April 4, 1975: Operation Babylift
Colgan
April 4, 1975, will forever be etched in my memory.
At a Tulane University convocation on April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford declared that the war in Vietnam was “finished as far as America is concerned.” But getting those who had supported the U.S. involvement out of the country in those last days as the North Vietnamese Army surrounded Saigon was another matter and there was the issue of the orphans, some who had been fathered by American military men and who would certainly suffer even more following the U.S. exit.
C-5A Galaxy Tail Number 80218 was loaded on April 4, 1975, with crew, escorts, US Saigon Embassy personnel, and Vietnamese orphans and escorts in those last days of the U.S. presence in South Vietnam. The heat was sweltering and there was unbelievable chaos as reported in the literature and by David Norman, a Marine stationed at the embassy as part of the U.S. Marine Security Guard Program, who now serves as an offi
A survivor of Operation Babylift
Chris Colgan (center) with his adoptive parents Len and Carol Colgon.
Colgan has worked with Special Olympics participants for 18 years.
April 4, 1975, will forever be etched in my memory.
At a Tulane University convocation on April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford declared that the war in Vietnam was “finished as far as America is concerned.” But getting those who had supported the U.S. involvement out of the country in those last days as the North Vietnamese Army surrounded Saigon was another matter and there was the issue of the orphans, some who had been fathered by American military men and who would certainly suffer even more following the U.S. exit.