They have been learning together, while thousands of miles apart this year, about the rich history of Air Force Pilot Gail Halvorsen, nicknamed the “Candy Bomber” or “Uncle Wiggly Wings” from his time flying candy drops in Germany during the Berlin Airlift.
On this episode of the Supercast, find out what happens when students from Berlin arrive in Utah to join West Hills Middle School students as part of their Colonel Halvorsen history lessons. It all culminated in the bonding of young minds, making chocolate bars, a moving assembly, and inspiring words from Halvorsen’s daughters, words that would make “Uncle Wiggly Wings” proud.
Audio Transcription
Mark Sanderson:
You know, the Candy Bomber was all about from small things, great things come and this event today was a manifestation of that.
Daughter:
We're just so thrilled that his legacy could continue because of the principles he taught.
Lorraine Moore:
He had no idea the power of what he started, but he spent the rest of his life sharing that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They have been learning together, while thousands of miles apart, about the rich history of Air Force pilot, Gail Halvorsen, nicknamed the Candy Bomber or Uncle Wiggly Wings, from his time flying candy drops in Germany during the Berlin airlift. On this episode of the Supercast, find out what happens when students from Berlin arrive in Utah to join West Hills Middle School students as part of their Colonel Halvorsen history lessons. You'll hear about the bonding of young minds, making chocolate bars, an impactful assembly, and the inspiring words from Halvorsen's daughters, words that would make Uncle Wiggly Wings proud. We're talking now with Mark Sanderson, the teacher who put all of this together. What a wonderful event. Introduce yourself and talk about what inspired you to bring everyone together to commemorate Gail Halvorsen today.
Mark Sanderson:
I'm Mark Sanderson. I teach 8th grade at West Hills Middle School, 8th grade English. The project started really two years ago. I had been doing chocolate projects before that in connection with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” But since I wasn't teaching “Charlie,” I thought, "Hey, like, I need something else." But also I had been collaborating with the Aggie Chocolate Factory up at Utah State. And I said, "Hey, like, we've done this a few times. Like, let's do something more ambitious, like something bigger. Like, what about the Candy Bomber?" And they said, "Yeah, he's connected to Utah State. He came here." So they really latched onto the idea and I said, "I'm gonna reach out the Candy Bomber Foundation and make sure they're okay with that. I want to make sure we're doing it legitimately." I emailed the Candy Bomber Foundation and they were like, "Yeah, totally. Let's do it." And the project has really, to me, the key of the project has been the collaboration. Everybody who's been involved with it has caught the vision of it and has made the project bigger and better. Through the foundation, we were connected with the Gail Halvorsen School in Berlin who also did the project and had their students fly out here today. So to me, it's just been the collaboration that's the big takeaway.
Anthony Godfrey:
What impact do you see this having on students and on the community?
Mark Sanderson
Hopefully it'll make projects like this more possible, like easier to do, more common to do. And we can take pride in some of our local heroes and celebrate them at our schools.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I really appreciate the creativity and the drive and the energy that you brought to this. These are the types of experiences that students will never forget. What is the personal impact on you of Gail Halvorsen's story?
Mark Sanderson
Well, I don't... well, ultimately I'd rather have my students remember the event than necessarily remember me or my name. If they can remember the event, to me, that's the main thing. But for me, you know, the Candy Bomber was all about from small things, great things come. And this event today was a manifestation of that. It started with a small idea and a bunch of other people joined in to make it happen, make it possible. I couldn't have done all this by myself. So I think it's a manifestation of his vision, his belief, his legacy. And hopefully our students will collaborate with others to make big things happen that are positive in our community.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, today's activity, in my mind, honors what he did and exponentially extends the influence of his actions. I just really appreciate your providing such a unique and meaningful experience for these students.
Anthony Godfrey:
Talking with Lorraine Moore about the Gail Halvorsen Foundation, we're here waiting for the Candy Bomber event to happen. Tell us a little bit about what you do.
Lorraine Moore:
Wonderful. I appreciate the opportunity at the Candy Bomber Foundation. We're looking to carry on Gayle's legacy of kindness, service, education, and really bringing hope to people that need it because we all do.
Anthony Godfrey:
I remember that he was very active in the community, loved visiting schools, and I got to meet him when he visited, I think it was, Oquirrh Hills Middle School years ago.
Lorraine Moore:
Fun. And if you got the opportunity to speak to him for 30 seconds, you had a lifelong friend.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, that's right.
Lorraine Moore:
He's always like that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, very friendly. Tell me about the work that your organization does.
Lorraine Moore:
Absolutely. Well, Gayle always felt that education is the power to create a life, and service is the power to create a life of joy for yourself and for those that you're serving. So we like to combine those two elements, and our programs are values-based STEM programs, not only teaching kids what they can do with science and education, but what good they can do, and helping them to see how important even a little bit of good, even just two sticks of gum or a parachute with a chocolate bar, how much that can do for people.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, Gail Halvorsen is an incredible example of making the most of your circumstances and finding opportunities to do good, not just do what you're assigned to do, but to go well beyond that.
