CLASSIC: War and Candy: The Infamous Tootsie Roll Air Drop

Summary

Ridiculous History: CLASSIC - War and Candy: The Infamous Tootsie Roll Air Drop

Published on April 26, 2025

In this classic episode of Ridiculous History, hosts Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown delve into one of the most peculiar yet inspiring stories from the Korean War: the infamous Tootsie Roll airdrop. Blending humor with historical insight, the duo uncovers how a simple mix-up involving beloved candy played a pivotal role in a brutal battle.

---

Introduction: War Meets Candy

The episode kicks off with the hosts engaging in their trademark banter about various candies, setting a lighthearted tone before plunging into the serious historical narrative.

Ben introduces the main topic:

"We are kind of talking about candy. And I think in this classic episode, the infamous Tootsie Roll Airdrop, we also air some of our opinions about Scrumptious treats."
[00:24]

Noel adds his playful twist:

"Shang Wang, this standup comic that I absolutely love. He has a Netflix special wherein he has an extended rant about Almond Joy and Mounds."
[00:57]

---

Historical Context: The Korean War

Ben and Noel provide a succinct overview of the Korean War, emphasizing its role as a proxy conflict between North Korea (supported by USSR and China) and South Korea (backed by the USA). They highlight the war's enduring legacy, noting that it technically never officially ended, with the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) still serving as a tense reminder of the unresolved conflict.

Ben reflects on his personal experience:

"I went recently to the Republic of Korea and then visited the dmz, which is a weird place... It's a physical, tangible reminder that this war... still affects the people on the peninsula and in the larger region."
[09:00]

---

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir: A Desperate Stand

The narrative zeroes in on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, a critical and harrowing campaign during the Korean War. In late 1950, the 1st Marine Division of the US X Corps found themselves surrounded by approximately 120,000 Chinese troops in brutally cold conditions, with temperatures plummeting to around -30°F.

Noel succinctly captures the dire situation:

"The temperature was around negative 30 Fahrenheit. Yikes."
[21:33]

---

The Tootsie Roll Airdrop: A Critical Mix-Up

In a desperate bid for supplies, the beleaguered Marines sent a coded request for mortar shells using "Tootsie Rolls" as the code word to avoid enemy interception. However, the Chinese forces intercepted the message and mistakenly dropped actual Tootsie Rolls instead of the intended ammunition.

Noel explains the blunder:

"It was Tootsie Rolls. Tootsie Rolls was the code word for these particular types of mortar shells. But unfortunately, the person that intercepted that request... called in an airdrop of Tootsie Rolls."
[22:15]

Ben paints a vivid picture of the scene:

"Instead of getting ammo for guns, they get what we could call ammo for Halloween. They get Tootsie Rolls, man."
[02:15]

---

Ingenious Utilization of Tootsie Rolls

Facing extreme cold and a lack of proper supplies, the Marines demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in repurposing the unexpected payload. They used the Tootsie Rolls in several creative ways:

1. Edible Sustenance: Soldiers warmed the candy in their mouths or using body heat, making it pliable and edible in the freezing temperatures.

   Ben muses humorously:

   "You could put it in your armpits. You could still do stuff, probably."
   [25:16]

2. Makeshift Repairs: The pliable Tootsie Rolls served as an impromptu welding material to patch bullet holes in vehicles and hoses, effectively acting as a quick fix for essential equipment.

   Noel adds:

   "They were able to patch bullet holes in vehicles. They were able to patch hoses, other equipment."
   [25:38]

These resourceful uses of candy not only provided the Marines with necessary sustenance but also critical repairs that helped sustain their defenses against overwhelming enemy forces.

---

Casualties and Survival

The battle was fierce and costly. Out of the 15,000 Marines involved, approximately 3,000 were killed in action, 6,000 wounded, and many suffered severe frostbite. Despite these hardships, the Marine division managed to survive and eventually return to the United States as heroes.

Ben underscores the survival:

"They ultimately survived. A group of them known henceforth as the chosen few."
[27:08]

---

Legacy and Commemoration

While the Tootsie Roll airdrop is a testament to ingenuity under pressure, the Tootsie Roll Company did not capitalize on this historical footnote. However, the story has not faded into obscurity. In 2011, a recreation of the event took place in South Bend, Indiana, where thousands of Tootsie Rolls were airdropped to commemorate the original incident.

