The Story Of 3,300 Babies Who Were Evacuated From Vietnam Before The Country Fell
Nicole Jankowski
After a doomed first flight, amid turmoil and chaos, over 3,300 babies and children were eventually
airlifted from South Vietnam to the United States and other countries to be adopted at the end of the
Vietnam War. Forty years later, Operation Babylift is a story that is part feel-good tale, part
tragedy—and still steeped in controversy.
Orphans At The Ghenh Rang Orphanage In South Vietnam Before Operation Babylift
KUOW.org
In April of 1975, with the North Vietnamese army fast approaching, residents of Saigon were
desperately trying to flee South Vietnam. The United States and other nations were becoming
particularly concerned about the welfare of the children and infants who were going to be left
behind in orphanages in Saigon and neighboring areas.
Vietnamese Infants, Part Of Operation Babylift, After Landing In Denver
Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post/Getty Images
Though largely unspoken at the time, part of the concern by the United States was the high
presence of "Amerasian" children in the orphanages—children who had been born to mothers in
South Vietnam and had been fathered by men in the United States military. Rumors of what the
North Vietnamese army might do to these children of mixed descent, upon invasion, were prevalent
and horrific.
An American Volunteer Carries A South Vietnamese Infant From A Saigon Orphanage
Washington Times
On April 3, 1975, President Gerald Ford announced that $2 million had been allocated to a foreignaid fund to transport South Vietnamese orphans out of the country, to the United States “as soon as
possible.” This began a logistical nightmare, as the window of time for evacuation was clearly short
and the South Vietnamese government had not, up until that point, supported any form of
international adoption.
An Aid Worker Lifts A Child Up For Evacuation
Sacramento Bee
The next day, April 4, a U.S. government C-5A cargo plane was the first to depart in the mission,
named Operation Babylift, with 243 orphaned children and dozens of aid workers on board. Just
shortly after takeoff, however, the rear cargo doors blew off and the plane abruptly broke apart.
The Wreckage Of The Plane
Bud Traynor via NPR
The pilot was able to land what remained of the plane in a rice paddy, but its cargo compartment,
where many of the infants had been placed, was destroyed in the landing. More than 130 of the
passengers, most of them children, died. It was an auspicious—and depressing—way to begin a
"rescue" mission.
Victims Of The Crash
Pushing On
American businessman Robert Macauley, upon hearing about the doomed first mission of
Operation Babylift, learned that it would be another week before the United States military would
be able to have another cargo plane available to continue the evacuation process. Macauley
mortgaged his own house to pay for a chartered Boeing 747 from Pan American World Airways.
The day after the crash, Macauley's chartered plane, carrying 300 orphaned children, landed
without incident in San Fransisco.
President Ford Carries a Vietnamese Child Off An Operation Babylift Plane
Tumblr/Our Presidents (National Archives)
President Ford himself, along with his wife, Betty, greeted the first plane of orphans in San
Francisco. Also waiting in the airport were the excited families who had arranged to adopt the
children prior to their arrival in the United States. Some of the remaining children boarded other
planes to different cities, where adoptive families were also waiting.
More Arrivals, In Operation Babylift
SFGate
Ed Daly, president of World Airways, learned of Operation Babylift from his daughter, who was
working for the aid organization Friends For All Children at the time. He donated the services of a
DC-8 that had been transporting rice to Vietnam to help rescue the children. “Hell yes, we’ll turn it
into a flying crib. We’ll get doctors and nurses and take all the kids,” Mr. Daly said, later quoted in
2009, in Vietnam magazine.
Orphans Look Out The Window Of A Babylift Plane
Japan Times
The conditions in Saigon were rapidly deteriorating. Transporting the children from the
orphanages, along the city streets to the planes, became a dangerous process. Years later, nurses
and aid workers marveled at how they managed the overwhelming undertaking of caring for
hundreds of infants at one time, in the chaos of the evacuation.
Children Sleeping
Tumblr/Our Presidents (National Archives)
Babies were placed as many as three to a box, which became makeshift "cribs" for the duration of
the flight. Only children under the age of 11 were allowed by the South Vietnamese government to
be evacuated. In many cases, siblings were separated, with one leaving for the United States and
one or more remaining in Vietnam.
Children Waiting To Be Adopted At Harmon Hall, In San Francisco
David Cupp/Denver Post/Getty Images
While many of the Vietnamese children were immediately placed with adoptive families, some
went into temporary foster care when they arrived in the United States. Others were hospitalized
due to health issues or treated for malnutrition.
Strapped-In Babies
Washington Times
Over the next few weeks of April,1975, Operation Babylift flew over 2,100 children out of South
Vietnam and into the United States. Workers placed over 1,000 more children in other countries
such as Australia, Canada and parts of Europe. The conditions in Saigon became increasingly
dangerous and the United States flew its last mission of Operation Babylift on April 26, 1975, just
before the window of escape from Vietnam closed completely. Four days later, on April 30, the city
of Saigon fell.
Medical Staff Examine Vietnamese Refugee Children
Tumblr/Our Presidents (National Archives)
As the months after Operation Babylift passed, controversy swelled over the United States'
motivations to remove the orphaned children from Vietnam. Opponents argued that the mission
was a case of American Cultural Imperialism, and that the U.S. had abused its power by removing
the children from their birth culture based on its own set of ideals. They also argued that due to the
compressed time of the mission, adoption paperwork had to be rushed, leaving vital information
out, making it difficult for adopted children to eventually locate their birth families.
Orphaned Refugees Being Carried From The Plane In San Francisco
Your Daly Bread
Still, many who were on the ground in Saigon maintain that without the aid of the United States,
the orphans would have been the first casualties of war under North Vietnam invasion. Two
hundred fifty thousand Vietnamese citizens were later executed after the war, and nearly 2 million
more were sent to re-education camps.
Operation Babylift Reunion
Daily Republic
Many of the now-grown children who were airlifted from Vietnam and assimilated into the United
States do wonder about their birth culture; some have worked hard to reunite with siblings, birth
parents and other orphans. They are conflicted about Operation Babylift and struggle with the
motives, memories and ideas that accompanied the mission. But most are also grateful for the new
opportunities they had in the United States and appreciate the small part they played in Operation
Babylift.