Face of Defense: Berlin ‘Candy Bomber’ Receives Honor

By Air Force Airman 1st Class Tom Brading

Joint Base Charleston

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2012 – Retired Air Force Col. Gail Halvorsen’s legacy is built on chocolate, bubble gum and hope.

The military leadership here renamed the base’s C-17 aircrew training building after Halvorsen during a June 15 dedication ceremony in honor of the legendary “Berlin Candy Bomber.”

In 1948, the Soviet Union placed the German city of Berlin in a tight blockade, cutting the city off from the West. World War II had concluded a few years before, and its aftermath had left Berlin in ruins. Allied bombings during the war had reduced the city’s buildings to large, thin fingers pointing toward the sky. The streets, once filled with busy urban life, were left littered with debris. Berlin’s people were scared, homeless and hungry.

The United States and its allies quickly devised and launched an airlift to get supplies to the city’s stricken populace.

In those days, a hungry German boy might have cried for help, and the sound of his voice may have echoed faintly into silence, as if no one could hear his plea. But then, through the darkness of clouds and smoke, a tiny parachute attached to a candy bar might fall softly to the ground at the boy’s feet as a subtle reminder that somebody knew he was in trouble and that somebody cared.

That somebody was then-Air Force Lt. Gail Halvorsen, forever referred to as “The Candy Bomber” in Germany for his actions during the 1948 Berlin Airlift, known as “Operation Vittles.” The airlift helped to end the Soviet blockade.

Halvorsen’s simple act of kindness gave hope back to the children of a war-torn Germany.

“When I first flew over Berlin, I could look through the buildings,” Halvorsen said. “I didn’t understand how 2 million people could have lived there.”

Halvorsen dropped candy from his C-54 aircraft for the German children below. His kindness inspired other crews to do the same. Halvorsen, along with more than 20 other candy bombers, dropped more than 3 million pounds of chocolate, gum and other candies for the German children.

“Colonel Halvorsen is, in large part, a symbol of hope and kindness for an entire nation,” Air Force Col. Erik Hansen, commander of the 437th Airlift Wing, said during the building dedication ceremony. “His greatest accomplishment was found, not only from his extraordinary aviation skill, but also from his compassion.”

Halvorsen’s compassion sparked a flame of inspiration throughout Berlin. The inspiration eventually caught on with American children, who made their own parachutes and donated candy for the German children.

“Halvorsen’s kindness provides the ‘why’ to what we do day in and day out as an airlift wing,” Hansen said. “His inspiration played a major role in saving Berlin and proved the concept of airlift as a strategic tool during the Cold War years and beyond.”

Although Halvorsen is an Air Force legend, he remains humble and wishes for the training building to be a reminder of those who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom.

“There are 31 American heroes and 39 British heroes of the Berlin Airlift,” Halvorsen said during the building dedication ceremony. “And I’m not one of them. Today’s dedication is not mine; the dedication is for those that gave their all for the cause of freedom. So, I’m not here for myself. I’m here to represent them.”

Halvorsen also spoke about the importance of heritage to America’s future generations.

“It’s important young people know their heritage and why they have freedoms and blessings that others are denied,” Halvorsen said. “The United States is dedicated to freedom today, like our forefathers were yesterday.”

According to Halvorsen, those freedoms are provided, in large part, by the U.S. military’s humanitarian missions of yesterday and today.

“It is easy to measure the military and diplomatic success through the vital supplies flown into Berlin,” Hansen said. “The statistics are clearly impressive and directly responsible for the eventual collapse of the Soviet blockade in Berlin. What can’t be measured is the hope, delivered symbolically by Colonel Halvorsen, and his impact on the global struggle for freedom.”

Today, at age 92, Halvorsen said he remains as optimistic about the idea of freedom as ever.

“In man’s search for happiness, sometimes he’ll chase for riches,” Halvorsen said. “But money doesn’t buy happiness. The only real reward you get in life is getting out of yourself and helping others, and that’s worth more than anything money can buy.

“As time goes by, we look in the rear view mirror of the past to learn,” he added. “But, you can’t look in the rear view for too long and wonder ‘What if?’ or else you’ll miss a turn on what you might become. We need to look into the windshield of the future and give hope to the young people of what their life can be.”

