II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2514 

To rename the Provo Veterans Center in Orem, Utah, as the ‘‘Col. Gail 

S. Halvorsen ‘Candy Bomber’ Veterans Center’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2021 

Mr. LEE (for himself and Mr. ROMNEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To rename the Provo Veterans Center in Orem, Utah, as 

the ‘‘Col. Gail S. Halvorsen ‘Candy Bomber’ Veterans 

Center’’. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF THE COL. GAIL S. 

4 HALVORSEN ‘‘CANDY BOMBER’’ VETERANS 

5 CENTER. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Gail Halvorsen was born in Salt Lake City, 

8 Utah, on October 10, 1920, and spent his youth 

9 with his family on small farms in Utah and Idaho. 


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1 (2) After a brief stint at Utah State University, 

2 Gail Halvorsen joined the Civilian Pilot Training 

3 Program where he earned his pilot’s license in 1941. 

4 During that same year, Halvorsen joined the Civil 

5 Air Patrol as a pilot. 

6 (3) Gail Halvorsen joined the United States 

7 Army Air Corps in 1942 and trained flying fighter 

8 jets with the Royal Air Force. Upon his return from 

9 training, he was assigned to fly transport missions 

10 in the South Atlantic Theater. 

11 (4) After World War II and the division of Ber12 lin into occupation zones, disputes broke out between 

13 the Western Allies and the Soviet Union over the fu14 ture of Europe. 

15 (5) Negotiations deteriorated, and in June of 

16 1948 Soviet forces locked down all land routes con17 necting Western Germany with the allied portions of 

18 Berlin. Approximately 2,000,000 people in West 

19 Berlin were left completely isolated. Starvation, pov20 erty, and desperate want ensued. 

21 (6) In an effort to alleviate the immense human 

22 suffering, the allies decided to drop supplies to peo23 ple of West Berlin from the air until a diplomatic 

24 solution to the blockade could be reached. Termed 


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1 by United States forces ‘‘Operation Vittles’’, the 

2 Berlin Airlift began on June 26, 1948. 

3 (7) Gail Halvorsen was assigned to Germany in 

4 1948 to work as an airlift pilot where he flew C–47 

5 and C–54 cargo planes as part of Operation Vittles. 

6 (8) While on mission at Tempelhof Airport in 

7 Berlin, Halvorsen noticed a group of German chil8 dren standing just outside the barb wire fence. 

9 (9) The children were destitute and clearly had 

10 very little to eat. Halvorsen gave the children two 

11 sticks of gum he had in his pocket, which they split 

12 into little pieces to share among themselves. 

13 (10) Colonel Halvorsen was deeply affected by 

14 the experience and wanted to do more to help. He 

15 promised the children he would drop more candy to 

16 them from his plane as he flew his regular airlift 

17 missions. 

18 (11) Halvorsen told the children they would rec19 ognize his plane by a back-and-forth waggle of his 

20 wings as he flew over. 

21 (12) Colonel Halvorsen enlisted his copilot and 

22 engineer in the project and began attaching their 

23 candy rations to miniature parachutes which they 

24 dropped from their plane to the starving children 

25 below. 


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1 (13) The children of Berlin gave Halvorsen 

2 many nicknames including ‘‘Uncle Wiggly Wings’’, 

3 ‘‘The Chocolate Flier’’, ‘‘The Gum Drop Kid’’, and 

4 ‘‘The Chocolate Uncle’’. He eventually became 

5 known around the world as ‘‘The Candy Bomber’’. 

6 (14) Lieutenant General William H. Turner, 

7 who directed the Berlin Airlift, learned about 

8 Halvorsen’s efforts and officially expanded the idea 

9 into a full-blown operation known as ‘‘Little Vittles’’ 

10 as a play on the broader operation’s name. 

11 (15) As the candy drops continued, word of Op12 eration Little Vittles reached the United States. 

13 Families, schoolchildren, and candymakers in the 

14 United States began contributing candy and home15 made parachutes that Halvorsen and other pilots 

16 could drop. 

17 (16) When the Berlin Airlift ended, an esti18 mated 250,000 parachutes containing approximately 

19 21 tons of candy had been dropped by Halvorsen 

20 and his fellow airmen as a part of Operation Little 

21 Vittles. 

22 (17) Halvorsen retired from the military in 

23 1974 after 31 years of service and more than 8,000 

24 hours of flying time. 


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1 (18) Since his retirement, Halvorson has con2 tinued his humanitarian service. He has voluntarily 

3 represented the United States Air Force and the 

4 United States abroad and has re-enacted his famous 

5 candy drops several times in Berlin and around the 

6 world. 

7 (19) Halvorsen has also been a tremendous 

8 boon to his community through church service and 

9 other local contributions. 

10 (20) Gail Halvorsen turned 100 years old on 

11 October 10, 2020. 

12 (b) DESIGNATION.—The Provo Veterans Center of 

13 the Department of Veterans Affairs located at 360 State 

14 Street, Orem, Utah, shall after the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act be known and designated as the ‘‘Col. Gail 

16 S. Halvorsen ‘Candy Bomber’ Veterans Center’’. 

17 (c) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regula18 tion, map, document, paper, or other record of the United 

19 States to the veterans center referred to in subsection (b) 

20 shall be considered to be a reference to the Col. Gail S. 

21 Halvorsen ‘‘Candy Bomber’’ Veterans Center. 

Æ 


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