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.