Noel narrates the commemoration:

"They organized an airdrop where thousands of Tootsie Rolls were dropped on the airport to commemorate that day during the Korean War."
[31:15]

Additionally, an interesting tidbit shared was that Frank Sinatra, affectionately known as "Old Blue Eyes," was a fan of Tootsie Rolls. It is reported that he was buried with them alongside cigarettes, a lighter, and a bottle of Jack Daniels, further cementing the candy's place in American cultural lore.

---

Conclusion: A Sweet Surprise in War

The episode beautifully encapsulates how a simple candy like Tootsie Rolls found an unexpected and vital role in one of history's most brutal battles. Ben and Noel highlight the blend of resourcefulness and fortuitous circumstances that turned Tootsie Rolls into both sustenance and tools for survival, illustrating that sometimes the most unlikely elements can have profound impacts in dire situations.

Ben wraps up the story:

"The strange story of Tootsie Rolls in the Korean War. It seems as if we're generating kind of a theme here, a running series on food and war, but I'm fine with that."
[32:37]

Through engaging storytelling and insightful commentary, Ridiculous History offers listeners a captivating glimpse into how humor and historical oddities intersect, shedding light on the lesser-known facets of human history.

---

Note: Timestamps correspond to notable quotes and sections within the episode transcript.

Transcript

[Ben]

Fellow ridiculous historians, we return to you, treats in hand, just like our good friends at Sweetwater, with a classic episode.

[Noel]

I love war and candy. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wait, no, I smell it. I smell Warren candy.

[Ben]

I smell sex and candy.

[Noel]

That's good.

[Ben]

I smell sex and candy.

[Noel]

Yeah, that's right. That was the ref. You got it. What was that? Marcy's playground or just Marcy Playground? I don't think it's possessive.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, you might be right. You might be right. It's a. It's a banger, though. But we are kind of talking about candy. And I think in this classic episode, the infamous Tootsie Roll Airdrop, we also air some of our opinions about Scrumptious treats.

[Noel]

Is this the one where y'all gang up on me over Almond Joy? No, that's one we did recently. Ah, okay. Well, I stand by it. Almond Joy is a delightful treat.

[Ben]

You're still on the almonds.

[Noel]

I'm on the Almond Joy baby. Nouns can take it or leave almond to Joy. Give me all you got.

[Ben]

Shang Wang, this standup comic that I absolutely love. He has a Netflix special wherein he has an extended rant about Almond Joy and Mounds. And I think that's a person who will speak to you on a spiritual level.

[Noel]

Yeah, well, Almond Joy's got nuts. Mounds don't. But during the battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War, the 1st Marine Division seemed absolutely doomed. There were no nuts about it.

[Ben]

Yes. Yeah. And a lot of times in the modern day, especially people in the west, we forget just how close the Korean War came to a total victory for North Korean forces before the temporary peace was achieved. The peace that exists today. The war is not officially ended. So we're going to travel back there with you folks surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned, running low on every imaginable supply, the US Marines call for an airdrop of ammo, A life saving re up. And instead of getting ammo for guns, they get what we could call ammo for Halloween. They get Tootsie Rolls, man.

[Noel]

Ammo for the gaps between your teeth and your molars. Yeah, Tootsie Rolls. You can probably load those things up into some sort of blunderbuss, you know, shoot them. Those things are seriously dense. But it turns out they were good for quite a bit more than maybe was anticipated. And this serendipitous, dare we say fortuitous airdrop mix up kind of had a silver lining to it.

[Ben]

Exactly. Yes. And oh, gosh, I look back on this one fondly. I can't believe this was all the way back in 2018, but it holds up. No spoilers, folks. Let's roll the tape.

[Noel]

Oh, can we tootsie roll the tape.

[Ben]

Let's tootsie roll the tape.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

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[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremerki, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid 16. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ben]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartrad. Anyang. Has your fellow ridiculous historians welcome to the show. That is my poorly pronounced attempt at saying hello in Korean or one version of hello.

[Noel]

Well, hello to you, Ben. My name is Noel.

[Ben]

Hello to you, Noel. My name is Ben.

[Noel]

Yeah, look at that. It checks out.

[Ben]

And of course, we're joined, as always, with our super producer, Casey Pegram.

