Heritage Camp 2009

When we attended the Vietnamese Heritage  Camp a couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to meet four adult Vietnamese  adoptees, all of which were adopted from Vietnam as part of Operation Babylift  in 1975. It was fascinating to hear their stories. It started us thinking about  Vietnam and how international adoption began during this time. It seems over the  course of history international adoption for many countries has risen out of a  great need following a war. Korean international adoptions began in 1954 after  the war between North and South Korea ended.

The  conflict and division of Vietnam began in 1954. Around one million people left  the North to move to south Vietnam to live under a democratic rather than  communist government. North Vietnam continued for the next two decades to  attempt to take over the southern part of the country and control all of Vietnam  under a communist government. The United States became involved in 1967 by  supporting and providing military aid to the south. After intense pressure from  US civilians and a great loss of life, the US scaled back military support in  1974 and finally withdrew from Vietnam in April 1975 just days before Saigon  fell.

In all, nearly 750,000 Vietnamese and 59,000  American lives were lost. One April 3, 1975 President Ford authorized Operation  Babylift in response to humanitarian pressure in Vietnam to evacuate some to the  thousands of orphans left by the casualties of war. The first unauthorized  flight of children left Saigon on April 2, 1975. The first authorized flight out  of Saigon a C-5A Galaxy military flight left on April 4, 1975 with nearly three  hundred orphans on board. Forty minutes outside of Saigon a malfunction led to  an explosion. The flight crew turned the plane back toward Saigon and crash  landed in a rice field killing about half of the passengers on board and nearly  all of the orphans. Flights continued out of Saigon through April 25, 1975  taking some 2000 orphans to Canada, Europe, the US and Australia most of which  had already been matched with families waiting to adopt them. Some flights were  military planes and others were chartered private planes. Our adoption agency  Holt International chartered a Pan Am 747 with 409 orphans on board. Many of the  orphans were severly malnourished and ill. Many did not survive the flights and  others only lived a few months upon arrival in their new  homes.

On April 27, 1975 7,000 South Vietnamese  were flown out of Saigon by helicopters. 5500 more people and 1300 Americans  were air lifted out of Saigon between April 29 and April 30. 60,000 more  Vietnamese people were rescued from rafts, cargo ships and boats.  In all 132,000 Vietnamese people emigrated to the  US through Operation Babylift and subsequent airlifts out of  Saigon.
This story is what made it  possible for us to travel to Vietnam and adopt one of its orphans some thirty  one years later.  We are grateful to have a  connection to this remarkable story and the people who made this path possible  for us.  If you are interested in reading more  about operation babylift visit here

One of the adult adoptees we met is  Colorado is also the  associate producer of a new documentary film called Operaton  Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam.