S. 2514 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two 

An Act 

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

‘Candy Bomber’ Veterans Center’’. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF THE COL. GAIL S. HALVORSEN ‘‘CANDY 

BOMBER’’ VETERANS CENTER. 

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

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

on October 10, 1920, and spent his youth with his family 

on small farms in Utah and Idaho. 

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

Halvorsen joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program where 

he earned his pilot’s license in 1941. During that same year, 

Halvorsen joined the Civil Air Patrol as a pilot. 

(3) Gail Halvorsen joined the United States Army Air Corps 

in 1942 and trained flying fighter jets with the Royal Air 

Force. Upon his return from training, he was assigned to fly 

transport missions in the South Atlantic Theater. 

(4) After World War II and the division of Berlin into 

occupation zones, disputes broke out between the Western Allies 

and the Soviet Union over the future of Europe. 

(5) Negotiations deteriorated, and in June of 1948 Soviet 

forces locked down all land routes connecting Western Germany 

with the allied portions of Berlin. Approximately 2,000,000 

people in West Berlin were left completely isolated. Starvation, 

poverty, and desperate want ensued. 

(6) In an effort to alleviate the immense human suffering, 

the allies decided to drop supplies to people of West Berlin 

from the air until a diplomatic solution to the blockade could 

be reached. Termed by United States forces ‘‘Operation Vittles’’, 

the Berlin Airlift began on June 26, 1948. 

(7) Gail Halvorsen was assigned to Germany in 1948 to 

work as an airlift pilot where he flew C–47 and C–54 cargo 

planes as part of Operation Vittles. 

(8) While on mission at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, 

Halvorsen noticed a group of German children standing just 

outside the barb wire fence. 

(9) The children were destitute and clearly had very little 

to eat. Halvorsen gave the children two sticks of gum he had 

in his pocket, which they split into little pieces to share among 

themselves. 
S. 2514—2 

(10) Colonel Halvorsen was deeply affected by the experience and wanted to do more to help. He promised the children 

he would drop more candy to them from his plane as he 

flew his regular airlift missions. 

(11) Halvorsen told the children they would recognize his 

plane by a back-and-forth waggle of his wings as he flew 

over. 

(12) Colonel Halvorsen enlisted his copilot and engineer 

in the project and began attaching their candy rations to miniature parachutes which they dropped from their plane to the 

starving children below. 

(13) The children of Berlin gave Halvorsen many nicknames 

including ‘‘Uncle Wiggly Wings’’, ‘‘The Chocolate Flier’’, ‘‘The 

Gum Drop Kid’’, and ‘‘The Chocolate Uncle’’. He eventually 

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

(14) Lieutenant General William H. Turner, who directed 

the Berlin Airlift, learned about Halvorsen’s efforts and officially expanded the idea into a full-blown operation known 

as ‘‘Little Vittles’’ as a play on the broader operation’s name. 

(15) As the candy drops continued, word of Operation Little 

Vittles reached the United States. Families, schoolchildren, 

and candymakers in the United States began contributing 

candy and homemade parachutes that Halvorsen and other 

pilots could drop. 

(16) When the Berlin Airlift ended, an estimated 250,000 

parachutes containing approximately 21 tons of candy had been 

dropped by Halvorsen and his fellow airmen as a part of Operation Little Vittles. 

(17) Halvorsen retired from the military in 1974 after 31 

years of service and more than 8,000 hours of flying time. 

(18) Since his retirement, Halvorson has continued his 

humanitarian service. He has voluntarily represented the 

United States Air Force and the United States abroad and 

has re-enacted his famous candy drops several times in Berlin 

and around the world. 

(19) Halvorsen has also been a tremendous boon to his 

community through church service and other local contributions. 

(20) Gail Halvorsen turned 100 years old on October 10, 

2020. 

(b) DESIGNATION.—The Provo Veterans Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs located at 360 State Street, Orem, Utah, 

shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and 

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

Center’’. 
S. 2514—3 

(c) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 

document, paper, or other record of the United States to the veterans center referred to in subsection (b) shall be considered to 

be a reference to the Col. Gail S. Halvorsen ‘‘Candy Bomber’’ Veterans Center. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.