opened it and what was in at and what it represented, and among the people who told the story was helmut kohl who became the chancellor, 18 year old boy at the time, became chancellor of the united germany after the wall went down in 1989. the americans for sending over shiploads of candy. it was being collected at firehouses all over the country because of what gale halvorson had done and he thought he was going to get in trouble for doing it actually. >> the british, we should say something quickly about the british were involved in the airlift. they couldn't drop candy because britain was still under, still living under austerity and rationing food so they didn't have the candy. >> there were times during the airlift we kept upping the the amount as we could get more stuff in calories at one point it got to 2200 calories per person we were bringing in. there was more than the british were giving themselves. the airlift by the way was a british idea. when all of the americans said you can't do this it was a british air marshal named rex who sat up all night with a slide rule and 4500 tons w