Operation Babylift Exhibit
Saving Children from the Vietnam War

Monday, April 27, 2009
Ring Auditorium

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

 

April 2009 marks the 34th anniversary of "Operation Babylift" (OBL), an extraordinary humanitarian effort that provided for the evacuation of over 2,500 Vietnamese War orphans during the final weeks of the Vietnam War.
Prior to OBL, international adoptions in the United States were infrequent and required an individual Act of Congress for each prospective adoptive family. OBL, by allowing a large number of international adoptees to enter the United States via parolee visa, changed the "complexion" of the United States and ushered in the era of international adoption still prevalent today.

Program's participants:

 

Lana Mae Noone, OBL activist, mother, and author of Global Mom: Notes from a Pioneer Adoptive Family.

 

 

Jennifer Nguyen Noone, who was the final baby placed with a waiting family by OBL. Ross Meador, who was the field director for Friends of Children of Vietnam during OBL, he placed 57 orphans on board the inaugural OBL flight.

 

 

LeAnn Thieman, adoptive mother and author of This Must Be My Brother, as well as co-author of 10 titles in the popular Chicken Soup for the… series.

 

 

Phillip R. Wise, a retired U.S. Air Force Sergeant who survived a tragic OBL plane crash.

 

Additionally, a temporary art and artifacts exhibit will be on display, including the Vietnam Babylift Quilt created from remnants of clothing worn by the orphans, original clothing, photos, materials, and the speakers' personal artifacts.