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This Adoptee Discovered a Trove of Documents in a Nun’s Basement. The Rare Vietnam War Records May Rewrite the Story of Operation Babylift - SMITHSONIAN MAG
The April 1975 effort matched more than 2,800 infants and children evacuated from Vietnam with adoptive families. Today, the adoptees are searching for clues to their past—and reflecting on the complicated legacy of their evacuation

Devaki Murch
Oct 811 min read


20/20 Operation Babylift: The 50-Year Journey
In 1985 20/20 ABC News featured a news segment about Operation Babylift. It was the first feature that told the story of my history, the...

Devaki Murch
May 71 min read


The Vietnam War: Flight to a New Future - NEXSTAR MEDIA
KDVR, Nexstar Media I had never been filmed before. It has been quite the journey this past year delving into this archive project and seeing where it took us. This documentary piece by NewsNation and Jeremy Hubbard brings together some of the key people that are the reason we are here today. It was amazing to meet most of them at the Operation Babylift exhibit opening at Regis University Center for the Study of War Experience event. https://youtu.be/o94pfJTEXLI?feature=share

Devaki Murch
May 71 min read


The children of the Vietnam War’s ‘Operation Babylift’ have turned 50. A look at the lives they built. - WASHINGTON POST
The first plane to fly children out of Vietnam crashed, killing dozens. Survivors found homes across the United States. By Petula Dvorak Devaki Murch, who was one of the babies who survived the tragic crash of the first Operation Babylift flight out of Saigon on April 4, 1975, found her adoption records in a basement in Colorado and is now trying to connect dozens of people who survived the accident and went on to be adopted in the United States with the records of their past

Devaki Murch
May 68 min read


Plane crash survivor looks back on harrowing evacuation from Vietnam during Operation Babylift 50 years ago - KDVR
Hope turned into heartbreak 50 years ago this month, when a cargo plane loaded with Vietnamese orphans bound for America crashed in a rice field. Devaki Murch was on that plane. Now she’s sharing her survival story – and the story of Operation Babylift – in a traveling exhibit.

Devaki Murch
May 62 min read


Operation Babylift: Uncovering memory in media - REGIS UNIVERSITY
Hadley Jenkins, Regis University https://www.regis.edu/about/magazine/2025-spring-summer/operation-babylift This spring, Regis’ Center for the Study of War Experience (CSWE) celebrated the 30th anniversary of its annual speaker series, Stories from Wartime. This unique speaker-series-turned-undergraduate-course engages both Regis students and the larger community in conversations about the realities and mundanities of war. Stories from Wartime has landed its focus this year o

Devaki Murch
May 64 min read


Airlifted, Uplifted
New episode drop! In this deeply personal conversation, Amy Mai, an educator, transracial adoptee, and one of the many of children...

Devaki Murch
May 41 min read


After the Vietnam War: When the Children Return
Having been taken away from Vietnam at a very young age, the war, family and the country of Vietnam were never in their memories. Many years later, the children of that year returned to find their families, to find the pieces of their lives.

Devaki Murch
May 19 min read


Operation Baby Lift survivor finds home and healing in St. Louis
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, Jim Zimmerly recalls his childhood growing up in St. Louis and reckoning with being a war refugee.

Devaki Murch
May 13 min read


Operation Babylift: A humanitarian mission for Vietnamese orphans
The Cradle of Aviation Museum hosted a special event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Operation Babylift, a humanitarian effort to evacuate thousands of Vietnamese orphans in the final days of the Vietnam War.

Devaki Murch
May 11 min read


'No one suffers more than the children:' Legacy of Operation Babylift 50 years later
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of Vietnamese orphans to the U.S., Australia, France, West Germany, Canada and other Western countries as South Vietnam teetered on the brink of collapse.
While the exact number of orphans flown abroad is debated, most accounts say around 3,300 children were evacuated.

Devaki Murch
Apr 304 min read


Colorado nun remembers Operation Babylift 50 years after evacuation of Vietnamese orphans from war zone
They’re the heroes who pulled off a massive evacuation effort 50 years ago, airlifting thousands of Vietnamese orphans out of the war zone in the final days of the Vietnam War. And a Colorado woman played a critical role in the mission.
“We did everything we could,” Sister Mary Nelle Gage told FOX31.

Devaki Murch
Apr 282 min read


In 1975, thousands of babies were daringly airlifted from the Vietnam war
Some of those involved in ‘Operation Babylift’ recall the events of those few days as North Vietnamese troops closed in on Saigon – and what happened to the children afterwards.

Devaki Murch
Apr 2614 min read


'Operation Babylift' Fall of Saigon plane crash survivors reunite 50 years later
WASHINGTON (7News) by Victoria Sanchez Fri, April 18th 2025 at 6:03 PM Updated Wed, April 30th 2025 at 5:26 PM The decades-long Vietnam...

Devaki Murch
Apr 184 min read


Orphan Airlift Pan Am April 5, 1975
Remembering the 1975 Vietnam Babylift - Pam Am airlift.

Devaki Murch
Apr 55 min read


C-5A Crash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 4, 1975 Office of the White House Press Secretary (San Francisco, California) THE WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT BY...

Devaki Murch
Apr 41 min read


April 4: Life Day
Today is what we call our “Life Day”. It’s a day that we came so close to the edge. The day that death came to our door. We could have...

Devaki Murch
Apr 31 min read


Operation Babylift
FOR RELEASE AT 12 noon PDT APRIL 3, 1975 3 pm EDT Office of the White House Press Secretary (San Diego, California) THE WHTE HOUSE...

Devaki Murch
Apr 32 min read


USAID
USAID was instrumental in the evacuation of the children from Vietnam. Their support and relief continues in the conflicts today. I...

Devaki Murch
Apr 31 min read


Thank you Boulder Community
Dear Friends, The wonder of Boulder never ceases to amaze me. As the community center filled on Wednesday evening, I was overwhelmed by...

Devaki Murch
Apr 32 min read
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