President Gerald R. Ford carries a Vietnamese baby from “Clipper 1742," one of the planes that transported approximately 325 South Vietnamese orphans from Saigon to the United States. Date: April 5, 1975
[show] v t e Military engagements of the Vietnam War Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other countries (including Australia, France, West Germany, and Canada) at the end of the Vietnam War (see also the Fall of Saigon), on April 3–26, 1975. By the final American flight out of South Vietnam, over 10,300 infants and children had been evacuated, although the actual number has been variously reported.[1][2][3][4] 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. A pair of well-worn baby shoes worn by an orphan evacuated from Vietnam during Operation Babylift With the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang having fallen in March, and with Saigon under attack and being shelled, on April 3, 1975, President Gerald Ford announced that the government would begin evacuating orphans from Saigon on a series of 30 planned flights aboard Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-5A Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft. Service organizations including Holt International Children's Services, 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 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong.
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Photo credit: © American Photo Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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