- [Voiceover] At the end of World War II,
the Soviets were holding Berlin under siege.
In order to save millions of people from starvation,
the US and Allies devised a plan to airlift in food.
One American pilot decided to take it a step further.
He delivered candy.
- My name is Gail Halvorsen,
but I'm known as the Berlin Candy Bomber.
I didn't think that the airlift would last very long,
so I thought, I'd better get a movie in, of this operation
before they send me home.
- [Voiceover] One day,
while filming the planes taking off and landing,
Gail became aware
that there were some young children watching him.
He went over to talk to them, and after a while,
he realized...
- “Dummy, don't you know kids like chocolate?”
And I knew that they had not had chocolate
in the stores in Berlin for two years.
And I reached in my pocket,
and all I had was two sticks of Wrigley's Doublemint gum.
I broke the two sticks in half, gave it to the kids.
And the kids with half a stick
tore off the wrapper into thin strips
and passed it to those without gum.
Those who had received the wrappers put it at their nose
and smelled a piece of wrapper.
- [Voiceover] Inspired by their generosity,
he decided that next flight,
he would drop them chocolate and candy
via parachute from the plane.
- [Gail] They said,
"How do we know what airplane you're in?"
And so I said, “When I come over the airfield,
I'll wiggle the wings of that big airplane.”
They said, "Oh, great."
- [Voiceover] True to his word, the next day
Gail began to drop the packages.
What started with just two sticks of gum
eventually turned into 23 tons of chocolate.
- From then on, I was known in the press
and all the kids in Berlin, “that's Uncle Wiggly Wings.”
- [Voiceover] And in case you wondering
if the Candy Bomber still has a sweet tooth...
- Oh, yeah, I still eat chocolate.
I like dark chocolate.
(upbeat music)