The airlift story is told in rich detail in "The Candy Bombers" by Andrei Cherny. Even those familiar with the lift and the era will find Mr. Cherny's account a fascinating read.

Candy lovers everywhere will love this story ... no, let the Mule revise that slightly, add history lovers, and people who enjoy inspirational stories. A few times a year, the Mule hits the reading jackpot, finding an extraordinary narrative that exhausts the supply of superlatives - this is it:" The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour" by Andrei Cherny. In 1948, with Berlin still in rubble and its population facing starvation, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade of all rail and vehicle traffic into the Allied controlled Western sector of the city. (You may need to punch up a 1948 map on Google to see how the occupation zones were configured.) This provocation was designed to force an already beleaguered Truman administration into making more concessions in the Cold War geopolitical struggle. However, the gambit failed as the U.S. launched its famous, dazzling " Airlift" relief effort, which served to soften recent U.S.-German war animosities and deliver West Germany and West Berlin into the democratic orbit. That's the big sketch, however it is the behind-the-scenes heroics that makes this such a moving drama. When the Airlift was originally conceived, it was intended as a modest endeavor to afford the Allies negotiating room and avert military confrontation with the increasingly assertive Soviets. While the high profile players such as Truman, George Marshall, etc. mapped out policy schemes and options, an obscure cast of dramatis personae would steal the stage. If not for the happenstance whim of an American pilot, one "Hal" Halvorsen, the entire operation might have ground to a halt, falling victim to the protests of detractors, including the self-aggrandizing General Curtis LeMay, who disapproved of the effort, then hypocritically accepted credit when it enjoyed mounting success. But it was Halvorsen, who became the unintended hero of the saga as he skirted regulations and began dropping "candy" to the children of West Berlin. Initially intended as a humanitarian gesture, it evolved into the symbol and centerpiece of Allied and German resistance to the Soviet encroachments. In a stunning outpouring of American decency and generosity, the American people and corporations rallied to the cause, supplying so much candy that the "Candy Bombing" became part of the full relief flight routine. The Soviets were finally forced to relent, Truman converted the Airlift success into an upset win and another term in the White House, and perhaps at no other time in post-World War II history has the American star shone brighter. In 1998, on the fiftieth anniversay, Halvorsen returned to Germany as the country honored him with national celebrations. Cherny's writing is a celebration of history writing at its absolute finest. His packaging of the sources, intricate diplomacy, and American political quarreling is a clinic in itself. He adroitly mixes the technical aspects of the Airlift itself while describing the raw emotional terror of the desperate, reeling German population, as they cling to any morsel of hope to endure. The Mule rarely waxes so effusive, but this one qualifies: astonishing, absolutely spectacular from page one - FOUR HOOVES UP WITH A STOMP AND OFF THE CHARTS!

The lessons of the Berlin Airlift are anything but simple, which is what makes it such a useful historical moment. Cherny's book is something of a Rorschach test on Iraq: The message readers receive may depend on the mindset with which they arrived.

The Berlin Airlift’s “tale of American expertise, ingenuity, and generosity is told vividly by Andrei Cherny in his wonderfully readable book The Candy Bombers.”

Army Col. Mark Olinger, commander of the Defense Energy Support Center–Middle East, made a special trip from his Middle Eastern base — he couldn’t say where — toting along a copy of the book, "The Candy Bombers — The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour." "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," Olinger said, and admitted this is the first time he’s ever taken off from work — or traveled thousands of miles — for an event like this. "Like the World War II and Korean veterans, the veterans of the Berlin Airlift are all — they’re passing on," he said. "They have left a legacy that’s the benchmark for humanitarian airlift."