Hansen said naming the building after Halvorsen links today’s mission here to the ideals past heroes. “This training building will be an unbreakable link of the hope Colonel Halvorsen and his fellow airmen gave to the people of Berlin and the hope Team Charleston provides to people everywhere around the world today.”

Cold War Hero Powers Receives Posthumous Silver Star

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – More than half a century after his plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, the heroism Air Force Capt. Francis Gary Powers displayed while piloting his U-2 aircraft was finally recognized during a Pentagon ceremony today.

Powers, who died in a helicopter crash in 1977, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star -- the nation’s third-highest award for combat valor. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz presented the medal to Powers’ grandson, Francis Gary “Trey” Powers and granddaughter Lindsey Berry.

The downing of his plane on May 1, 1960 was one of the most famous incidents of the Cold War. Powers was flying a clandestine mission in a U-2 over the former Soviet Union. The program, a Joint Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency mission, was a top-secret effort to monitor Soviet nuclear and missile programs.

Powers took off from Peshawar, Pakistan, and headed over the Central Asian Soviet republics. The U-2 cameras gathered invaluable information for the United States and its allies at a time when the Soviet Bear seemed to be on the ascent.

The Soviets had launched Sputnik -- the world’s first satellite -- in 1957. John F. Kennedy -- then running for president -- deplored the “missile gap” between the United States and Soviet Union. It was the height of the Cold War with schoolchildren conducting “duck and cover” drills in case of nuclear attack. Most buildings had signs indicating the location of fallout shelters, rooms designed to protect against radiation contamination.

Powers’ mission was to overfly Soviet missile sites, nuclear plants and rocket-launching facilities. Over Sverdlovsk his plane -- flying at more than 70,000 feet -- was hit by a SA-2 missile and brought down. Soviet forces captured Powers and he was held by the Soviet secret police, the KGB, in Lubyanka Prison in Moscow.

The shoot down sharply increased tensions between Washington and Moscow. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to admit that the United States was flying over another sovereign nation. Protests over this broke out in Japan and Europe. Relations with Pakistan deteriorated. A Big-4 Summit -- leaders of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and the United States -- scheduled for Paris was canceled. The Soviet Union made propaganda of the incident at the United Nations.

And the Soviets wanted more. Teams of KGB interrogators worked on Powers to get him to give up information or turn against his country. While they never beat him, they constantly threatened him with death, said his son Gary Francis Powers Jr.

Powers spent 21 months in a Moscow prison, Schwartz said. “For nearly 107 days, Captain Powers was interrogated and harassed by numerous Soviet secret police interrogation teams,” the chief said. Powers also was held in solitary confinement.

“Although weakened by lack of food and denial of sleep and mental anguish of constant interrogation, Captain Powers refused all attempts to glean from him sensitive information that would have proved harmful to the defense and security of the United States,” Schwartz said.

In February 1962, the Soviets exchanged Powers for Soviet spy KGB Col. Rudolph Abel. The handover was conducted on “The Bridge of Spies” in Berlin.

It was a sign of the times that Powers’ return home was fraught with uncertainty and questions. A teacher told Dee Powers, the captain’s daughter, that her father should have killed himself rather than getting captured. The program was still top secret and what Powers went through was classified. The captain received the CIA Intelligence Star for Valor in 1965 and the Senate Armed Services Committee declared that Powers had conducted himself, “as a fine man under dangerous circumstances.”

The younger Powers started researching his father’s case in the late 1980s. Much of it was classified. “I would speak about the U-2 incident at classes and people would think I was talking about the rock group,” he said.

It wasn’t until 1998, seven years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that the CIA declassified records of the program and Powers’ full heroism became known, said young Gary. At that point, the captain posthumously received the CIA Director’s Award for Extreme Fidelity and Courage, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross and the Prisoner of War Medal.

Today’s award of the Silver Star puts to rest the idea that somehow the captain behaved poorly in captivity, his son said.

“He loved his family, he loved flying and he loved his country,” he said.

Silver Star to be Posthumously Presented to Capt. Francis Gary Powers

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz will posthumously award the Silver Star to Capt. Francis Gary Powers during a ceremony at the Pentagon, Friday, June 15, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. EDT in the Hall of Heroes (2D1046).

Powers, whose U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, May 1, 1960, will receive the medal for demonstrating “exceptional loyalty” while enduring harsh interrogation in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow for almost two years.

