Opening Welcome
Stories from Sr. Mary Nelle Gage and other Friends For All Children caregivers, an update on the C-5A memorial project, and a preview of Mike Frailey's film The Adoptees.
Archives in Love and War · StoryScope Studio
Bridging the records of the past and the voices of the present
In April 1975, as Saigon fell, thousands of Vietnamese children were evacuated to new families around the world. The records that document that evacuation were kept, box by box, for fifty years, by one person. In 2024, she gave them to one of the children.
Those children are now in their late forties and fifties. Many are only now, at this stage of life, beginning to ask the questions that could not be asked before. The archive exists at exactly that moment. What started as 33 boxes in a basement in Colorado has become something much larger: an interactive bridge between the records of the past and the people they were written about.
The Operation Babylift Collection holds more than 4,800 original documents, photographs, correspondence, and case files from the 1975 Vietnamese child evacuation, processed through Love Ethic Archival Practice (LEAP), a trauma-informed methodology that puts the dignity and agency of survivors first. Not institutions. The people.
If you were adopted through Operation Babylift
Your file may be in this collection. We are actively connecting adoptees with their original records. However you arrive at this question, whatever stage you are at, there is a place for you here.
Submit an Adoptee Inquiry33+
Boxes of Records
4,800+
Individual Records
51
Years Since Babylift
1
Generation Searching
In the press
Smithsonian Magazine: This Adoptee Discovered a Trove of Documents in a Nun's Basement. The Rare Vietnam War Records May Rewrite the Story of Operation Babylift.
ABC 20/20: Operation Babylift: The 50-Year Journey
Nexstar Media: The Vietnam War: Flight to a New Future
Washington Post: The children of the Vietnam War's 'Operation Babylift' have turned 50. A look at the lives they built.
April 10–13, 2026 · Boulder, Colorado
A four-day gathering marking the 51st anniversary of Operation Babylift, bringing together adoptees, veterans, birth families, filmmakers, authors, and Vietnamese diaspora communities for storytelling, film, writing, archival exploration, and honest conversation. All events are free and open to the public.
View Schedule RSVPWhy This Work Matters
These records are fragile. Many are handwritten. Some are already deteriorating. There is no other archive like this one, and without active stewardship, the origin stories of thousands of people will be lost before the people they belong to ever find them.
The work is not simply archival. It is relational. It means opening boxes that have been closed for fifty years, reading documents with care and context, and ensuring that what is preserved reflects not just the administrative history of an evacuation but the full humanity of the people it touched.
Your support funds the digitization of fragile originals that exist nowhere else, the professional work of securing a permanent institutional home, and the capacity to respond to adoptees who will come forward after the April findings are shared. See how your support is used and how to give.
April 10–13, 2026 · Boulder, Colorado
The Gathering
"We are connected by invisible threads, threads of memory, of loss, of survival, and of love. Even when we cannot see them, they are still holding us together."
Noel Nguyen, adoptee
About the Gathering
These are the threads that bring together our individual pasts and shared history. Invisible Threads is a four-day gathering in Boulder, Colorado, marking the 51st anniversary of Operation Babylift, and a homecoming of sorts.
The events bring together adoptees, veterans, birth families, filmmakers, authors, and Vietnamese diaspora communities for an April weekend of storytelling, film, writing, archival exploration, and honest conversation.
From the My Name Is Mimosa exhibition at East Window Gallery, open daily with hands-on archive review, to an evening with Sister Mary Nelle Gage, who has served this community since 1972; to panel discussions, a writing workshop led by Andrew Lam, a BookTalk with five Operation Babylift authors, documentary screenings, and a closing family search discussion with Con Tím Mẹ, the weekend is a collective effort by many adoptees and allies to surface what has long been invisible.
All events are free and open to the public. Boulder, Colorado. April 10–13, 2026.
Room Block Available
Comfort Inn and Suites, North Boulder
Call direct and mention Friends For All Children, or book via the room block link.
Invisible Threads · Boulder, Colorado
April 10–13, 2026 · All events free and open to the public
"We are connected by invisible threads, threads of memory, of loss, of survival, and of love. Even when we cannot see them, they are still holding us together."
Noel Nguyen, adoptee
Full Schedule
Stories from Sr. Mary Nelle Gage and other Friends For All Children caregivers, an update on the C-5A memorial project, and a preview of Mike Frailey's film The Adoptees.
Come sit with us for the hard conversations: belonging, identity, and what it means to be a GenX'er raised in the US, with roots in Vietnam.
