says of moving from the tracks to the road.

Kellerman felt that he was getting "braver and braver" as he passed the Germans and began to stop at houses for food. After finding a bike along the side of the road and getting a flat tire, he visited what he thought was a bicycle store. But to his surprise, it was actually the secret headquarters of the French Resistance.

"It's a good thing I knew who won the World Series that year because they asked me all kinds of questions to make sure I wasn't German," he says. "I convinced them I was who I said I was."

They kept him hidden in the Freteval Forest, where he stayed until Allied forces took over, he recalls.

"I finished the war with them," says Kellerman, who was shot in the leg and hand when he fought alongside Allied forces.

Kellerman says he recovered at a hospital in Bayreuth, Germany before returning home from the war. He'd go on to attend art school in New York City and live in Havana before settling down with his wife Sandy in Long Island, New York. Together they raised three children as he opened and ran a series of stores offering sewing machines, vacuum cleaners and typewriters.

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