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Civilians flee Da Nang -

It was chaotic. The central Vietnamese city of Da Nang had fallen in March 1975, overrun by the advancing North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).

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Refugees leave the city -

Thousands of refugees had left the city, crammed into landing craft operated by the South Vietnamese navy to be taken to the relative safety of the vast Mekong Delta with the help of foreign navy vessels.

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Advance of the North Vietnamese Army -

The PAVN's relentless drive forward saw more refugees taking to the roads. Highways became clogged with a fleeing mass of humanity.

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Saigon under attack -

Soon, Saigon itself was under attack. Hundreds of desperate South Vietnamese citizens were gathering around the US Embassy in the hopes of getting on a bus to the airport, the main staging area for the emergency evacuation operation.

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Ford announces airlift of orphans -

Realizing the severity of the situation, President Gerald Ford announced on April 3, 1975, that the US government would begin airlifting orphaned children out of Saigon.

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Fear of repercussions -

As communist forces advanced further into South Vietnam, rumors about what they would do were widespread. Women and children were especially vulnerable.

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No guarantee of safety -

In the final days of the Vietnam War, numerous orphans were being cared for in Saigon schools.

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Singled out by the enemy -

Care workers feared the worst, that parentless children would be singled out by the enemy for punishment or perhaps even killed.

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Children of US soldiers at risk -

President Ford therefore authorized the evacuation of thousands of Vietnamese orphans (many fathered by American military personnel) to the United States. In fact, children fathered by American soldiers were rumored to be in particular danger.

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Operation Babylift -

A series of 30 planned flights aboard Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-5A Galaxy and the C-141 Starlifter cargo aircraft operated by the 62nd Airlift Wing of the United States Air Force was swiftly arranged. This evacuation became known as Operation Babylift.

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Babylift commences -

On April 4, a Lockheed C-5A was prepared at Tan Son Nhut Airport to transport the first group of orphans out of the war-torn country.

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First flight cleared for takeoff -

On board were 285 passengers, 250 of whom were small children. The flight crew numbered 29. The first flight of Operation Babylift was cleared for takeoff.

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Disaster strikes -

Several minutes after departing Tan Son Nhut Airport, the locks on the rear loading ramp failed, causing the cargo door to open explosively. The pilots managed to regain control of the crippled plane and turned back towards Saigon.

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Tragedy -

However, the plane's descent rate suddenly began to increase rapidly. The C-5A Galaxy eventually crashed, killing 138 people, including 78 children.

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Evacuation flights resume -

It was a tragic start to what was supposed to be a chance to send a child to America. As a safety precaution, all subsequent evacuations were undertaken using C-141 aircraft.

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More than 3,000 children saved -

Over the next several weeks, Operation Babylift brought more than 3,000 children out of Vietnam.

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Situation worsens -

As the airlift gathered momentum, events on the ground were worsening. It soon became apparent that a lack of military transport planes could bring the operation to a premature end.

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Contribution made by Robert Macauley -

Upon hearing this, American businessman Robert Macauley chartered a Boeing 747 from Pan American World Airways and arranged for 300 orphaned children to leave the country.

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Americares -

Robert Macauley would go on to found Americares in 1979. Today a global non-profit organization focused on health and development, Americares assists people and communities around the world access health in times of disaster and crisis.

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Presidential welcome -

President Ford was on hand at San Francisco International Airport to personally greet one of the Operation Babylift planes that transported approximately 325 South Vietnamese orphans from Saigon to the United States on April 5, 1975.

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Processed for adoption -

Harmon Hall at the Presidio of San Francisco (then a US Army post) was packed with mattresses, volunteers, and Vietnamese orphans as the children waited to be processed for future adoption.

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Relocated around the world -

The children were relocated and adopted out to American, Canadian, European, and Australian families.

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Care down under -

About 250 Vietnamese war orphans ended up in Australia. Four are pictured here being cared for at Sydney's Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (today known as Camperdown).

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Operation Babylift concluded -

Operation Babylift continued until artillery attacks by the PAVN rendered flights in and out of Tan Son Nhut Airport impossible.

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Evacuation of Saigon -

With capitulation inventible, President Gerald Ford convened a meeting at the White House on April 28, 1975, with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft to discuss the evacuation of Saigon.

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Operation Frequent Wind -

By the end of April, Operation Frequent Wind, the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, had airlifted to safety more than 7,000 people from various points in Saigon.

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Fall of Saigon -

On April 30, victorious communist forces entered the city. Saigon had fallen.

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Vietnam War ends -

The Vietnam War was officially declared over on April 30, 1975. The death toll is estimated to be around 3.8 million casualties in total, nearly half of whom were civilians caught in the fighting.

Sources: (American Experience) (Gerald Ford Museum) (National Archives of Australia) (History.com) 

See also: The greatest mass evacuations in history

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