[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2514 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        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.
        (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''.
    (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.