Operation Babylift was a mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries at the end of the Vietnam War, in April 1975. Over 3,300 infants and children were airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported.
Start Apr 4, 1975Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 6:08 PM
Operation Babylift was a mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries at the end of the Vietnam War, in April 1975. Over 3,300 infants and children were airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported.1234
Overview
On 3 April 1975, with the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang having fallen to North Vietnamese forces in March, and with the South Vietnamese capital Saigon coming under siege, U.S. president Gerald 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 aboard C-5A and C-141 cargo aircraft operated by the 62nd Airlift Wing, under the command of Major Gen. Edward J. Nash of Military Airlift Command (MAC).56
The adoption agencyHolt International, along with a number of 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 orphans residing in their facilities in South Vietnam. In their book, , International Orphans (now Childhelp) founders Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson chronicle the request they received from to help with evacuations and finding homes for the orphans, many of whom had been fathered by American servicemen.
This page is based on “Operation Babylift” from English Wikipedia, (r1376557086) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
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 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.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
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.1112 After this crash, Major General Maurice F. Casey, the Deputy Director for Logistics in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called General Paul 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 use C-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
Criticism and legacy
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.1415 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.1718192021
The Vietnamese adoptee-run nonprofit, Operation Reunite, used DNA testing to match adoptees with their Vietnamese families.22
A memorial was unveiled in Holmdel, New Jersey, United States, in April 2015.237
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 an Amerasian woman who returns to visit her biological family in Đà 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[link removed] – 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), 11 May 1984. pages 8–10; and follow-up story, "Mother Courage of Vietnam finds son in UK," by Jane Thomas, New Statesman, 20 July 1984, page 4.
Notes
Footnotes
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 the Wayback 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 the Wayback 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 the public domain. ↩
Operation Babylift was a mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries at the end of the Vietnam War, in April 1975. Over 3,300 infants and children were airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported.1234
Overview
On 3 April 1975, with the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang having fallen to North Vietnamese forces in March, and with the South Vietnamese capital Saigon coming under siege, U.S. president Gerald 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 aboard C-5A and C-141 cargo aircraft operated by the 62nd Airlift Wing, under the command of Major Gen. Edward J. Nash of Military Airlift Command (MAC).56
The adoption agencyHolt International, along with a number of service organizations including, Friends of Children of Viet Nam (FCVN), Friends For All Children (FFAC), Catholic Relief Service, , , and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, petitioned the government to help evacuate the orphans residing in their facilities in South Vietnam. In their book, , International Orphans (now Childhelp) founders Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson chronicle the request they received from to help with evacuations and finding homes for the orphans, many of whom had been fathered by American servicemen.
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 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.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
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.1112 After this crash, Major General Maurice F. Casey, the Deputy Director for Logistics in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called General Paul 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 use C-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
Criticism and legacy
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.1415 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.1718192021
The Vietnamese adoptee-run nonprofit, Operation Reunite, used DNA testing to match adoptees with their Vietnamese families.22
A memorial was unveiled in Holmdel, New Jersey, United States, in April 2015.237
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 an Amerasian woman who returns to visit her biological family in Đà 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[link removed] – 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), 11 May 1984. pages 8–10; and follow-up story, "Mother Courage of Vietnam finds son in UK," by Jane Thomas, New Statesman, 20 July 1984, page 4.
Notes
Footnotes
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 the Wayback 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 the Wayback 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 the public domain. ↩