Lorraine Moore:
Way beyond that. He was very likely thought he was gonna get court-martialed for doing it, but he saw a whole generation of children that had never known anything but war, and there was just a light had gone out of their eyes, and he realized, "I can't do a lot, but if I can do a little, I can bring a little bit more light back in those eyes," and he had no idea the power of what he started, but he spent the rest of his life sharing that.
Anthony Godfrey:
When he did that, I'll bet he had no idea it was going to last a lifetime, and well beyond. For those who may not know, tell the story of Gail Halvorsen and what he did.
Lorraine Moore:
He grew up here in Utah, so he is a local hero. He was serving in the Berlin airlift as one of the cargo pilots, bringing in food and fuel and all of the supplies that Berlin needed to survive after the war, and when they would unload the planes, the pilots would want to get out, stretch their legs, and him just being a people person, the first thing he loved to do is go talk to the people at the fence of the airport, and usually it was young kids. A group of them there loved meeting the American pilots. He loved that he could help these kids realize that planes flying into their airport didn't mean bombs. It meant someone was here to help, and that meant a lot to him, and so one day he was at the fence and he just really felt inspired. These kids needed a little something more. He reached in his pocket and all he had was two sticks of gum. He thought two sticks of gum and 30 kids, I'm gonna start a riot. He was so worried, yeah, but he just knew he had to do it, so he gave the gum to the kids, and instead of fighting over it, they broke it into the smallest pieces they could break it into, and the kids who didn't get gum smelled the wrapper. Double mint gum. It's become the smell of freedom all over the world, and for them they knew that was the smell of freedom, and they asked him, "Don't give up on us. We can do without food for a while, but if you guys give up on us, we'll lose our freedom, and we'll never get it back," and it just really put a fire in his heart to do more to help these kids, so he told them he'd come back and he'd bring them more candy. He went that night and got everyone's candy bar rations and everyone's handkerchiefs and tied parachutes and made these parachutes with the candy. The kids asked him, "How will we know it's you because there's a hundred planes coming in every hour and we don't know who you are," so he told them he'd wiggle his wings, and that's how he got the name Uncle Wiggly Wings, and so a legend was born.
Anthony Godfrey:
I didn't know that part. I didn't know that part. That's cool.
Lorraine Moore:
Yep, he loved that. That was one of his favorite nicknames.
Anthony Godfrey:
And how many candy runs did he make?
Lorraine Moore:
I don't know how many runs, but by the time they were done, they had dropped almost 10 million pounds of candy.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Well, thank you so much for being here, and let's join the ceremony.
Lorraine Moore:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We continue to celebrate Gail Halvorsen at West Hills Middle School.
Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.
Female Voice:
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District, we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with Gail Halvorsen's two daughters who were here for the ceremony today. Thank you so much for being here.
Daughter:
Thank you. It's a privilege.
Daughter:
Happy to be here.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of these events and what it's meant to carry on this legacy over the years both while your father was alive and now as you as you continue to talk about his life and his story.
Daughter:
Well it's a wonderful thing. We've been to many events like this with him both in Germany and here in the States. Candy drops, school visits, auditoriums full of kids and he always had them captivated and we're just so thrilled that his legacy could continue because of the principles he taught.
Anthony Godfrey:
I was lucky enough to meet him when he visited one of the schools here in Jordan School District and it was very inspiring. Everyone was really changed by that. Tell me what are some of the types of events that you've attended over the years and that he's attended over the years that have commemorated and extended the influence of his Candy Bomber days.
Daughter:
Well he dropped candy at all of our children's elementary schools and spoke at the in the auditorium; spoke about freedom and the importance of freedom and the children at the fence how they were so impressed. He was so impressed with him because they wanted freedom more than food. Because of that and he saw their gratitude he wanted you to do something nice for them and dropped from candy so he's been in schools he's been in many flyover candy drops in Sarah Park. People remember that just all over the country.
Daughter:
In Germany and Berlin they have an airlift memorial there and every May 12th they have a service and ceremony and I remember one particular year there they had a flyover in the original airplane C54 that he flew and they dropped candy. That might have been for the 50th or they always have a really big thing on the 50th, 55th, 60th and so on.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow that's amazing. So when you were growing up did the candy flow freely in your home or was it restricted?
Daughter:
Gum did. We had a gum jar. The gum was there.
Anthony Godfrey:
Just like the two sticks of gum that started it all.
Daughter:
Honestly I didn't know my dad was the Candy Bomber until I was in high school.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh how did you discover that your dad was the Candy Bomber?
Daughter:
I had to write a report and he told me a story what happened to him during the airlift and that's kind of when I found out about an experience flying into Berlin.
