Kaleidoscope of Truth

Some people have hospital bracelets, babybooks. My origin story has been narrated by the media: front page articles and newscasts. For adoptees from Vietnam evacuated during the war, these origins are being discovered 50 years later.

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I have been given the opportunity to steward the records from Friends for All Children, the adoption agency through which I was adopted. These records have been in the custodianship of Sr. Mary Nelle Gage, a nun who served as assistant director of the program in Vietnam. As a young 30-year-old from Dallas, she was called to help with the nurseries in 1973. Over 50 years later, she remains dedicated to the children she once held as babies.

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Operation Babylift was an initiative by President Ford that began on April 3, 1975. The initial flight carrying over 314 passengers crashed in a rice paddy just short of the runway in Saigon when the mis-rigged rear ramp locks failed under pressure, causing the entire rear ramp and pressure door to blow out, taking with it 2 of the 4 hydraulic systems. 138 passengers, children, volunteers, and crew members perished.149 children survived. I was one of them.

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Colonel Dennis W. "Bud" Traynor, USAF, Retired was the pilot who maneuvered the massive C-5A Galaxy to a landing that saved as many lives as possible. Today, the "C-5A Galaxy BABYLIFT crash"  facebook page has 1.2k members and serves as the primary source through which I have found most of my history. Until now.

The origin story of my life has evolved and shifted over the years as more information and stories have become available. It is the same knowledge, facts, and figures that shape our story, and with each new addition, our vision expands. This is what I call the Kaleidoscope of Truth.

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In 2024, Linda Boris presented me with the list of C-5A crash survivors. This was the first time I had ever seen my name on a list confirming I had been on that plane. Linda, a military veteran who helped care for Babylift orphans at the Presidio of San Francisco and author of Every Sparrow That Falls, has transcribed most of the lists that form the foundation of the adoptee database tracking journeys from Vietnam to destination.

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For adoptees, generational service is different - we carry it as a calling to the community we belong to. We have an opportunity to reframe traditional archive access and retrieval for adoptees and their files by using bell hooks “love ethics”  as an archival practice: translating care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge into a respectful, reciprocal methodology that honors the living energy of archives holding our past and our vulnerability.

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These archives document the plane crash, the adoption process, and the personal communications of hopeful parents. They are pieces of the puzzle that make up the story of our lives. This is the service I have been called to do: collect, preserve, and protect our stories. It follows in the service of Sr. Mary Nelle Gage, Col. Traynor, and Linda Boris, continue to serve the community I call family as we find our history together.