Christmas from Heaven by Tom Brokaw

Christmas from Heaven by Tom Brokaw

Christmas from Heaven is the story of the humble beginnings of what became a beacon of hope to a war-torn land, the story of Gail Halvorsen, a young pilot in the US Army Air Corps who was assigned as a cargo pilot to the Berlin Airlift, in which US forces flew much-needed supplies into a Soviet-blockaded Berlin.

As he performed his duties, Lt. Halvorsen began to notice the German children gathered by the fences of Tempelhof Air Base. Knowing that they had very little, he one day offered them some chewing gum. From that small act, an idea sprang: He would bomb Berlin with candy. Fashioning small parachutes, he and his crew sent them floating down as they approached the Berlin airport, wiggling the wings of their C-54 as a signal to the children that their anticipated cargo would soon arrive.

Lt. Halvorsen became known by hundreds, if not thousands, of children in Berlin as Uncle Wiggly Wings or The Candy Bomber. Word soon spread, and donations of candy and other supplies poured in from sympathetic Americans. Lt. Halvorsen's small idea became a great symbol of hope not only to German children in a bombed-out city but to all those who yearned for freedom.

Tom Brokaw is the author of seven best-selling books: The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, An Album of Memories, A Long Way from Home, Boom!, and The Greatest Generation Speaks. He is a South Dakota native who earned a political science degree from the University of South Dakota. Before joining NBC News in 1966, he worked as a journalist in Omaha and Atlanta. NBC News' White House correspondent during the Watergate scandal was Brokaw, who also hosted Today on NBC from 1976 to 1981. From 1983 through 2005, he was the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

Following the death of his friend Tim Russert, he hosted Meet the Press for nine months in 2008. He continues to work for NBC News as a reporter and producer of long-form documentaries, as well as providing expert commentary on breaking news events. Brokaw has received every major broadcast journalism honor, including two duPonts, two Peabody Awards, and a slew of Emmys. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

He splits his time between New York and Montana.