[Noel]

You know, Ben, there's one thing we did not learn how to say in Korean. Well, there's a lot of things we didn't learn how to say in Korean, but one of them is Tootsie Roll. And I wouldn't be surprised if maybe there was one of those phonetic pronunciations Your. Your girlfriend showed me the other night when we were hanging out a thing that she took back from your trip to Korea that had a phonetic pronunciation of the word lighter, and it was just 3k, and it was La Ha.

[Ben]

Tour, I believe, which is nonsense in Korean.

[Noel]

Nonsense in Korean. So I'm wondering if maybe there's a similar thing for Tootsie Roll.

[Ben]

So why are we saying hello in Korean today?

[Noel]

I don't know. I didn't do my homework. Can you help me out?

[Ben]

You know, surely.

[Noel]

Well, we were talking about, you know, the topic is related to Korea and a particular conflict that took place in Korea that I was woefully undereducated about. And I know, Ben, that you probably were more educated about this particular situation than me. So why don't you give us maybe your background and why this might be the case.

[Ben]

Right. Noel, you and I, before we went into this episode, I think we both knew a little bit about the conflict called the Korean War here in the States.

[Noel]

Yeah. Just mainly from watching reruns of mash.

[Ben]

Is Ma. Is MASH Korean War? Really? I am not a mashpert.

[Noel]

Yeah, people always think it's about Vietnam.

[Ben]

Because it was on during Vietnam, but it is, in fact, about the Korean.

[Noel]

War, even though it was kind of also about Vietnam.

[Ben]

Casey on the case.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

So thanks for teaching me about M A S H, guys. I hear it's a great show. I've just never seen it. Did you ever watch it?

[Noel]

Yeah, I didn't watch it a ton, but I watched it enough to learn a little bit about the Korean War and also to know that the theme song of MASH actually has lyrics in the movie. And it's a very sad song. Yes, Suicide is Painless.

[Ben]

It's a wonderful song. It's beautiful, but it's sad. Yeah, beautiful's probably a better word there. So the Korean War, which is also called the Liberation War in some places, was waged between 1950 to 1953, June 1950 to July 1953. A war between what we now call the DPRK or North Korea, and the ROK or South Korea. And it was a proxy war because there was support on the North Korean side from Russia, and there was support on the South Korean side from the.

[Noel]

U.S. it's because it was basically the imperial spoils of the Second World War. World War, where Japan, you know, lost their territory, which was Korea. And so the US And Russia kind of had to split it up between themselves. So the US, reluctantly, were sort of in charge of South Korea and Russia, Communist Russia was in charge of North Korea. And so it created this divide between communism and democracy.

[Ben]

Right? Yes. This is a very much a Cold War esque conflict.

[Noel]

I think it's considered the first step that led to the Cold War.

[Ben]

Right, yeah, yeah. In some ways it is, because this was still. This is what we would call a hot war because there were actually weapons of war being waged. But it very much was a symptom of this ideological conflict that would later determine so much of geopolitics for decades. And we could get. I don't know if we should get too far in the weeds on that one, because this is kind of the backdrop for our story. But I guess we should point out this war in a very real way, never actually ended. And if you go to Korea today, you will. If you visit the capital city, Seoul, you are very close to the demilitarized zone, or dmz.

[Noel]

Didn't you do that thing, Ben?

[Ben]

Yes, yeah, I did. I went recently to the Republic of Korea and then visited the dmz, which is a. A weird place. It was a weird place. But it's a physical, tangible reminder that this war, although it may sound like it was ancient in the 1950s and stuff, it still affects the people on the peninsula and in the larger region.

[Noel]

I guess we didn't really fully get into what the conflict was. We talked about how the US And Russia inherited the Kuri Korea from Japan, but the Russian backed, I guess you could say, North Korea actually invaded South Korea. And that's what kicked off this big ideological battle, because the US as opposed to, you know, practicing appeasement or something like that, because this wasn't really. They didn't really even want South Korea. It was just something they were kind of like saddled with because of, you know, the outcome of World War II. And they looked at this as not just an invasion into something that they, you know, were responsible for. They looked at it as the potential match that would light the world on fire with communism.

