This Day in History: Berlin Airlift Begins

On this day in 1948, U.S. and British pilots begin delivering food and supplies by airplane to Berlin when Josef Stalin's Soviet government attempted to consolidate control of the city by cutting off all land and sea routes to West Berlin to pressure the Allies into evacuating. The western section of Berlin and its 2 million people were deprived of food, heating fuel and other crucial supplies.

President Harry S. Truman feared an aggressive response would trigger another world war, so instead he authorized a massive airlift operation under the control of General Lucius D. Clay, the American-appointed military governor of Germany. The first planes took off from England and western Germany on June 26, loaded with food, clothing, water, medicine and fuel.

During the Berlin airlift, pilot Gail S. "Hal" Halvorsen ran an operation known as "Operation Little Vittles." Shortly before landing at the Berlin Tempelhof Airport in the American sector of Berlin, Halvorsen would drop candy attached to parachutes to the children below. Other crews followed suit and were given the name candy bombers. The program gained widespread attention that led to an outpouring of public support and donations. My home town of Chicopee, MA was crucial to this operation, as Westover Air
Force base in Chicopee was the stateside headquarters of "Operation Little Vittles." The motto of the Operation was "For the children, by the children, and of the children." Each of the 22 Chicopee schools spent time sewing handkerchiefs into tiny parachutes and a local businessman even donated whistles and balloons as Christmas gifts for the German children.

To read more about the Berlin airlift, visit http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-begins-berlin-airlift You can read about Chicopee's involvement in "Operation Little Vittles" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/airlift/sfeature/candy.html There are links to several historical articles.

In the News - Swiss Museum Vows to Return Works in Nazi Trove

At the end of March, I reviewed The Monuments Men, which is a movie based upon a book of the same name by Robert M. Edsel. It is the story of an unlikely World War II platoon tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners.

I absolutely loved this movie, so I read with great interest the article I found in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, May 9, 2014 regarding the Swiss museum, who inherited the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt, the late son of one of Hitler's art dealers. Though as of the writing of the article, the museum had not yet accepted the collection, the director of Kunstmuseum Bern, Matthias Frehner, stated the trustees would decide within the next six months whether to accept Mr. Gurlitt's will bequeathing the entire estate to the museum. If it does, the museum would return any looted art or compensate their original owners as per the 1998 agreement knows as the "Washington Principles."

There is a great deal more information on this story in The Wall Street Journal article. You can read it at http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304655304579549880169810884

This Day in History: Gas Rationing During WWII

On this date in 1942, gas rationing began in 17 Eastern states in an attempt to help the World War II war effort. By the end of the year, mandatory gas rationing was in effect in all 50 states.

• Digital ID: (intermediary roll film) fsa 8b07392 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b07392
• Reproduction Number: LC-USE6-D-006024 (b&w film nitrate neg.)
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

America entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Automobile factories began producing planes and tanks. Households were required to limit their consumption of rubber, gasoline, sugar, alcohol and cigarettes. Ration stamps for gasoline were issued by local boards and pasted to the windshield of a family or individual's automobile.The government also passed a mandatory wartime speed limit of 35 miles per hour.

For more information, visit http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seventeen-states-put-gasoline-rationing-into-effect

Movie Review: The Monuments Men (2014)

If you enjoy World War II movies, then The Monuments Men will provide a unique and exciting departure from your typical wartime movie.

The Monuments Men is the story of an unlikely World War II platoon tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners. As The Third Reich falls and orders are given to destroy everything, the Monuments Men are in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture. Can this group of seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, succeed in protecting and defending mankind's greatest achievements?

Based on a true story documented in Robert M. Edsels' book of the same title, The Monuments Men is unlike any World War II movie I've ever seen before. While there is definitely action and thrills as the Monuments Men race to find the treasures before they are destroyed by the Nazis or stolen by the Russians seeking to plunder their enemy's spoils, for the most part the story of this unlikely platoon unfolds methodically, taking place in numerous locations at the same time.

George Clooney wrote the screenplay and also directed and starred in the movie. If you're expecting Ocean's Eleven type of action, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for a complex story of intrigue and adventure dashed with action, this is the perfect choice. Other stars include Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin (The Wolf of Wall Street), Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), and Bob Balaban (The West Wing, Seinfeld). Cate Blanchett plays Claire Simone, a volunteer at the Jeu de Paume museum who is instrumental in helping the Monuments Men discovering the looted works of art.

My husband and I went to see this movie in the theater on March 14, 2014. We had divided feelings on The Monuments Men. I loved it so much that I ordered Edsel's book the next day. My husband, however, was looking for more action from a wartime movie. Why I believe this is such a superb movie--besides the excellent acting by this powerhouse of stars--is that these were ordinary men and a woman making a difference during the war for something they were passionate about. These men did not have military experience. This woman secretly spied on the Nazis once they occupied her country and was vital to so many of the missing pieces being rescued. That's an amazing feat. And I feel all the actors and the screenplay captured their accomplishments and their passion well. I particularly thought the opening scene with Frank Stokes (George Clooney) and the ending scene that takes place years after the war is over, display what these men and this woman set out to accomplish and honors them for it.

Highly recommended!


Release Date: 7 February 2014 (USA)
Production Co: Columbia Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Smokehouse Pictures and more
Rated PG-13 for some images of war violence and historical smoking
Runtime: 118 min

This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Mailbox Monday - March 24

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Thankfully, it was a slow mailbox week. My reading time wasn't much last week, so hopefully I can catch up this week.

The hubby and I went to see The Monuments Men two Fridays ago. Directed and written by George Clooney, this movie is based upon the book, The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel. I ordered the book from Amazon and it came in Tuesday.

At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.

In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.

Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

What was in your mailbox this week?

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter Y

These are the last two days of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. It's been another fun year, even if it did cut into my writing time. Today I'm hoping to finish writing my fourth picture book of the year, so keep your fingers crossed. That's another challenge I put myself up to--participating in 12 x 12: writing one picture book a month for twelve months.

The Yalta Conference to plan the defeat and occupation of Germany took place in February 1945 between the three chief Allied leaders: British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The conferees had already decided on Germany's unconditional surrender and planned to set up four zones of occupation to be run by their three countries and France. In addition, Germany's military would be abolished and major war criminals would be tried before an international court.

Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe and was secretly promised if they entered the war against Japan that lands they lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) would be returned. They scheduled another meeting in April to create the United Nations.

Yalta proved to be controversial once the details were made public in 1946. As the Soviet Union and the United States headed into cold war, Stalin broke his promise of free elections and installed governments dominated by the Soviet Union. Critics charged that Roosevelt, who had died in office two months after Yalta, had sold out to the Soviets.