Berlin Airlift

We took the kids to the museum of flight yesterday.  Grandpa came and brought Lt. Col. Kenneth “Hawk” Slaker.  Lt. Col. Slaker flew in the Berlin Airlift and it was a real opportunity for the kids to meet and talk with an American hero.

Grandpa was stationed in Wiesbaden which is at the lower left of the map below.  He flew missions between Wiesbaden and West Berlin during the sixties.  Phyllis was raised through kindergarten in off base housing in Wiesbaden

It helped make bring a bit of history to life.  I know both Phyllis and I enjoyed the time.  I am hoping our children got as much out of it as we did.  We do not want them to forget the sacrifice of previous generations.  When you look at the attitudes of selfless sacrifice in the Berlin Airlift and juxtapose it to the prevailing sentiment of our culture today it almost makes you cry.

We must teach our children so that they can learn from the past.  The people who lived through the time of the holocaust continue to pass on.  We owe it to them and to our children to pass on their legacy and to continue to fight for the ideals that they stood for.

 

You can read more about Ken in his book A Military Pilot’s Exciting Life and Visit From the Hereafter.

I also recommend reading about The Berlin Airlift or the Candy Bombers (Gail Halverson).  There are also  some excellent children’s books and a video available.