The Conversation: Hana hou show on Vietnam and Operation Babylift

By Catherine Cruz

Published May 8, 2026 at 11:41 AM HST

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Vietnamese orphans fill the seats of a C-5A Galaxy transport plane for the initial flight of Operation Babylift from Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport in the final stages of the Vietnam War, April 4, 1975. Minutes after takeoff, the plane crash-landed and broke apart, killing 78 children and about 50 adults. About 170 people survived. Subsequent flights of Operation Babylift evacuated more than 2,500 children to the United States and other countries for adoption. — Vietnamese orphans fill the seats of a C-5A Galaxy transport plane for the initial flight of Operation Babylift on April 4, 1975. Minutes after takeoff, the plane crash-landed and broke apart, killing 78 children and about 50 adults. About 170 people survived.

Today on the Conversation, we’re taking a look back on some of the stories around the Vietnam War and Operation Babylift, when thousands of Vietnamese orphans were airlifted to start new lives as adoptees in America:

Vietnamese adoptee Devaki Murch shares her experience as an Operation Babylift refugee and her harrowing tale of plane crash survival | Full Story (Nov. 2025)
University of Hawaiʻi educator Thanh Truc Nguyen shares her family’s experience after the Fall of Saigon | Full Story (Nov. 2025)
Sister Mary Nelle Gage recalls her work assisting with the adoption of thousands of Vietnamese children as part of Operation Babylift | Full Story (April 2026)
Devaki Murch and Steven George, two orphans who were airlifted out of Vietnam, share their experiences after the war and growing up as adoptees | Full Story | (Mar. 2026)