Anyone who has paid even a smidge of attention to the news knows that cities in Ukraine like Mariupol, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Kyiv are in desperate straits due to Russian bombing and laying siege to them. Just look at Mariupol–no heat, light, food, medicine, or water, and no way out. I’m not going to discuss why a civilized country would to something like that. I have some thoughts, but it’s probably well above my pay grade. My question is–now that it’s happening, what can be done? For that I only look back to 1948 and the Berlin Blockade, and the Airlift.

At the end of World War II, Germany was partitioned by the US, UK, France and the USSR. And sitting well inside the part of the country held by the Soviets was the city of Berlin. It too was divided into four zones. In June 1948 the three Western powers were considering setting up the new West Germany, much to the consternation of Stalin. In addition, he wanted to control all of Berlin. To make his point, on June 24, 1948, the Soviets blockaded all the roads, trains and rivers in and out of Berlin–a city of 2.5 million people. The only way to get there was by plane.

President Harry Truman immediately placed General Lucius Clay in charge of and airlift. Two days later, the United States and Great Britain started Operation Vittles to deliver food, fuel, and medicine to the besieged city. Pilots who had returned to civilian live were called back into service, though many returned voluntarily. The airlift ramped up quickly, and soon the C-47s were landing at Tempelhof Airport every 45 seconds. On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1949, tons of cargo arrived, including 85,800 tons of coal. Every day, many of Berlin’s children stood at the gates, watching the planes land and take off. Occasionally some of the flyers handed out candy while they waited for their planes. Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen (known as Berlin’s Candy Bomber) started putting together tiny parachutes made out of handkerchiefs carrying candy for the children–a very rare treat in a shattered city. Before long thousands of Americans were sending all kinds of candy for operation Little Vittles for the children of the airlift.

By May of 1949, Stalin realized that the world was riveted watching the airlift, and the Soviet Union was being condemned throughout the world. The siege wasn’t going to work. On the 11th of May he ended the blockade. However, the planes continued to bring in additional supplies until September to start building up a stockpile “just in case.”

So what do we do now? We set up an airlift 74 years ago in a matter of days because millions of people were going to run out of food and fuel. There were no bombs dropping. But Josef Stalin wanted to take Berlin and was perfectly happy to try to wait it out. It didn’t work. Seventy-four years later, Vladimir Putin wants to take over an entire free nation. 44.3 million people. And dropping bombs will take the country faster than a siege. We’ve provided humanitarian relief all over the work. Yes, there are serious issues involved, but there are some very smart people who could get this done if there was a will to do it. Really, where are Harry Truman and Lucius Clay when you need them?

God Bless Ukraine