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Leigh Wiener ©Stars and StripesTempelhof Airport, Berlin, July, 1954: The benefits of some vacation time away from Berlin don't seem to outweigh the idea of leaving home for one young boy about to board a plane on the first day of USAFE's second annual Operation Kinderlift, through which children spent their summers in West Germany. In its five years, the Air Force's effort enabled about 12,000 kids to travel outside the divided city.

RELATED MATERIAL: Stars and Stripes' 1954 story about the first day of Operation Kinderlift. A 2005 story about a reunion of Kinderlift participants.