From Stars & Stripes, who have lots more photos:
“It feels like a funeral,” Gail Halvorsen said after the ceremony. “We’re here to celebrate rather than be real sad about it.”
Halvorsen and thousands of others took part in the greatest airlift operation to date. From June 1948 to September 1949, tons of food, fuel and supplies were flown to West Berlin to thwart a Soviet blockade of the city. Rhein-Main was the primary launching point for the airlift.
Halvorsen — the so-called “Candy Bomber” — gained fame for attaching candy to little, handmade parachutes and dropping them to young Berliners. He calls himself the “Chocolate Pilot,” instead, though some fans like “Uncle Wiggles” because of the way he’d wiggle his wings to tip the kids off that he was coming.
hr-online.de have a roundup article (in German) with events timeline and a great photo gallery.
Update: Personal recollections at Austin Bay Blog, and a great post with lots more on Halvorsen at the Mudville Gazette.
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