[Ben]

Right, yeah. So this Cold War conflict results in Korea being split into two separate states on the peninsula. But the problem is both of those governments consider themselves the sole legitimate government of the entire place. So they look at the other government not as an equal, separate state. They look at it as this regime that should be toppled as soon as possible.

[Noel]

And that was with. Under Kim Il Sung. Right, right.

[Ben]

Kim Il Sung, the first supreme leader of North Korea. From its establishment in 1948, the conflict, when it occurs, becomes a war of attrition. At First, North Korea is whipping the South Korean forces, like all the way down to Busan. And Seoul over the course of the conflict changes hands multiple times. Eventually, when the fighting actually ends and they sign an armistice, they make this DMZ line along the 30th parallel. But they never signed a peace treaty. So even today, as we record this, technically the two nations are still at war, even after the fall of the ussr.

[Noel]

And Ben, what was it like to visit, to be in that DMZ zone? Didn't you have to watch some kind of propaganda video? Yeah, that also explained how it was an amazing bird sanctuary.

[Ben]

Yep. It's the only part of the tour I was not like, I didn't have the option of skipping. So you see a couple of different places. You see an observatory tower, you see the train station that could ship people or transport people directly to the capital of North Korea. And you go down a very steep tunnel, an invasion tunnel. There are three or four that are discovered, but there are multiple other ones suspected to exist. And you see how the tunnel was constructed through the dmz. And it's not a comfortable walk, but estimates say they could carry 30,000 plus people through there to invade Seoul. But the one part of the tour you cannot skip is, or at least our tour guide told us we couldn't, is after you get out of the tunnel, which again is a very, very steep walk, you have to watch about an 8 to 10 minute propaganda film from the South Korean side, the ROK side, about how great the DMZ is for migratory birds and biodiversity, which is actually. That's true. And it's got the whole nine of every propaganda movie you can imagine. You can see that, like the hands from opposite sides of the screen clasping each other, like that meme that's so popular nowadays. And it's strange because I was expecting propaganda from the North Korean side, but I was surprised how much exists on the South Korean side. There's still very much a conflict. And today's episode takes us back to when that was a hot war, not just an armistice. So, Noel, our story today concerns those two things we mentioned. We talked a little bit about Korea, but we teased at the top of the show Tootsie Rolls. And this is something where I wanted to check on our mutual Americanisms. I feel like for all three of us, Casey, you and myself, Tootsie Rolls seem like a very well known thing, right? Are they a US famous candy or a world famous candy?

[Noel]

You know, that's a good question, Ben. I don't know, well, just to be.

[Ben]

Safe, we can give the quick and dirty. Tootsie Rolls were invented by a guy named Leo Hirschfeld who sold them out of a Brooklyn candy shop before he sold the idea to a group called Stern and Sahlbert Co. And that could.

[Noel]

Actually be an episode unto itself because there's a really intense kind of tragic ending to that story. And there is a lot of hot debate as to whether he invented the candy and then sold it to them or if it was the other way around. He also invented or he had several patents for different candy making equipment. But he also. This is probably my favorite name of any product ever.

[Ben]

I think I know what you're gonna say.

[Noel]

Yeah, he invented a type of gelatin that was pre Jello called Bromanjalon.

[Ben]

Bromanjalon, which I think would be great on a T shirt and a great nickname for one of those obnoxious nicknames like brucef.

[Noel]

Yeah, exactly. Bromanjulon. I'm gonna use that. But anyway, point being, if you don't know what a Tootsie Roll is, where have you been? They're not that good. They get stuck in your teeth. I'm not a huge fan, but they are very tightly wrapped in these little, you know, with the ends and the little bow ends on the side. You can also get them in like a stick form. You know, they're much larger and they're kind of the candy that you got at Halloween that you would rather have gotten something else.

[Ben]

For me, they were acceptable. They were passable Halloween candies. Anything was better than that. Orange and black wax paper taffy. Do you guys remember that? Casey is nodding. He is so tired of that. Yeah, it's gross.

[Noel]

It's like the last stuff you eat and you do eat it, but it's.

[Ben]

The last thing you eat and you feel gross afterwards.

[Noel]

And that's been Casey on the Case Part two. We're doing them in installments now, which is important because when you take them all together it creates a whole picture.

[Ben]

And we're going to syndicate these onto other shows. We're just not going to tell the other shows. Casey will pop it and hopefully it'll.

