Posted By: OldCzech     (                         ) on board 'CZhistory'
Title:     Berlin Blockade
Date:      Wed Jun 06 15:31:33 1998
WWW-Info:  posted from 207-172-96-220.s283.tnt8.ann.erols.com (207.172.96.220)

50 years ago today, Stalin clamped a blockade on all rail, highway, and water
traffic in and out of Berlin, in defiance of the solemn agreement about the
status of the city. 2.5 million people faced starvation.
President Truman, one of the most courageous presidents we ever had, declared
in a meting with sec. Forrestal, Lovett and Royall:
"We stay in Berlin, period."
On Monday, June 28th, he ordered a full-scale airlift. On the same day, he
ordered two squadrons of B-29s to Germany. 11 months later, Soviets blinked
and lifted the blockade; by that time the airlift supplied the belaguered city
with more than 1.5 million tons of supplies.
Remember those who were called by the Berlin's children "chocolate bomber
pilots" and who lost their lives doing
it.

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