Candy Bombing in Texas!

This is the first thing my eyes saw when we walked up to the Airport in Hondo, Texas: a C-47 from World War II.

A little back-story, here. (Please note that this is all according to little, old me; my understanding of these events. I know there is much more behind the scenes work that went on, but this is how I saw it come together.)

Our choir director Dr. Tom Hardaway's wife, Dorene,  has a brother. Her brother lives in Arizona and goes to the same ward (church) as Col. Gail Halvorsen. Col. Halvorsen heard about the Texas Children's Choir. He heard about their mission of service, their mission of giving to the community here. He also heard about their invitation to represent the United States at the Ceremony of Peace in Normandy, France for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The choir is to be the only music at the ceremony and that is a pretty prestigious invitation. 

The Colonel was impressed with the Choir and said he wanted to help them out. 

He wanted to come to San Antonio.

The plans for Col. Halvorsen first started with being here for one day and the Gala-benefit dinner. 

One day turned into two with an additional day for a church speaking engagement: a fireside.

Then two days turned into three as the Ft. Sam National Cemetery organization invited Col. Halvorsen to be an honored and distinguished guest at their ceremonies on Veterans Day.

We might as well go for a home run, right?

The idea of a big reenactment was born. 

The little town of Hondo, Texas (about 1 hour west of San Antonio) was to be the host of this once-in-a-lifetime event.  

Hondo Air Base used to be a big Air Force hub; a real busy air base. 50 or so years ago it was shut down as all of the military bases centralized in San Antonio. It's used by private plane owners now. 

Hondo heard about the Candy Bomber coming and volunteered to host this WWII veteran coming to San Antonio.

Before we (the choir) knew it:

• We had an airport hangar to use
• The commemorative Air Force was going to bring out two C-47's and a B-17 (only 8 left in the world)
• The army band was going to play
• A full flag ceremony with a retirement of several flags
• Ceremony for the POW and MIA
• Major General John Borling (POW in Veitnam for 6 years and author of "Taps on the Wall" was coming)
• There was going to be a re-enactment of the candy bombing in Berlin at the Hondo airport.

So, there was lots to be done, as you can imagine, but such excitement! My kids were counting down the days to this event! As we anticipated the event, this is what some of the other moms and I would do at every choir rehearsal for about 3 weeks before: Tying our own, hand-cut parachutes to full-sized candy bars.

We tied over 2,000.

The day was finally here! 

Awesome B-17! What a sight! The most popular plane that was flown during WWII

C-47

The kids warming up and trying out the risers inside the  hangar as part of the ceremonies for that day

Getting ready for the opening ceremonies for the day. Don't they look great in their outfits? McKay is 4th from the front.

As I'm taking these pictures of the kids, I turn around to go back to my assignment for the day, which is to sell books that the choir had bought to sell at this event. We sold four different books about the Candy Bomber. All four are excellent books, by the way.

As I was turning around, look who snuck in and sat down? The Candy Bomber himself! I was so happy to see him again and didn't think twice about taking a picture of him and his sweet wife and being a paparazzi for the day. This guy is always happy, energetic, and genuinely content. 

Notice he is still in his jumpsuit from all those years ago

Part of the band that played with us

Practicing for the flag ceremony- wish I knew who that lady was so I could tag her.

Part of the crowd who had gathered for the day

This was a fun, fun surprise. This sweet lady, Kendra, was in our ward (church) at the Univeristy of Utah many, many years ago. She and her husband taught McKay and Makenna's nursery class 8 years ago. They now live in San Antonio! It was such a treat to see her and meant so much that she'd come all the way out to Hondo to see us! 

After the program was over, it was "free" time in ceremony for the day. Most people went to eat lunch at the many food trucks that had come for the event. Imagine my surprise when I was standing at the book table and I looked up to see Col. Halvorsen striding towards me. He said, "I'm here to sign a few books! Can I sit down by you?" I couldn't believe it. The Candy Bomber was going to sit by me! Getting out my paparazzi card again I snapped a few shots of this amazing human being.

For the next hour and a half, I stood and watched this man (as I was selling books) take time with each person that came for his autograph. He asked their name, looked them in the eyes, smiled at them, asked them about their family. Signed his name, the date, and wrote a personal note to the family and also signed, "The Berlin Candy Bomber." 

As you can imagine this took time. This took lots of time. He didn't care. He took time with each person and made that person feel special and important and like they were the only think that mattered to him at the moment.

I asked his wife if this is what he always did and she said, "Yes. I tell him to just sign his name-- that that's all they want, but he insists on making it a personal, lasting moment."

Wow. I was even more impressed with this man.

One of the men with the Commemorative Air Force, had acquired a nice, bomber jacket with a map of Berlin on the inside of it. He brought it for Col. Halvorsen to sign. 

He was amazed by the map on the inside of the jacket

Some of our great friends, The Billman's, getting their books signed.

I had the opportunity to meet this wonderful local artist, Melissa Torres, who did an original painting for the choir just for this event. The original painting on canvas was sold at the silent auction the night before. We had prints of the poster made up to sell along with the books in Hondo. It's a beautiful painting. If you're interested in a copy, let me know.

I finally got a picture of Connor with some of his great friends from choir. Usually he's out gallivanting, so I don't get many pictures with him.

Here is Makenna with her sweet friend, Riley.

Now it was time for the moment we'd all been waiting for! 