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[Noel]

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[Casey]

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[Ben]

But Tootsie Rolls, which you know, which, I think you're right, Noel, are a story all their own. Tootsie Rolls were also valuable not just as Halloween candy, but as World War II rations. Because just like you said, you know how they're individually wrapped, they have a very high temperature tolerance. It's pretty much like chocolate wax almost. And they were seen by Uncle Sam as a source of quick energy because they also would remain edible for a long period of time.

[Noel]

And when you say energy, we're just basically talking like sugar, right? I mean, they're just full of sugars. There's no other nutritional value in Tootsie Rolls?

[Ben]

No, no, they're not part of a balanced. But yeah, it was a burst of energy kind of thing. And there are stories you would find about how Tootsie Rolls helped soldiers, like how there was actually some fire behind the smoke. One story is of a pilot whose plane was shot down over the Sahara Desert and survived for three days just on Tootsie Rolls. But today's story is much less anecdotal, much more provable. And it's about a group of Marines who were in a particular battle in the Korean War.

[Noel]

Yeah, that battle was called the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Chosun, which is also called Changzhen. This was one of the first campaigns of the Korean War. It was called the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. And they got involved because they felt like American troops coming in to North Korea was in some way encroaching on their territory. And I was a little foggy as to why that was, because it didn't seem like they necessarily had an axe to grind in this particular war. And yet they made their troops available to help the North Koreans.

[Ben]

Yeah. So Chinese sources refer to this battle as the eastern part of the second phase offensive. They entered the conflict to infiltrate, as you said, part of North Korea. We know that they were under the command of Song Shilun, who had been ordered by Mao Zedong to destroy the United nations forces. We have to keep in mind that at the time, this was. The United nations was a part of this conflict. There were, I think, 30,000 United nations troops here and about 120,000 Chinese troops who were essentially attempting to eradicate the United Nations. But, Noel, there's an article you found that goes into a little bit more detail about this, correct?

[Noel]

Yeah, it's true. It's from a site called inquiriesjournal.com and it's an article written by Bang Ming Zhu for the Journal of Interstate affairs, and it was reposted on this Inquiries Journal site. And it basically says that historians believe that the Communist Party, the Chinese Communist Party, was really making preparations in Taiwan to unify China because it had been fractured. Its economy was in shambles because of World War II. And most scholars agree that the reason they got involved in this North Korean conflict was because they looked at the potential of an American invasion of their country as being on the table. If they successfully invaded North Korea and did this, know, were able to stem the tide of communism, as it were.

[Ben]

Yeah. The communist capitalist confrontation. To a lot of the leadership of China at the time, this was seen as inevitable. And China and the US were seen as natural enemies by the leadership of China at that time and probably by more than a few senior officials in the us so this battle was looking terrible for the US side. First off, they are drastically outnumbered. Secondly, the area that they're in, Changjin, or Chosin, as it's often called, was just brutal. It was terrible. The temperature was around negative 30 Fahrenheit.

[Noel]

Yikes.

[Ben]

Yeah. And because they were outnumbered, surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops, as we said, which seemed like a death sentence. And the U.S. forces. Oh, we should say who they were specifically.

[Noel]

Yeah. They were the first Marine Division of the US X Corps.

[Ben]

Mm. Yeah. So they put out this request for mortar shells to be delivered via airdrop, because, again, they can't get them through land sources. They're surrounded. But the problem was they didn't want to go on an easily interceptible line of communication and request mortar shells because then the enemy forces would know. So they had to use a code word.

[Noel]

Yeah. Which we've been harping on since the beginning of this episode, and you might have been wondering why. And it was Tootsie Rolls. It was Tootsie Rolls. Tootsie Rolls was the code word for these particular types of mortar shells. But unfortunately, the person that intercepted that request, he didn't have his, like, handy dandy code book translator with him or something. You'd think that'd be one that people would know, though, you know?

[Ben]

Right. Mortar shell requests would have been not uncommon, Right?

[Noel]

I guess not. Maybe I'm confused as to why this guy was so confused, but confused he was. Cause he did, in fact, call in an airdrop.

[Ben]

Yeah. He panicked because he was like, I don't know what they're asking for exactly, but they said it was urgent, like life or death. So he calls in this airdrop, but what exactly drops from the air there? Noel?

