Bringing the Candy Bomber Back to the Outer Banks

Karin Edmond of Manteo made a promise to Colonel Gail Halvorsen, aka The Candy Bomber, over the phone as he lay dying at age 101 on February 16, 2022.

“I promised him that I would keep the legend of The Candy Bomber going in Dare County as long as I am alive,” she says. “I will keep it up in his name. He will always be with us in spirit.”

As an Airman in post-World War II Berlin, then-Lieutenant Halvorsen became known as the Candy Bomber when he dropped candy to the children of Berlin each time he flew into Tempelhof Airport with supplies. The candy drop has been re-enacted at Dare County Airport 23 times now, always in December, making it a favorite Outer Banks holiday-season tradition. This year Karin needs help raising the thousands of dollars needed to make it happen again.

How did this tradition from Germany come to be repeated on Roanoke Island? And what motivates Karin Edmond to want to continue it?

To understand why Karin so cherishes the Candy Bomber tradition, let’s go back to her childhood in Berlin.

Top Photo: Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the original Candy Bomber, participated in more than 20 Candy Bomber Re-enactments at Dare County Regional Airport before he passed away in February of 2022.

Berlin, 1948

At the beginning of World War II, Karin says, “It was a less-than-lovely time to be a child.” But when the war came to a standstill in May 1945 and the city of Berlin was divided – East Berlin under Soviet control and West Berlin under Allied control — things went downhill rapidly.

In 1948, Karin was 7 years old and living in West Berlin. Due to Soviet blockades, food was incredibly scarce, and Karin still remembers the pain of always going to bed hungry.

The Allies came to the rescue with the Berlin Airlift, the largest supply effort ever, by flying food into to West Berlin, landing a C-54 transport plane every 90 seconds for 15 months to feed and supply a city of more than 2 million people. But they could not fly in fresh food, only dehydrated food like meat, eggs, milk, potatoes and vegetables. For 14 months, the children lived on 750 calories a day, and the adults got to have 1,250 calories a day. Karin remembers an aunt giving her sister a loaf of white bread, the rarest of treats, for her birthday, and all the children in the family being thrilled to get a little taste of the bread.

One day on his day off, Halvorsen had flown into the airport and was making amateur movies of planes landing when he noticed children lined up by the fence to watch the planes. They weren’t begging for candy or gum like other children he had encountered in Europe because, he realized, some didn't know that candy existed. He took two sticks of Wrigley’s Doublemint gum, tore them in half and handed them to the children. The children had never seen or tasted chewing gum before, and when he saw the joy of the children who got even the tiniest taste of the gum or even just got to smell the paper, he got an idea.

Halvorsen decided to tie up his own rations of Hershey’s chocolate bars in a little handkerchief parachutes. The next time he flew into West Berlin, he dropped the handkerchiefs filled with candy to the children on the ground. The children had never had candy, so this was a delightful surprise. His fellow Airmen joined in, donating their rations to the cause, and then there were regular candy drops for the children.

Photo: An image from West Berlin in 1948 during on the famous candy drops.

Karin says Halvorsen could have been court-martialed for this activity, but that his commander looked the other way and let it contine. But one day a German newspaperman nearly got hit in the head with a candy bar and wrote about the candy drops in the newspaper. The news spread to the United States and Hershey’s got word of it. They began donating candy to the mission, and other pilots joined in. The operation became known as Operation Little Vittles. Nearly every day there was a candy drop in West Berlin, and the pilots even dropped some candy in the Soviet sector. In the end, they dropped more than three tons of candy over Berlin. Karin remembers the candy drops as her most favorite childhood memories.

Manteo, 1999

Karin grew up and married an American GI and in 1960 moved to the United States. She says she never told her children a thing about her rough childhood and how hungry they had been. She ended up living in Manteo and working as a cook at a German restaurant, The Weeping Radish.

Then one day she heard an airplane engine roar on Roanoke Island and says she flashed back to her days in West Berlin. She asked her daughter to take her to the airport. Her daughter thought she was crazy, but when they got there, a Douglas C-54 aircraft, just like the ones she remembered from the Berlin Airlift, was at the Dare County Regional Airport. It was called Spirit of Freedom and it was painted it to look like one of the carrier aircraft from the airlift.

“When I saw the Spirit of Freedom, I sat down and cried,” Karin says.

Spirit of Freedom is owned by the Berlin Airlift Historical Association, founded by Timothy A. Chopp to educate the public about this important time in history. Inside, the plane is a museum willed with artifacts, displays and information. Tim Gaylord, manager of the Dare County Airport, had brought the Spirit of Freedom to Dare County for an airshow and a re-enactment of the candy drop.

Karin immediately volunteered her help for future candy drops in Dare County and has been instrumental in organizing re-enactments of the candy drops at Dare County Regional Airport for the last 22 years. She became great friends with Halvorsen and his family and the people of the Berlin Airlift Historical Association as they came back every year. Berlin Airlift Historical Association has held Candy Bomber re-enactments in many other places, but Manteo is the only town in the whole United States that had the Candy Bomber for 23 years in a row.

Photo: Karin Edmond, who grew up in Berlin, Germany, and has first-hand memories of the Berlin Airlift and Gail Halvorsen's candy drops, became friends with Halvorsen and helped him re-create the candy drops in Manteo. Here, the two are shown meeting in Manteo.

“There’s so much history behind these candy drops,” Karin says. “I want the children to know.”

That's why she's always helped with the event and is determined to make sure The Candy Bomber Reenactment happens in Manteo in 2022.

When The Candy Bomber Reenactment comes to the airport, thanks to Karin, hundreds of parachutes with candy are dropped to the children, Santa comes to greet the children, and there are cupcakes for everyone. The history of the Berlin Airlift is shared, and the story is not forgotten.

Can You Help Bring Back the Candy Bomber?

To bring the Spirit of Freedom to Dare County typically requires $3,000 for fuel, but this year, the cost for fuel has skyrocketed to nearly $6,000. Karin also needs money for candy bars and cupcakes for the event and for room and board for the pilots and flight members of the Berlin Airlift Historical Association. Several local businesses have stepped in to donate candy, dinners and lodgings, but more is still needed.  

Karin’s single-handed fundraising efforts got off to a late start this year, and she needs help. She is asking for donations of any amount. She will be at the Food A Rama IGA in Manteo on weekends and at First Friday events in downtown Manteo selling crocheted hats, baby blankets and other items to raise money, but she also welcomes donations by mail. She has a tax ID number that she can give to donors. Sponsors who donate $500 or more will be able to fly in the Spirit of Freedom for a bird’s eye view of the island after the candy drop.

Mail checks to:

Candy Bomber 2022
c/o Karin Edmond
P.O. Box 122
Manteo NC 27954

Or you can call Karin at (252) 473-1795.

Photo: A crowd welcomes the flight crew from the Berlin Airlift Historical Association at a Candy Bomber event at Dare County Regional Airport.

Want to go?

Friday, December 16

There will be a history program about the Berlin Airlift with the Berlin Airlift Historical Association on Friday, December 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dare County Center, 950 Marshall Collins Drive in Manteo.

Saturday, December 17

The Spirit of Freedom will participate in the flyover as part of the 119th anniversary of the first flight celebrations at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Find more event information here.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Candy Bomber Reenactment at Dare County Regional Airport (410 Airport Road, Manteo).

The first candy drop will be held at 12:30 p.m. for the smallest children. The big candy drop from the plane will be held at 1 p.m. A party follows inside the airport building. The plane will be open for tours. Check this link for event information as the date gets closer.