The StoryScope Equation: StoryPoint (Archive + LivingThreads) = StoryDeck
Moth-style storytelling with Huyen Friedlander, Kim Delevett, Mike Frailey, Derek Powell, and Lani Lang. Hosted by Deanna Byck.
A literary nonfiction workshop using letter-writing as a gateway to authentic voice. Participants write a letter to someone known, admired, or loved, on any subject: childhood, loss, observation, longing. Letters are then read aloud and shaped through group feedback toward a piece with wider literary reach. Open to all experience levels. Free, limited to 20 participants.
Reserve Your SpotAndrew Lam, Ross Meador, Aryn Lockhart, Leann Thiemann, and Noel Nguyen share their work and the stories behind the stories, followed by an opportunity to speak with authors and purchase books.
Thanh Tan presents We Were Soldiers, Too in conversation with Jeremy Hubbard. Pilot screening: Intersections by Tran Van Kirk. Closing: Archives in Love and War, Devaki Murch.
Huyen Friedlander and Jane MyHanh Joy of Con Tím Mẹ gather to discuss first family exploration, an open, intimate conversation for adoptees and families navigating this terrain.
History Colorado Oral History Project
Friends For All Children was based in Boulder. We are working with History Colorado to record oral histories from adoptees and caregivers, preserving these firsthand accounts as part of the permanent historical record.
To participate, contact:
Kim Kennedy WhiteInvisible Threads · April 10–13, 2026
Films, speakers & special presentations
Special Presentations
For the first time, adoptee Mike Frailey will screen nine minutes of his in-progress documentary. At age 8, Mike was evacuated from Vietnam on the first unofficial Operation Babylift flight operated by World Airways. The film follows Mike's journey to reconcile his past, examine the stories of his fellow adoptees, and search for his birth family in a deeply personal exploration of identity, family, and belonging.
Presented alongside co-director Derrick Owens, with a conversation and Q&A to follow.
Andrew Lam is a Bay Area Vietnamese American essayist and the author of four books and hundreds of literary essays. His memoir Perfume Dreams won the PEN Beyond Margins Award in 2011. His short story collection Birds of Paradise Lost won the Josephine Miles Literary Award and was a finalist for the California Book Award. His latest, Stories from the Edge of the Sea, explores love and loss among Vietnamese Americans haunted by memories of war and diaspora. A longtime contributor to Huffington Post, Lam spent eight years as a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered.
Workshop DetailsFilmmaker Tran Van Kirk closes the final evening with his multi-award-winning docu-series Intersections, which highlights the lives of Amerasian children born in Vietnam during the war who were, in many cases, orphaned and adopted into families around the world.
The pilot episode won Best Inspirational Film at the 2022 Cannes World Film Festival and received a Silver Telly in 2023 for long-form documentary. Kirk is also co-founder of the Southeast Asian Coast2Coast Foundation (SEA2C), whose mission is to reconnect adoptees from the Vietnam War with their birth families. Watch the interview with Kenneth Nguyen →
Saturday, April 12, 2026 · 10 AM – 1 PM
Boulder Main Library · Free · Limited to 20 participants
With Andrew Lam
Literary nonfiction, whether personal essays, memoirs, journalism, or profiles of others, is an art form that demands patience and care. For beginners, the essential first step is discovering one's authentic voice.
This 3-hour workshop invites participants to write a letter in the traditional style. Composing a letter to someone you know, admire, or love is one of the most effective ways to connect with your own voice. Participants will then read a portion of their letter aloud, followed by group discussion to share thoughts and provide constructive feedback to refine the work.
The subject matter is open: childhood experiences, hidden traumas, observations about the world we inhabit, or our deepest fears and longings. While the letter may be deeply personal, it should be crafted with the intention of eventually shaping it into a literary piece, one that could one day reach a wider audience.
Write in your natural, intimate voice, but always keep in mind that the work might someday be read by many.
Sign Up HereAbout Andrew Lam
Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese American author and journalist whose works have been published since 1989. He is among the first generation of Vietnamese Americans to write and publish in mainstream media. Lam and his family arrived in San Francisco in May 1975, weeks after the Vietnam War ended.
His first book, Perfume Dreams, won the PEN Beyond Margins Award. His essay collection East Eats West was nominated for a top nonfiction honor. His short story collection Birds of Paradise Lost won the Josephine Miles Literary Award and was a finalist for the California Book Award. His latest collection, Stories from the Edge of the Sea, has garnered praise for its exploration of love and loss in the Vietnamese American diaspora.
Lam was a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered for eight years. PBS documented his return to Vietnam in 2004 in the film My Journey Home. He has published with HuffPost, In These Times, and World Literature Today. He is currently working on a novel.