The Candy Drop! 

They started the engines of the C-47 and took off. The kids could not wait!!! Because of FAA regulations, the kids had to wait in a certain area while the candy dropped. After the candy landed, the kids could go our and grab their candy. 

A small portion of the kids waiting for the drop.

Keeping the excitement bottled up.

How they REALLY felt!!!!!!!!!!!!

So exciting!

This picture is worth a thousand words and one of my favorite pictures of all time. 

This picture sums up how we all felt about Saturday. 

Look at the joy and excitement on his face! Col. Halvorsen shouted after this picture, "I feel 10 years younger!!!"  What an amazing, inspiring man!

Parachutes falling perfectly, as planned!

After the drop, we started to clean things up. We thought most people would just head on home. I started boxing up books and putting away chairs. 

Next thing I knew, Col. Halvorsen was back with a line of people and kids following him. He was going to be signing more autographs! 

I couldn't believe it! The energy and stamina of this sweet 93 year old man! No person who was there that day was denied an autograph or a picture with The Candy Bomber. He made time for everyone and made everyone feel like they were the most important person there. It was so inspiring to be by him and learn from him.

Taking a minute to talk with him and his sweet wife, Lorraine.

Then, my little man, McKay came and found his hero. He asked if he could give him one more hug. Col. Halvorsen said, "I remember you from last night. You're a pretty great kid. I want to be your friend! Is that ok?" McKay thought this was the coolest thing to ever be uttered by a person and immediately accepted, while my heart melted and the gratitude flowed to this incredible human being.

I wondered how he did it.

How did Col. Halvorsen have the energy? How does he make everyone feel special? How does he have the patience, the time, the love for each and every person?

He truly left a mark on my heart and his story has impacted me so much that it has made me want to be better; to be different; to be more patient, loving and kind. To be more free with my compliments, to listen better, to love more, to SERVE more.

He truly is a hero, in every sense of the word.

Love this man. I want to be like him.

What a sweet support and wonderful woman.

Afterwards, the kids were invited to a wonderful, fun place in Hondo called South Texas Corn Maize. This guy heard about what the choir was doing and invited them along with their families to visit their place for free. It was a great, fun way to end a fantastic day.

Here are some choir kids with the owners of the maze.

A Texas-sized pizza being cooked up. The pizza was about 5 feet tall!

Beautiful Texas sunset

A Weekend to Remember

How do I begin to write about such an incredible weekend?

I guess I will start at the beginning.

We've been anticipating this huge, eventful weekend for months now. So much time, work, preparation, talking, advertising, and anticipating has gone into this event! It's been such a busy, exciting few months and now it was finally here.

The 4 day event started on Friday night. The choir was putting on a gala dinner at a very classy banquet room at a local university. The kids were so excited. This was the first performance that they'd be in their formal wear and they were to perform to an audience of about 300 people. 

One part of the room and the guests

This was a pretty big deal! Sonny Melendrez, a local San Antonio radio celebrity, was the emcee for the night. This was a full, catered dinner. Official programs were made with the kids pictures in them-- along with a little bio about each singer. there were silent auction items to bid on; songs to sing; people to wow; money to raise! This was the night!

Here is Makenna and her friends Abbie and Riley before the big performance.

Well, the night was awesome! The kids sang beautiful and did wow the crowds. In fact, they stunned the crowds by their sound! 

The official program. The kids felt like celebrities!

Col. Halvorsen was the guest speaker and he told his story about the Berlin Airlift. If you don't know this story, there are several places to find out more and learn about this remarkable story of service and love and the power of one person. This story will change your life.

This video from BYUtv is a great one to watch to help educate yourself.

Video of the Candy Bomber

This book was put out by Deseret Book about Col. Halvorsen. It is a beautiful book with beautiful illustrations and actual pictures from the Berlin Airlift. It also has a DVD that recounts his performance with Tom Brokaw and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is well worth the money!! A treasure your family will love and a great history lesson about WWII.

Excellent book! 

This man is 93 years old, walking around on stage with a wireless mic! He was so energetic!

An exciting part of the evening was when Sonny brought up 2 women from the audience. These 2 women had heard about the event and sought the choir out to be able to come becuase they were children in Berlin at the time of the Air Lift! What a surprise for Col. Halvorsen! He was so taken aback and was overwhelmed! 

These 2 women took a few minutes to speak and talked about how much hope Col. Halvorsen gave them. One said, He saved my life because he gave me hope. Before him, I had no hope." It was awesome!

McKay looking dapper in his awesome tux

Connor hammin' it up in his tux!

This is a moment we will never forget. After the program was over, the kids gathered and formed a line by Col. Halvorsen. They wanted him to sign their programs. And he did! He signed everything anyone asked him too. And McKay gave him a hug. Now if you know McKay, you know he loves to give hugs, if you are deemed worthy of a hug. Col. Halvorsen is DEFINITELY hug worthy, so McKay went in for the kill. Col. Halvorsen warmly embraced him.  



On the way home that night, McKay said, 

"Mom, today was the best day of my life. 

I got to hug a true hero."

I was so grateful for this realization in his young 10-year old mind. When the world is so focused on movie stars, pop stars, and professional sports players he could see this 93-year old veteran as a true, real hero.

It was a night to never forget. We went to sleep with our minds full of wonder and awe and excitement for the day that lay ahead of us.