[Noel]

Yeah. It's not clear exactly how many were talking, but it was a. Must have been a quite large shipment packed. I'm picturing it, like, parachuted down, packed in wooden crates of actual facts. Tootsie Rolls.

[Ben]

Pallets. Multiple pallets of Tootsie Rolls.

[Noel]

Pallets. Yeah, exactly.

[Ben]

And the troops, instead of completely losing all hope, they said, well, let's. I don't know, let's see what we can do with these. Which just sounds like such a terrible situation. You're surrounded by more than 100,000 people who want you dead.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

You request some sort of ammunition, and all of a sudden you get pallets of Halloween candy.

[Noel]

You know, when I first started looking into the story, it reminded me a lot of the episode we did about the US Naval men who threw potatoes at the Japanese submarine. Yeah, yeah, Submariners. By the way, thanks, everybody.

[Ben]

Thanks for writing in.

[Noel]

And yet there is a superhero named the Submariner. So. Yeah, you know, I don't know.

[Ben]

I think that's where we were both coming from.

[Noel]

I think that's exactly where we're coming from.

[Ben]

Never understood why that guy has wings on his feet.

[Noel]

He does, yeah. Is he kind of the precursor to Aquaman?

[Ben]

I can't remember who came first, but I would say the main differences are that Namor, the submariner. Submariner, can fly, so I guess that's why he has the wings on his feet and Aquaman can Speak with the creatures of the deep.

[Noel]

He's like the Dr. Dolittle of the sea.

[Ben]

Yeah, that's a really good way to put it.

[Noel]

So I'm picturing them just like chucking these Tootsie Rolls at the enemy.

[Ben]

The Marines, not the submari.

[Noel]

No, no, that'd be strange. Both would be pretty strange. But no, that's not what they did. They decided to get a little bit more crafty with it. They had a hard time because of the sub zero temperatures, cooking their food and heating their food up. And so they were actually able to. Like your story earlier about the pilot who subsisted on Tootsie Rolls for a long time. They were able to use their bodies to get these Tootsie Rolls to warm up to a more pliable, you know, edible. Edible state and then eat them. And they would also, you know, they could do that in their mouth or what. I'm not quite sure why they use their bodies.

[Ben]

You could put it in your armpits. You could still do stuff, probably.

[Noel]

Ew.

[Ben]

Yeah. Well, war as hell.

[Noel]

War as hell. Not only that, though, they were able to do some other pretty clever stuff with them, too.

[Ben]

Yes. Yeah, that's absolutely right. So not only would this stuff become pliable when it was warm through body heat or in someone's mouth, but it would quickly freeze when it left that warm environment. And so they found, these Marines found that they were able to get a Tootsie Roll pliable and then use it as a type of makeshift weld. They were able to patch bullet holes in vehicles. They were able to patch hoses, other equipment. Now, this is over a period of two weeks. This, this battle, the Chosin Reservoir and the 15,000 men the Division of Marines did not leave unscathed. 3,000 were KIA killed in action, 6,000 were wounded, and thousands had, you know, terrible, terrible, terrible frostbite. And they were living on Tootsie Rolls because I believe all the other food was just frozen solid. Correct?

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

So you have to wonder if it's a function of the extreme temperature that allowed a Tootsie Roll to be so useful there. Because ordinarily, like, if we were. If we were in a less frigid environment and we tried to patch a hose with a Tootsie Roll that we had chewed on like, that wouldn't work, right? Clearly not.

[Noel]

I would think not. Okay, so all that's pretty rough, but there's good news because they did persevere and they were able to stave off the enemy forces. And despite Those casualties and those injuries, they ultimately survived. A group of them known henceforth as the chosen few.

[Ben]

Get it? C H O S I N. Oh.

[Noel]

I didn't even catch that. Ben.

[Ben]

You're kidding. You caught that?

[Noel]

No, I didn't. No, I didn't.

[Ben]

Yes. So they did manage to survive. And not only to survive, but to emerge victorious. And they returned to the US Lauded as heroes. And you know what? The Tootsie Roll Company had to love this.

[Noel]

Yeah, you'd think so, I'm sure. Do you think they capitalized on it in their marketing materials?

[Ben]

I don't know. I didn't find anything indicating that that.

[Noel]

Would be a missed opportunity, though, for sure.

[Ben]

Maybe they felt it was too exploitative.

[Noel]

Well, it's sort of like the potato story where the Idaho Potato Growers association or whatever totally made a plaque about it.

[Ben]

The main potatoes.

[Noel]

Excuse me? The main potatoes. Yeah.

[Ben]

So. Well, maybe they thought it made their candy look bad. There's also that that's true, that it.

[Noel]

Was like the last possible thing you would want to eat. And it's literally, you know, you are dying in the frozen wastes and you use their product to plug bullet holes and keep them in your armpits and. Yeah. Just to survive.

[Ben]

I think that's it. Because it's kind of like with how a lot of soda, due to the bicarbonate in it, can dissolve things. It's like if someone used Coca Cola to dissolve something in the midst of war, I'm sure Coca Cola wouldn't be like, hey, drink this thing that can.

[Noel]

You know, people use to clear the corrosion on their battery terminals.

[Ben]

Right, right.

[Noel]

No, no. Not a good look.

[Ben]

So it is a good look for these guys when they return. Although the Tootsie Roll Company does not, for one reason or another, capitalize on this story in the U.S. people were impressed. These folks have used what side note here was Frank Sinatra's favorite candy.

[Noel]

Yeah. Wasn't he, like, buried with a bunch of them? You think it was a palette?

[Ben]

Yeah, I don't know. I remember we were reading that in a great article on Tootsie Rolls by Jeff Wells. Jeff mentions that Old Blue Eyes himself was buried with Tootsie Rolls, cigarettes, a lighter, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. But we digress.

[Noel]

So you're ready to start a business. But the thing is, when it comes to making a website and a logo and doing social media marketing and all that good stuff, you and me included are completely clueless.

[Ben]

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[Noel]

And creating a logo is just as simple. Enter a few prompts and boom. You get several unique logos to choose from.

[Ben]

And who doesn't like choices? Aero even lets you write social ads and it posts them for you automatically with a fully populated social media calendar.

[Noel]

So for a limited time, get GoDaddy Aero all access. It comes with a domain website logo, email, payments, a unified inbox and more. Everything you need to get online fast.

[Ben]

Visit GoDaddy.com/All Access that's a I R.

[Noel]

O All Access GoDaddy Arrow it's like you know what you're doing.

[Ben]

Terms apply. That's GoDaddy.com/all access time is precious and.

[Casey]

So are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24,7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[Ben]

To get back on the rails, these guys return to the U.S. as we said, they are lauded as heroes. And they were, I don't know, nowadays, largely forgotten. This is somewhat of an obscure story, but people still remember it.

[Noel]

Yeah, well, in 2011 in South Bend, Indiana, they actually did a recreation of this event at the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport, which is in Benton harbor. So I guess that's near South Bend. It was reported in the South Bend Tribune and a guy named Don Alsbrough, who's the president of a veterans group called Lest we Forget, was in charge of this event. And they, they organized an airdrop where thousands of Tootsie Rolls were dropped on the airport to commemorate that day during the Korean War. And Alsbrough himself was part of this team, the unit, and he was actually handed a medal by President Eisenhower himself. And he says here in this article that Eisenhower told him, you must have a body of steel.

[Ben]

So you know, steel, it's like in terms of durability, it's just under Tootsie Rolls, I believe.

[Noel]

Yeah. And this guy is the real deal in terms of heroism. He had already been injured by a grenade. And then while one of their machine gun squad leaders was getting treatment, medical treatment, another enemy grenade got lobbed at them and this guy smothered it with his own body.

[Ben]

Oh, one of those.

[Noel]

Yeah, yeah. And then he. And he survived. And that's where the you must have a body of steel comment came.

[Ben]

And so we conclude our tale. The strange story of Tootsie Rolls in the Korean War. It seems as if we're generating kind of a theme here, a running series on food and war, but I'm fine with that. You know, I think this is an interesting topic. We hope you think it's an interesting topic too. Let us know if you'd like to hear an episode about the surprisingly somber origin story of Tootsie Rolls. But the show's not over yet. We were talking earlier off air, and you know what we're overdue for, Noel? A little listener mail.