Saturday, April 12, 2026 · 2 – 4 PM
Boulder Main Library · Free and open to the public
Stories Behind the Stories
Five authors share their work, their research, and the personal stories that brought them to write about Operation Babylift. Talks will be followed by an open opportunity to speak with the authors and purchase books.
Stories from the Edge of the Sea
Bay Area Vietnamese American essayist and author of four books. His memoir Perfume Dreams won the PEN Beyond Margins Award; Birds of Paradise Lost won the Josephine Miles Literary Award.
Carried Away: A Memoir of Rescue & Survival Among Orphans of the Viet Nam War
A harrowing true story of resilience, sacrifice, and survival during one of the most tumultuous evacuations in history. At 19, Ross Meador arrived in Vietnam searching for purpose, and was thrust into a race against time as Saigon fell.
Operation Babylift: Mission Accomplished: A Memoir of Hope and Healing
Two survivors of the inaugural Operation Babylift flight share their personal journeys and the bond formed from the events of April 4, 1975.
Leann Thiemann was a volunteer nurse who helped evacuate Vietnamese orphans during Operation Babylift. Her first-person account of those final days in Saigon has become one of the defining narratives of the evacuation.
Adoptee, writer, and community voice whose words open our gathering: "We are connected by invisible threads, threads of memory, of loss, of survival, and of love."
Operation Babylift Collection
Articles, archives, library & film
Please submit suggestions for resources to: [email protected]
"To our Babylift adoptees: As I look back on that day, most of you were approximately the same age as my children. So I can, in a way, look at all of you as part of a large extended family... I am always happy to give anyone who asks whatever insight I might have regarding this small part of your new beginning."
Bud Traynor, Pilot
Every Sparrow That Falls: The Story of the C-5A Galaxy Operation Babylift Crash
Self published, 2017. Gleaned from survivor and witness statements and direct interviews, this story comes to life through firsthand accounts of the April 4, 1975 crash.
Operation Babylift: Mission Accomplished, A Memoir of Hope and Healing
Pebbles Media, 2019. Two survivors of the inaugural Operation Babylift flight share their personal journeys and the bond formed from the events of April 4, 1975.
The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam
Beacon Press, 2010. A comprehensive examination of Operation Babylift, exploring the complexities of international adoption during the Vietnam War and its lasting impact on the children involved.
Operation Babylift: The Inspiring Story of the Australian Women Who Rescued Hundreds of Orphans
Hachette Australia, 2019. Details the efforts of Australian women who organized the evacuation of orphans during the final days of the Vietnam War.
Children of Reunion: Vietnamese Adoptions and the Politics of Family Migrations
University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Explores the history of Vietnamese adoption in the United States, focusing on the challenges and politics surrounding family reunification and international adoption.
For Children Cannot Wait
Hodder & Stoughton, 1972. Written by a key organizer of Operation Babylift, detailing her experiences working with Vietnamese war orphans and her humanitarian efforts during the Vietnam War.
The War Cradle: The Untold Story of Operation Babylift
2000. An overview of the ordinary people who were moved into action, despite an unpopular war, to seek out the abandoned children of Vietnam and find them new homes in the West.
Fragile Delivery: The Operation Babylift Crash
CreateSpace, 2012. A memoir recounting the experience of a surviving crew member of the C-5A Galaxy crash during Operation Babylift on April 4, 1975.
"Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam"
An award-winning documentary directed and produced by Tammy Nguyen Lee, 2009. Through interviews with adoptees, volunteers, and parents, the film explores identity, cultural integration, and the lasting impact of the humanitarian effort. Visit Against The Grain Productions for more information or to purchase.
The Historians: Operation Babylift
Historian Lisa Temple tells the story of Operation Babylift, the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. Defense Intelligence Agency.
Operation Babylift: A Celebration of the Human Spirit (April 24, 2022)
To celebrate the 47th anniversary, the Pan Am Museum and Holt International hosted a special event reuniting Vietnamese war orphans with three former Pan Am flight attendants who volunteered for the mission.
StoryScope Studio · Archives in Love and War
Devaki Murch · Founder & Executive Director
"I did not find the archives. The archives found me. And when they did, every rabbit hole I had ever followed suddenly connected to every other one."
Devaki Murch
Someone Had to Go First
I have always followed my imagination wherever it leads: down rabbit holes, around unexpected corners, into rooms I did not know existed. What I did not know, for most of my life, is that they were all connected.