Gary Powers Jr. and Dee Powers, Powers’s children, and Dick Anderegg, director of Air Force History, will be available to the media for on-camera interviews in the Office of the Secretary of Defense small television studio (2E963) on June 14 from noon to 4 p.m.  Additionally, there will be a media roundtable on June 14 at 11 a.m. in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Pentagon Briefing Room (2E973).

Media wishing to attend the ceremony on June 15 or the media roundtable on June 14 should contact Air Force Public Affairs no later than 3 p.m., June 13.  Journalists without a Pentagon building pass will be picked up at the River Entrance only.  Plan to arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to the event, have proof of press affiliation and two forms of photo identification.

Please contact the Air Force Press Desk at 703-695-0640 for escort into the building.

Official: DOD Improves Posture on ‘Loose Nuke’ Threat

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – Though the Defense Department’s role in nuclear nonproliferation centers on dismantling weapons of mass destruction in former Soviet Union states, DOD also plans, equips and trains for scenarios in which terrorists get their hands on nuclear weapons, the principal deputy assistant defense secretary for global strategic affairs said yesterday.

Kenneth B. Handelman testified with colleagues from the State Department, the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the Government Accountability Office before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on oversight of government management.

The hearing focused on interagency nuclear nonproliferation efforts around the world.

For fiscal 2013, Handelman said, President Barack Obama’s budget request for the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, or CTR, is $519 million, roughly $130 million of which would be devoted to nuclear security-related activities, which he called “truly a governmentwide team effort.” CTR is an initiative created in 1991 to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states.

DOD's contribution to the nuclear security effort “comes primarily through CTR,” Handelman said.

“However,” he added, “given DOD's overall mission to defend the nation, there's a whole world of separate nuclear-security activities for which my agency plans, equips and trains.”

Such activities, he said, “center on a scenario none of us want to confront; namely, what to do when we think the bad guys actually have gotten their hands on really bad things.”

Planning for this type of “loose-nukes” situation is evolving substantially, Handelman said, and the watchword for DOD’s new thinking focuses on integration across DOD components and across the government.

“For instance,” he said, “the instability or collapse of a nuclear-armed state could quickly lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons or materials well beyond the country of origin and involve multiple state and nonstate actors as it moves across the globe.”

Today, Handelman said, the services are working to improve DOD’s defensive posture against the threat by enhancing the homeland’s protective posture, working with the intelligence community to better analyze and track terrorist networks, identifying likely paths to proliferation, and improving the ability to characterize the source and nature of loose-nuke threats.

“Our work at DOD has focused on how U.S. military units would coordinate with other U.S. agencies and with allies and partners in the face of such a loose-nuke threat scenario,” Handelman said.

Handelman said the first line of defense in attaining global nuclear security is a group of activities in which agencies from across the U.S. government participate, including DOD.

Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, described for the panel a three-tiered U.S. strategy -- site level, country level and global level -- to lock down or remove vulnerable nuclear materials.

“At the site level,” he said, “we work with other countries to minimize the civilian use of highly enriched uranium, to eliminate unneeded weapons-usable material, and to improve security at specific sites.”

Where site-level assistance is inappropriate,” Countryman added, “we cooperate at the country level with foreign governments to exchange best practices and to demonstrate the safe use of equipment.”

At the global level, the assistant secretary said, the United States helps to develop global initiatives through the Nuclear Security Summit process, the United Nations and other means to improve nuclear security around the world.”

One example is U.S. engagement with the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, he added, a partnership of 83 nations that conduct activities to strengthen plans, policies and interoperability on the issue of nuclear terrorism.

The National Nuclear Security Administration also makes important contributions at the site and national levels, Anne Harrington said, including working with partner countries on their nuclear security centers of excellence.

“These centers form an important network that will allow countries and regions to strengthen capabilities to secure facilities and to deter, detect and interdict illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological material,” she said.

The NNSA also holds quarterly coordination meetings with DOD colleagues at the assistant-secretary level, Harrington said, “to discuss areas of common interest, coordinate on program ideas and do forward planning.”

The United States is looking forward into a global nuclear economy, she added, one that, despite the incidents at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, will continue to expand in terms of use of nuclear power and uranium commerce.

“As long as nuclear materials exist,” Countryman told the panel, “we will have the same need to set the best possible example in the United States of securing those materials and of sharing that capability for protection with other countries, motivating them to do the same.”