Operation Babylift Collection

Children born in a war have little or no records of their origin. They are raised in families and communities that may or may not hold any cultural connection to their country of origin.

Seeing your name on a list is HUGE to an adoptee who has no history of their origin. It is evidence that you exist, evidence that you were cared for, evidence of the adoption process in two countries of which you have roots. For me, it was finding the story before I was me. For others, it is finding a community to which they belong.

“We were strangers coming together and left as family.”

Why now?

Because the stories that shaped who we are are disappearing. They are the stories of the veterans, the volunteers, the caregivers, our families and communities in Vietnam and in our home countries. The children are now entering their 50s with children of their own recognizing not just our own mortality but of those around us.

Why Me?

Why not me? I am a tradeshow director, not an archivist. It is that tenacity that seeks out the primary sources, people and places and is adamant about security and risk management protocols that makes for a good steward of these sensitive records. It is all of the various jobs that have honed one skill that has been a priority in my job since I was 14: customer service.

How has this changed me?

I learned that I had two names. I found people that look like me. I learned that I am not the only one that knows nothing about being Vietnamese. I have UNLEARNED the narrative that the media has been my life story. I have found my name in print for the first time on a passenger manifest. I have found emails about my origins that are only in the memory of those who cared for us. I have found people who have become like family. My world was rocked when I realized I had never given thought to the soldiers of my own country and the war they fought for us, the children. I have watched people’s lives change because of paperwork that I have compiled and galleries that I have curated. I have found that my super power - is creating space for magic to happen.

What do we do?

1. Archive Processing: preparing the Friends For All Children Archives to be transferred to a repository for preservation, privacy and access in the future.
2. File Connection and individual delivery to adoptees
3. Provide a consolidated resource for Operation Babylift information.
4. Network and outreach to Operation Babylift, Vietnamese adoptee and refugee communities.