Part of the Vietnam War (1975)
Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries (including Australia, France, West Germany, and Canada) at the end of the Vietnam War (see also the Fall of Saigon), on 3–26 April 1975. By the final American flight out of South Vietnam, over 3,300 infants and children had been airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported. Along with Operation New Life, over 110,000 refugees were evacuated from South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. Thousands of children were airlifted from Vietnam and adopted by families around the world.
Overview.
With the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang having fallen in March, and with Saigon under attack, on 3 April 1975, U.S. President Gerald Ford announced that the U.S. government would begin airlifting orphans out of Saigon on a series of 30 planned flights aboard Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-5A Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft operated by 62nd Airlift Wing of the United States Air Force under the command of Major General Edward J. Nash.
Adoption agency Holt International as well as service organizations including Friends of Children of Viet Nam (FCVN), Friends For All Children (FFAC), Catholic Relief Service, International Social Services, International Orphans and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation petitioned the government to help evacuate the various orphans in their facilities in Vietnam. In their book, "Silence Broken", Childhelp (International Orphans at the time) founders Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson chronicle their request from Lieutenant general Lewis William Walt to help with evacuations and finding homes for the Asian-American orphans.
Flights continued until artillery attacks by the People's Army of Vietnam on Tan Son Nhut Airport rendered airplane flights impossible.
Over 2,500 children were relocated and adopted out to families in the United States and its allies, including approximately 250 sent to Australia. The operation was controversial because there was question about whether the evacuation was in the children's best interest, and because not all the children were orphans.
When American businessman Robert 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 a Boeing 747 from Pan American World Airways and arranged for 300 orphaned children to leave the country, paying for the trip by mortgaging his house.
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.
Plane crash.
A C-5A Galaxy, serial number "68-0218", flew the initial mission of Operation Babylift departing from Tan 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 before hitting a dike and breaking into four parts, some of which caught fire. According to DIA figures, 175 people survived and 138 people were killed in the crash, including 78 children and 35 Defense Attaché Office, Saigon personnel.
Legacy.
The Vietnamese adoptee-run nonprofit, Operation Reunite, is using DNA testing to match adoptees with their Vietnamese families.
A memorial was unveiled in Holmdel, New Jersey, US in April 2015.
References.
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