A Babylift flight arrives atSan Francisco, 5 April 1975
Operation Babylift was a mass evacuation of children fromSouth Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries atend of the Vietnam War, in April 1975. Over 3,300 infants and children were airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported.[1][2][3][4]
A pair of well-worn baby shoes worn by an orphan evacuated from Vietnam during Operation Babylift
On April 3, 1975, with the central Vietnamese city ofDa Nang havingfallen to North Vietnamese forces in March, and with the South Vietnamese capitalSaigon coming under siege, U.S. PresidentGerald Ford announced that the U.S. government would begin airlifting orphans out of Saigon. The airlift would be carried out on a series of 30 planned flights aboardC-5A andC-141 cargo aircraft operated by the62nd Airlift Wing, under the command of Major Gen. Edward J. Nash ofMilitary Airlift Command (MAC).[5][6]
Over 2,500 children were relocated and adopted out to families in the United States and its allies,[7] including approximately 250 sent to Australia. The operation was controversial because there were questions about whether the evacuation was in the children's best interest, and because not all the children were orphans.[8]
When American businessmanRobert Macauley learned that it would take more than a week to evacuate the surviving orphans due to the lack of military transport planes, he chartered aBoeing 747 fromPan American World Airways and arranged for 300 orphaned children to leave the country, paying for the trip by mortgaging his house.[9]
Frederick M. "Skip" Burkle Jr. served as the medical director of Operation Babylift. He gathered the orphans in Saigon, accompanied them to Clark AB (Air Base) in the Philippines, and continued to care for them on the Boeing 747 across the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles and then Long Beach Naval Support Activity.[10]
AC-5A Galaxy, serial number68-0218, flew the initial mission of Operation Babylift departing fromTan Son Nhut Airport shortly after 4 p.m. on 4 April 1975. Twelve minutes after takeoff, there was what seemed to be an explosion as the lower rear fuselage was torn apart. The locks of the rear loading ramp had failed, causing the door to open and separate, and a rapid decompression. Control and trim cables to the rudder and elevators were severed, leaving only one aileron and wing spoilers operating. Two of the four hydraulic systems were out of service. The crew wrestled at the controls, managing some control of the plane through changes in throttle settings, as well as using the one working aileron and wing spoilers. The crew descended to an altitude of 4,000 feet on a heading of 310 degrees in preparation for landing on Tan Son Nhut's runway 25L. About halfway through a turn to final approach, the rate of descent increased too rapidly. Seeing they could not make the runway, full power was applied to bring the nose up. The C-5 touched down briefly in a rice paddy, skidding for a quarter of a mile. Next, the aircraft became airborne again for a half mile beforehitting a dike and breaking into four parts, some of which caught fire. According toDIA figures, 175 people survived and 138 people were killed in the crash, including 78 children and 35Defense Attaché Office, Saigon personnel.[11][12] After this crash, Major General Maurice F. Casey, the Deputy Director for Logistics in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called GeneralPaul K. Carlton, MAC Commander, expressed his sympathy and then confirmed with the State that they wanted to continue these airlifts out of Saigon. Carlton acknowledged that he would useC-141 planes for the evacuations unless conditions forced him to use C-5As. As another added safety precaution, Carlton decided all flights would land and takeoff at Tan Son Nhut only during daylight hours.[13]
On 29 April 1975, a lawsuit was filed by Vietnamese born nurse Muoi McConnell on behalf of an ad-hoc group known as the Committee to Protect the Rights of Vietnamese Children, alleging that many children transferred to the United States were not orphans, and were taken without the consent of parents and family members.[14][15] Many children taken during the operation were placed in orphanages due to poor living conditions by living relatives, and sometimes allegedly under duress.[16] These actions were labelled as kidnapping by periodicals of the time, citing the lack of consent and documentation behind the extraction of children alongside the lawsuit.[17][18][19][20][21]
The Vietnamese adoptee-run nonprofit, Operation Reunite, used DNA testing to match adoptees with their Vietnamese families.[22]
A memorial was unveiled inHolmdel, New Jersey, United States, in April 2015.[23][7]
^Martin, Allison,The Legacy of Operation Babylift, Adoption Today journal, Volume 2, Number 4 March 2000. "On April 3rd, a combination of private and military transport planes began to fly more children out of Vietnam as part of the operation. Numbers vary, but it appears that at least 2,000 children were flown to the United States and approximately 1,300 children were flown to Canada, Europe and Australia."
^"People & Events: Operation Babylift (1975)"Archived 2022-06-25 at theWayback Machine,PBS,American Experience. "During the final days of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government began boarding Vietnamese children onto military transport planes bound for adoption by American, Canadian, European and Australian families. Over the next several weeks, Operation Babylift brought more than 3300 children out of Vietnam."
^Operation BabyliftArchived 2015-05-11 at theWayback Machine,PBS,Precious Cargo documentary. "At least 2,700 children were flown to the United States and approximately 1,300 children were flown to Canada, Europe and Australia. Service organizations such as Holt International Children's Services, Friends of Children of Viet Nam and Catholic Relief Service coordinated the flights."
^USAF / SecAF / CSAF / CMSAF – Senior Leaders,'Biographies > Display > Major General Edward J. Nash', USAF, Senior Leaders Biographies, 14 June 2020. "General Nash assumed command of the 62nd Military Airlift Wing, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., in August 1974. While under his command the wing participated in Operation Babylift, the evacuation of orphans from Saigon to the United States..."
^Cross II, Coy F. (November 1989).MAC and Operation BABYLIFT: Air Transport in Support of Noncombatant Evacuation Operations. Scott Airforce Base, Illinois: Military Airlift Command Office of History. pp. 12–39. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
Herrington, Stuart A.Peace with Honor? An American Reports on Vietnam 1973–75, Presidio Press (1983). For an account of the day of the plane crash, see pp. 137–140.
Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam is a documentary released in 2009 about the adoptees and volunteers as they examine their lives and the effects of this historic mission on their lives nearly 35 years later.
Daughter from Đà Nẵng is a 2002 documentary film about anAmerasian woman who returns to visit her biological family inĐà Nẵng, Vietnam after 22 years of separation and living in the United States, having been taken out of Vietnam as a child in Operation Babylift.
Precious Cargo – a 2001 documentary film on Operation Babylift and the return of eight adoptees twenty five years later
"Operation Babylift: The case of the disappearing orphans," by Helen Jacobus. Cover story of the New Statesman (London), May 11, 1984. pages 8–10; and follow-up story, "Mother Courage of Vietnam finds son in UK," by Jane Thomas, New Statesman, July 20, 1984, page 4.
Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI), based in Australia, has info on Babylift, particularly on where are the Australian adopted Vietnamese children today. Site managed and maintained by adopted Vietnamese.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.