Anthony Godfrey:
What did your teacher say when you turned that in?
Daughter:
They probably knew before I showed up.
Anthony Godfrey:
Did you at least get an A on the project?
Daughter:
I don't remember.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure you did. I'm sure you did. And when did you discover that your dad was the Candy Bomber?
Daughter:
I was also in high school. So I remember one summer we were living in California and he was invited to Berlin for the 40th anniversary of the end of the airlift and then when he came back he told us about all the things that happened. They had a candy drop at the Temple Hall airbase. They had thousands of people that would come to that and he signed autographs and sat in his airplane and showed us pictures of all this so that's when I started thinking “oh”. Then when we moved to Berlin in 1970 and he was commander there we met many of the people that had been alive during that time. They're so full of passion and gratitude. They're just speaking to him with tears coming down their faces. Their whole lives they've strived to serve and give back. We still are communicating with one another.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's an honor to meet you both. Thank you for sharing those stories and for being here. I'm sure these students will never forget it.
Daughters:
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with one of the German students who came to visit West Hills as part of the Candy Bomber event today. Tell us your name and tell us a little bit about why you're here.
Student:
I am Bayam and we are here because we won an art competition. We had to design a chocolate wrapper and yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you designed the chocolate wrapper for the chocolate that was created for this event to be given to the students as part of this commemorative event for Gail Halvorson but you go to the Gail Halvorson school. Tell me a little bit about that.
Student:
Well the school has many well we have our signature speech. It's I don't really know it anymore like right now because we have it in German and we do have a picture of him, a drawn portrait, in black and white in our auditorium so we do honor him a lot and he really didn't want to be famous but he just made a small act and is now very very known for that small act.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the design that won you a trip to come visit us.
Student:
My design was I had a text it was a small rhyme I don't really know anymore but I also had the Berlin TV tower and a bit of the Berlin Wall on it. Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Nice. Well, your English is excellent we're so glad to have you here and it meant a lot to have you and your friends and your teachers here visiting us. It really made it an important event for us so thank you for being here.
Student:
I'm honored to be here. Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with the chocolate designer and the chocolatier. Is that the right term?
Student:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Not a Mouseketeer a chocolatier. It has the same exciting feeling. So tell me about your design and what the contest was.
Student:
Yeah so the contest was about who can make a chocolate bar inspired by Gail Halvorson and kind of you know market it and make a good design that represents it.
Anthony Godfrey:
As part of the ceremony we heard your description of why you chose the elements of the chocolate bar that you did. Talk to us about that.
Student:
So when I made the chocolate bar, it was kind of a cartoon idea at first not supposed to be real so I want everything to have a meaning and represent something more important, so I had caramel for its comfort and like classic and then milk chocolate because it's sweet just like Gail Halvorson's act, and then I had the honey to represent kindness.
Anthony Godfrey:
Have you tried the chocolate bar?
Student:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
How did it turn out?
Student:
It's actually really good.
Anthony Godfrey:
I bet it is. Now let's talk with our chocolatier who helped support this. Introduce yourself and tell us about this project.
Grant Fryes:
Yeah, my name is Grant Fryes. I'm the co-owner at Taste Artist and Chocolate Down in Provo and yeah Mark connected with me first and introduced the idea of having this competition and us kind of taking the role of bringing these ideas to life and I just immediately got excited you know letting the students just take the creative reins and then just turning that into something delicious and yeah, they did a great job.
Anthony Godfrey:
We really appreciate your support. Our German visitors went and visited this morning came down there and took a little tour.
Grant Fryes:
Yeah they actually made their own chocolate bar.
Anthony Godfrey:
They made their own chocolate bars. Fantastic. I wanted to come for that part. I just had meetings I couldn't get out of. Tell us about the results. How did the chocolate bar turn out? You're the chocolate expert.
Grant Fryes:
Yeah, no they really I was excited when the ideas the finalists were chosen, and they sent the ideas over because I immediately knew both of these are gonna be incredible. Ryan's idea was I saw it come in and we normally don't do fillings in our bars. We usually try to keep just solid bars. His came in and I was like no, that has to be a filling in the middle of the bar. So that was a fun fun adventure for us to make our first filled chocolate bar.
Anthony Godfrey:
Breaking all the rules. Making this delicious bar with Ryan. And so thank you for doing that and for supporting us in that effort. Tell us a little bit more about your business.
Grant Fryes:
Yeah, so we're what we what you call bean-to-bar chocolate. So we import the raw cocoa beans ourselves from all over the world and do the whole process from scratch. And then attached to the factory, we have a little cafe where we do afternoon tea service and little light lunch menu. Lots of desserts obviously with the chocolate.
Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.
Grant Fryes:
And kind of showcase chocolate from not just our factory but around the world as well.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you so much for being here.
Grant Fryes:
Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'll be stopping by. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there.