A Familiar Face

By Kay Hively

Published Saturday, February 16, 2008

The rain continued all Saturday night. Scotty stayed in his room and read. His parents were worried about him. They took turns stopping by his room to see what he was doing. They were surprised to see him reading without any music playing or without his television turned on.

Scotty looked through the three books he had brought home. There were many black and white photographs in the books. Some of the pictures showed scenes from the Berlin Airlift.

Scotty remembered that his grandfather talked about that when they sat on the porch that morning.

A map of Germany in one of the books showed where the city of Berlin was in 1948. The map showed that the city was surrounded by soldiers from four different countries.

The book told that some of those soldiers would not allow people in Berlin to go anywhere to get what they needed.

Turning to the next page, Scotty also saw pictures of big cargo airplanes flying to Berlin.

There were pictures of people – even kids like Scotty – getting food and shoes from the American soldiers who unloaded the big airplanes.

But the pictures that Scotty liked best were of President Truman. The books told how Mr. Truman had ordered the big planes to fly into Berlin and help the people.

Before the airlift, the people in Berlin could not get milk for their babies. They had little food or clothing or fuel for their stoves and automobiles.

The books said children in Berlin were hungry, and sick people could not get medicine.

Scotty couldn’t understand why some of the soldiers were mean to the people in Berlin. But he was proud that President Truman established the Berlin Airlift to send help to the people in need.

Thinking what it must have been like in Berlin at that time,

Scotty looked around his room. It was warm in winter and cool in summer. The roof on his house kept the rain away. He had his own radio and television set. He had a nice bed and he even had a lamp that was shaped like a baseball with a red shade and white stars.

And if he was hungry, he had plenty to eat.

Tired from reading, Scotty turned out his baseball lamp and lay in bed thinking about what he had read. He also thought about the research paper he had to write.

His teacher had said to write about one important part of the man or woman’s life. Scotty was sure that he could write two or three papers just about the Berlin Airlift. Tomorrow, he planned to finish reading the books and then start writing his paper.

As he lay in bed, Scotty could hear the rain tapping on the window. And that was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.

Things to Think About and Do:

A. When the Berlin Airlift occurred, Berlin was in East Germany. In what country is Berlin today? Name the four countries that had soldiers posted around Berlin in 1948.

B. Find a map of Germany and make a list of the major rivers, and a list of the cities that have a population of 50,000 or more. Arrange both lists in alphabetical order. What is the biggest city in Germany? What is the capital of Germany?

C. Presidents often lead the way in helping solve problems in their country. Look through your newspaper and find problems in your community that your class or school could help lead the way in solving, such as collecting canned goods to restock a food pantry.

Visit the Truman Presidential Museum & Library at www.trumanlibrary.org