| OCR Text |
Show UKr-via- SrC f A - .- Y v'.i" A , ! vp!t--- kr THK HKKALI) M.MIA7INF.. Provo. t'iah. S Brlin ; J 1 y ' " 17 i! ' " Page f ' ' : , . Utah Valley Pilots Remember Their Roles in Air Drops to Beleagured ... I ' -- r k$ I T- i; ,. tr Am 71 Berliners . V Thomas 0. Nelson First Lieutenant Thomas 0. Nelson, USAF, right, as he received the Air medal at Hill Air Force Base for his service in the Berlin Airlift. Commander General Morgan of the base, left, presented the award. entertain American forces on Christmas. "Hope was in the plane just ahead of me," he recounts. "Three girl entertainers were in my It. Col. Thomas 0. Nelson, USAF (Ret.) of Orem, a veteran of well over 100 missions in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-4considers his role in flying planeloads of food and fuel to beleagured Berliners in the Allied sectors as "the most exhilarating assignment in my During the flight Hope and the girls went on the radio with our check station reports. They cracked jokes and really enlivened things for surprised Air Force personnel listening in." Nelson also recalls the poignant scenes when on a couple of return trips he flew Jewish people to Rhein-Maion their way to Israel. "Apparently not yet recovered from concentration camp life, those people wre walking skeletons. It was a pathetic scene." At the Rhein-Maibarracks Nelson, an active Mormon, became acquainted with a German member who was assigned to make the beds. "He apparently had been severely persecuted and was obliged to keep his membership secret," Tom related. "I befriended him and he seemed to grateful to meet and converse with a 'real live Mormon."' Tom and Marlu's two childen, both BYU graduates, are Thomas N. Nelson, a first lieutenant in the Air Force at Shaw AFB in South Carolina, and Virginia Nelson Jenkins, wife of John Jenkins. The Jenkins currently are living in Boston. Gail S. Halvorsen has combined military and civilian pursuits for an interesting career that started "on the farm" and finds him today as assistant dean of student life at Brigham Young University. In between came the military part of his career which included: Four years as a pilot in transport operations, then seven months (126 missions) flying 4 planes in the Berlin Airlift in which he was credited with originating the "Little Vittles" program. Nearly two decades in key Air Force research and development programs. Four years as commander of the Tempelhof Central Airport in West Berlin. In June 1982 Halvorsen was honored at Montgomery, Ala. by the Air University of the U. S. Air Force with 13 other living avaiators including Jimmy Dolittle and in a "Famous Moments in Aviation Neil Armstrong and celebration. History" painting Other honors have included the Cheney Award which Gail received for typifying the humanitarian of the Berlin Airlift personnel, Legion of Merit, Commendation Medal, the German Service Cross to the Order of Merit, and the Medal for Humane Action. Halvorsen was born in Salt Lake City and grew up on farms in Southern Idaho and Garland, Utah. He is married to Alta Jolley, formerly of Zion National Park, Utah. Their five children include two sons serving in the Air Force. Gail has been a high councilman, a bishop, and currently is president of the BYU Tenth Stake. He owns a farm, still flies, and hopes to write a book on his experiences, which have appeared in a number of publications and are the subject of a television script. Halvorsen has masters degrees in aeronautical engineering, and guidance and counseling. He is a member of the Honorary Scholastic Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Honorary Engineering Fraternity, Sigma Tau. 9, 27-ye- ar military career." Nelson was one of the first pilots on the scene after the airlift was instituted June 26, 1948. Now with the Orem office of Bill Brown Realty, Tom was extremely helpful to The Herald in supplying information on the airlift. "In the Berlin operation, the Allies proved to the world that we had the resolve and backbone to defend freedom and right against whatever odds," he said. . After retiring from the Air Force in 1970 in Hawaii, he engaged in the insruance business there. He and his wife, Marlu Harris Nelson, moved to Orem in 1978, their two children already having come here to attend C-5- A C-5- 4. 4 n n Brigham Young University. Nelson is a native of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. He was a high school junior when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. He entered the mlitary service in 1943 and was only 19 when he qualified for his wings and was commisioned a second lieutenant. Next came 7 training. Tom was headed for Europe when Day (May 8, 1945) ended that phase of World War II. After brief duty ferrying American personnel from Europe, the young pilot was stationed in Panama in the Air Force transport service. When orders came for Berlin Airlift duty, Nelson was summoned from leave at a nearby resort and had only three hours to prepare for takeoff, flying a 4 plane. He reached the Rhein-MaiAirbase the evening of July 1, 1948 and flew his first mission to Tempelhof Central Airport in West Berlin the next morning. "Our cargo that day was mostly coal," he recalls. Nelson was rotated back to Panama after his last airlift mission Jan. 6, 1949. His next assignment was at Hill Air Force Base in Utah where he met and married Marlu. Among later Air Force assignments was a tour of duty in Pakistan as a military advisor to the government of that country. In the Berlin Airlift, it was a case of "the show must go on" no matter how bad the weather and visibility. Flying "on instruments" was commonplace. Besides poor visibility, the pilots had to contend with Soviet harassments, says Nelson things like ground searchlights, radio interference, flares, and "buzzing." Yet the airlift safety record was exceedingly B-1- V-- E C-5- C-5- n continuing cultural exchange program between high school German language students of Provo and a college preparatory school in West Berlin resulted from contacts by Gail S. Halvorsen, now of Provo, a pilot in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-4Under arrangements set up by Brent Chambers, teacher of German at Provo High School, and chemistry teacher Peter Wild of the Gottfried Keller Gymnasium in Germany, the exchange program began in 1980. Eight PHS students attended the Berlin school in June of that year as guests. Then in October, 33 students and three teachers from Berlin stayed a month in Provo, attending school, touring Brigham Young University, visiting the governor, etc. Language wasn't much of a barrier to the Germans, said Chambers, because study of English generally is required of them beginning at fifth grade level. In 1982 Chambers invited Timpview High teacher Barry Olson to join PHS in the exchange and 30 local students were guests for two weeks at the Berlin school. This year 20 Provoans took the tour, with Ray Jones of the PHS faculty as an added chaperone. Plans are under way for a Provo visit by Berlin students in April 9. 1985. Peter Wild is the husband of a West Berlin girl who first wrote to Halvorsen during his candy drops to German kids in the air! 'ft period. The friendship has continued through the years. The Berlin students refer to the exchange program with Provo as Luftbruecke der Freundschaft (air bridge of friendship) coined from the West German nickname of "air bridge" given the airlift. self-sacrifi- oft-tim- es good. Among his awards, Nelson received the Air Medal, presented for his Berlin service after he arrived at Hill AFB. One of the memorable experiences for Nelson ca.i e Dec. 24, 1948, when the Air Force flew movie star Bob to Tempelhof to Hope's troupe from Rhein-Mai- n Q ' T0 8ERUK f, C-5- 4 "', "1r ;5f' '. ta JB ' &vrfs & transport planes were used in the Berlin Airlift. y.Owwriii'f 4 j t! l ""Mat tomtit m Halvorsen .. - sv ,VVxC:.:'S. Jlr: ' . Gail ftM&wm - . - : C-4- X' unloading at Templehof Airfield. 1 |