[Noel]

Our first letter comes from Kelsey, and it has to do with farts, which is one of our favorite topics of all time. So it says, hey, Ben and Noel and Casey, As a longtime listener of the show, I felt I had to reach out to you after the episode on Roland and professional farting. I do historical reenacting and have a tendency to listen while working and sewing dresses. While you were having Casey translate Roland's names from French, it reminded me of one of the biggest mysteries in historical costuming. The help me with this. Casey, the Peton L'air. The Pet en l'air. Casey on the case. Third installment. Mid listener. Male segment within a segment. So the Pet en l'air is a traditional French court dress worn in the 18th century. It is essentially a large gown with a fitted bodice that is jacket length and is the shortened version of the robe a la francaise.

[Ben]

Mm.

[Noel]

Casey, La robe a la francaise. Oh my God.

[Ben]

Closer. Casey on the case.

[Noel]

That's never gonna happen for me. However, no one seems to know where the name comes from. As Pet en l'air roughly translates to fart in the air. I can only imagine the name came from a very embarrassing moment in court and the name stuck. Anyways, I'm a huge fan of the show and thought you might enjoy some more flatulence related history. Kind regards, Kelsey.

[Ben]

Thanks so much for writing in, Kelsey. We love a good historical mystery and this is something that maybe we can also refer to our colleagues on our peer podcast. Dressed.

[Noel]

Yeah. And I think we're overdue to have them as guests.

[Ben]

Yeah, we could definitely bring them on for a segment. Maybe we could do one on some fact genie stuff.

[Noel]

Yeah, whatever. Sure.

[Ben]

So also, I really appreciate any good fart joke. I was close years back when I was doing brain stuff things for audio and video. I was terribly close to becoming the fart guy. And I was very hesitant to talk about farts at first.

[Noel]

What do you mean, the fart guy?

[Ben]

I was doing a lot of fart science, man.

[Noel]

Fart material.

[Ben]

Yeah. I was going blue.

[Noel]

You gonna be like Mr. Methane. Remember him?

[Ben]

Yeah. I think Mr. Methane's got his own lane. I think we should let him be him. I don't want to take that away. That's fair. Unless there's. But you know what? If there's a Sergeant Sulphur out there somewhere, you write to us. We'll give you some airtime. We'll record you separately. We have another letter from someone who's been writing to us pretty frequently, and that is Ayumi, who lives in Japan, I believe, and is an English teacher. Ayumi says, hello, gentlemen, after an episode where you both pronounced portmanteau or portmanteau in the way that you were called out on before. I made a Twitter poll out of curiosity, because as I am an English teacher, I'm incredibly aware that a lot of words have multiple acceptable pronunciations. Also, your podcast was not the only one in which I heard this pronunciation. Here are my results. So Yumi has posted this on Twitter. And there's one portmanteau spelled T, W, O. And then portmanteau spelled T, O, W. And did you see this, Noel?

[Noel]

Oh, I did. And first I had my heart set on us being vindicated.

[Ben]

So the two. The portmanteau got 14% of the votes and portmanteau got 86%. Now she continues. She had 72 people vote. She says 72 votes is not a huge sample size, but if I remember correctly from high school statistics class, it's enough of one to say that you are not inherently wrong pronounced in portmanteau. So you can go either way. Have an excellent day. Regards, Ayumi. And this got me thinking, you guys. We should do more polls. You know, we can go on to our Facebook group.

[Noel]

It's true.

[Ben]

And do do polls to our heart's content.

[Noel]

I think we should. And the name of that Facebook group is the Ridiculous Historians, where you can join and become a member and get in on all the polling Fun. The future polling. There isn't any there yet.

[Ben]

Not that we know it, but soon.

[Noel]

You can also send us an email where we are ridiculousowstuffworks.com and you can do the regular Facebook page if you want, which is just ridiculous history on Facebook. I think we're on Twitter's ridiculous history as well. And instagram and all the stuff, all.

[Ben]

The hits, all the good ones, all the good ones, and some of the weird ones. We'd also, of course, like to thank our super producer Casey Pegram and our research associates Christopher Haciotes and Yves Jeffcoat.

[Noel]

Oh, and lest we forget Alex Williams, who composed our theme.

[Ben]

No, I'm not completely sure how to say goodbye in Korean, but I think the same casual hello is the same casual goodbye. So anyang O.

[Noel]

For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Casey]

Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24? 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarky, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.