Dear Mr. Cherny,
First of all, I want you to know how fascinating I found reading about this wonderful and historical event of which I knew little , but only learned the full story from your book. You have written a superb rendition of this event that required a full explanation not only of the conditions as they existed in Europe at the end of the war, but the political environment that existed at home so as to enable the reader to fully appreciate the forces behind the outcome . I so enjoyed learning about the key characters who for reasons in many cases only explained by fate, found themselves in positions to determine the course not only of the of the airlift, but the successful resistance of the blockade that ultimately changed the whole character of the Cold War and the Soviet'sunderstanding of our fortitude.
In my mind, the Berlin Airlift was one of the greatest achievements to mankind that our country has ever performed and I therefore wish this story could somehow be formatted in a way to educate our children and young adults about the compassion and virtues that our country stands for and how we have demonstrated those in the past.(especially worthy given today's constant berating of our country in the media). I'm sure the people of Berlin would agree.
Thank you for all your efforts in researching and writing about one of "our finest hours".
I think the country owes you much gratitude, as I do, and I wish you much success with this book
-- Walter
Walter,
Thank you for your very kind note. I too hope that this story can be told and retold, especially with an eye to telling it to young people. We as a country need to do a much better job in teaching young people about our nation's history and to do so we need to do more than focus on dates and names and places but on the great stories that convey a sense of who we are as a people. I don't know a better one than the Berlin Airlift but it gets a sentence, or paragraph at the most, in history textbooks. Yet this story not only tells us about our history in stepping onto the world stage and the values it brought with us, it is also a story of individuals triumphing over adversity and rising above their own limitations that has much to teach -- whatever our age.
-- Andrei