As a follow-up to the post I wrote on the Spy Museum yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when a friend posted a note remarking that yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Blockade of Berlin, which ended in 1949. The actual quote he cited, from Wikipedia or another similar source, was:
"The Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted at 12:01 AM, on 12 May 1949. A British convoy immediately drove through to Berlin, and the first train from West Germany reached Berlin at 5:32 A.M.. Later that day, an enormous crowd celebrated the end of the blockade. General Clay, whose retirement had been announced by U.S. President Truman on May 3, was saluted by 11,000 U.S. soldiers and dozens of aircraft."
I put this up as my "status" on Facebook and was very surprised by the large number of comments and remarks. There are more than 100 people I was stationed with in Berlin there, and quite a few posted, as did some other "friends." Much appreciated.
The Allied response to the Blockade was to organize an arilift, which supplied food and essentials to the people of Berlin while the land routes in were sealed. Several million tons were flown into to city via the three airports, Gatow in the British sector, Tegel in the French, and Tempelhof, where I was stationed and lived, in the American sector.
In order, the accompanying photos are of winter airlift operations at Berlin; a picture of one of the planes, which is still on display near the old softball fields at Tempelhof, and a photo of the Airlift Memorial with Tempelhof Airport in the background. These are from multiple sources and can be found with a Google search.
As has been my practice, from time to time I will continue to post memories of my time in Berlin. This year happens to also be the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, so there will be future posts on that topic.
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