II 

Calendar No. 196 

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 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Reported by Mr. TESTER, without amendment 

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: 


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

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

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

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

5 Gail Halvorsen joined the Civilian Pilot Training 

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

7 During that same year, Halvorsen joined the Civil 

8 Air Patrol as a pilot. 

9 (3) Gail Halvorsen joined the United States 

10 Army Air Corps in 1942 and trained flying fighter 

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

12 training, he was assigned to fly transport missions 

13 in the South Atlantic Theater. 

14 (4) After World War II and the division of Ber15 lin into occupation zones, disputes broke out between 

16 the Western Allies and the Soviet Union over the fu17 ture of Europe. 

18 (5) Negotiations deteriorated, and in June of 

19 1948 Soviet forces locked down all land routes con20 necting Western Germany with the allied portions of 

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

22 Berlin were left completely isolated. Starvation, pov23 erty, and desperate want ensued. 

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

25 suffering, the allies decided to drop supplies to peoVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Dec 17, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2514.RS S2514

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1 ple of West Berlin from the air until a diplomatic 

2 solution to the blockade could be reached. Termed 

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

4 Berlin Airlift began on June 26, 1948. 

5 (7) Gail Halvorsen was assigned to Germany in 

6 1948 to work as an airlift pilot where he flew C–47 

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

8 (8) While on mission at Tempelhof Airport in 

9 Berlin, Halvorsen noticed a group of German chil10 dren standing just outside the barb wire fence. 

11 (9) The children were destitute and clearly had 

12 very little to eat. Halvorsen gave the children two 

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

14 into little pieces to share among themselves. 

15 (10) Colonel Halvorsen was deeply affected by 

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

17 promised the children he would drop more candy to 

18 them from his plane as he flew his regular airlift 

19 missions. 

20 (11) Halvorsen told the children they would rec21 ognize his plane by a back-and-forth waggle of his 

22 wings as he flew over. 

23 (12) Colonel Halvorsen enlisted his copilot and 

24 engineer in the project and began attaching their 

25 candy rations to miniature parachutes which they 


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1 dropped from their plane to the starving children 

2 below. 

3 (13) The children of Berlin gave Halvorsen 

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

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

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

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

8 (14) Lieutenant General William H. Turner, 

9 who directed the Berlin Airlift, learned about 

10 Halvorsen’s efforts and officially expanded the idea 

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

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

13 (15) As the candy drops continued, word of Op14 eration Little Vittles reached the United States. 

15 Families, schoolchildren, and candymakers in the 

16 United States began contributing candy and home17 made parachutes that Halvorsen and other pilots 

18 could drop. 

19 (16) When the Berlin Airlift ended, an esti20 mated 250,000 parachutes containing approximately 

21 21 tons of candy had been dropped by Halvorsen 

22 and his fellow airmen as a part of Operation Little 

23 Vittles. 


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1 (17) Halvorsen retired from the military in 

2 1974 after 31 years of service and more than 8,000 

3 hours of flying time. 

4 (18) Since his retirement, Halvorson has con5 tinued his humanitarian service. He has voluntarily 

6 represented the United States Air Force and the 

7 United States abroad and has re-enacted his famous 

8 candy drops several times in Berlin and around the 

9 world. 

10 (19) Halvorsen has also been a tremendous 

11 boon to his community through church service and 

12 other local contributions. 

13 (20) Gail Halvorsen turned 100 years old on 

14 October 10, 2020. 

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

16 the Department of Veterans Affairs located at 360 State 

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

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

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

20 (c) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regula21 tion, map, document, paper, or other record of the United 

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

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

24 Halvorsen ‘‘Candy Bomber’’ Veterans Center. 


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Calendar No. 196 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2514 

A BILL 

To rename the Provo Veterans Center in Orem, 

Bomber’ Veterans Center’’. Utah, as the ‘‘Col. Gail S. Halvorsen ‘Candy 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Reported without amendment 


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