![[Logo Auswärtiges Amt]](/images/logo.gif){kind=logo}
Friends Always - Ambassador Opens Become A Pilot Day
-
- Enlarge image
- A young visitor decked out in Friends Always regalia meets General Dailey (l) and Ambassador Scharioth (r).
- (© German Embassy, Washington)
The little girl was wearing her new baseball cap when she walked up to the German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth. The hat was emblazoned with an image of the German and American flags. It said "60th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift". The little girl had something she wanted to tell the Ambassador.
Families flocked to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center on Saturday, June 20. More than 15,000 visitors were undeterred by the morning thunderstorms and came to the 2009 Become A Pilot Family Day. Thousands of children like the little girl discovered the world of aviation on display at the center. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, the Family Day highlighted the history of this 1948/49 humanitarian effort that saved more than two million men, women and children in Berlin.
And not only did the children get to meet a real ambassador. Col. USAF (ret.) Gail S. Halvorsen, the famous Candy Bomber who had dropped tiny parachutes with candy for the children of Berlin during the Airlift, re-enacted the candy drops. His usual smile broadened even more when he looked at the children eagerly waiting for him to send the parachutes sailing from the cockpit of the C-54 Spirit of Freedom, an airplane that hauled coal in the Airlift and is now a flying museum.
-
- Enlarge image
- Col. USAF (ret.) Gail Halvorsen drops candy to children from the C-54 Spirit of Freedom.
- (© German Embassy, Washington)
Together with Ambassador Scharioth and General John R. Dailey, the director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Halvorsen opened the Family Day and cut the ribbon for the exhibit "The Berlin Airlift - A Legacy of Friendship" that will be on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center until July 23, 2009. In his speech, he inspired the audience when he talked about the values of the Airlift: gratitude, service before self and teamwork.
Ambassador Scharioth thanked Col. Halvorsen and all Airlift veterans for their part in saving the freedom of Berlin: "The children of Berlin were dreaming of becoming pilots. The American and British pilots gave them a dream. These pilots gave them hope. But even more important was this: the pilots, men like Col. Gail Halvorsen, gave them a chance to survive the day ... This unique effort, the Berlin Airlift, built the base for the enduring friendship between Germans and Americans."
The Ambassador said: "Danke schön!" - "Thank You!" And the little girl walked up to the Ambassador after his speech and said: "Mr. Ambassador, good job!" Her baseball hat - and her smile - said: "Friends Always".
Related Links:
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - Become a Pilot Day