I grew up on Kauaʻi, shaped by an island where identity is layered in tradition, where history is carried in the mind, body, and spirit, where the ocean connects you to everywhere else at once. I had been born in one country, landed in another. My history was written in headlines and told by voices on the news. None of it was mine.
I was nine months old on April 4, 1975, when the first Operation Babylift flight went down thirty-eight miles from Saigon. Someone had to go first. It was me.
The Archives Found Me
In 2024, Sr. Mary Nelle Gage, the last surviving leader of Friends For All Children, the agency through which I was adopted, entrusted me with 33 boxes of original records. She did not send them to a university. She did not send them to a government archive. She sent them to one of the children. Her directive was simple: connect as many adoptees as you can.
In Hawaiian, it is kuleana: a responsibility that is given to you, entrusted to you, to carry forward with care. That is what the archives did with me. Every rabbit hole I had ever followed connected. The transmedia framework became the methodology for holding a story that lives simultaneously in official records, newspaper headlines, personal histories, and shared memories. The instructional design became Love Ethic Archival Practice. The tradeshow instinct became the space where adoptees, survivors, and witnesses could finally come together.
For twenty years in the outdoor industry, every time I checked a hang tag that read "Made in Vietnam," I said the same thing: Made in Vietnam. Just like me. It was a joke, kind of. But if you looked closer, it was a door. With a hang tag on it. Then the archives opened it.
Love Ethic Archival Practice (LEAP)
Most archives process records as objects. LEAP processes them as relationships. It is a trauma-informed, community-centered framework grounded in bell hooks's six principles of love and Hawaiian cultural values: Mālama, Kuleana, Pilina, Aloha ʻāina, Naʻau.
The methodology was built from 18 months of field practice with the Operation Babylift Collection. The results: 93% community satisfaction versus 32% in traditional archives. Zero retraumatization incidents across 13 oral histories. The difference is not a technique. It is a posture: the archive exists to serve the people it was created about, not the institutions that hold it.
LEAP connects the dots. Official record plus public record plus personal history plus shared history: four things that have never been in the same space before. The moment a document becomes a mirror, and a person recognizes themselves in history for the first time. That is the space where this work lives.
Children of War: Lives Between
What started as a stack of index cards on the kitchen table has evolved into an interactive narrative that bridges the records of the past and the voices of the present. The Children of War: Lives Between StoryDeck is a facilitation system that maps the parallel lives shaped by war, policy, evacuation, and chance. Based on policies, facts, and documents from the 1960s through today, filled in with handwritten notes from Friends For All Children that give numbers names and give statistics emotions, it leads you through seven versions of a life.
This spring, the StoryDeck goes back to Vietnam. Not to find anything specific, but to follow the rabbit hole all the way to its source and see what it looks like from the other side of the mirror. What happens when the variables stop being historical abstractions and become geography you can stand in.
Archives in Love and War · StoryScope Studio
Restore lost histories. Reconnect families. Not just fund an archive.
"A generation is searching right now, help us bridge the records of the past to the voices of the future before the window closes and the boxes go dark again."
Devaki Murch
Where We Are Right Now
After two years of processing, the Operation Babylift Collection is beginning to speak. What was a stack of boxes is now a cross-referenced body of evidence, and we are only just starting to read it. Patterns are emerging across thousands of individual records: connections between families separated by policy, geographic clusters that reveal how children were placed, threads between people who have spent fifty years not knowing the others existed.
These findings will be shared publicly for the first time at Invisible Threads in Boulder this April. For many adoptees attending, it will be the first time they have seen their own origins reflected in data. For researchers, it will open questions that have never been askable before. For the community, it will be the first moment the full shape of what happened becomes visible together.
We are at the inflection point. The records are processed. The patterns are emerging. The generation they document is ready. What happens next depends on what resources we have to go deeper.
What Your Support Does
Every dollar invested in this work does one thing: it returns history to the people it belongs to. Specifically:
Digitization of fragile originals: handwritten case files, photographs, and correspondence that exist in no other form and are actively deteriorating
Professional archival transfer: securing the collection's permanent institutional home so these records are protected, described, and accessible in perpetuity
Adoptee reconnection capacity: the ability to respond to the wave of people who will come forward after April, each one searching for a piece of their origin story
Oral history recording: the caregivers, volunteers, and community members who were there are in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. Their voices are part of this record. Time is not on our side.
Ways to Support
This work is sustained by people who understand that an archive is only as powerful as the community it serves. However you come to this, there is a place for you here.
You were here when the story came home. Witnesses are the community foundation of this work: individuals who believe that every person deserves access to their own history. Your support keeps the lights on and the boxes open.
Includes: Named acknowledgment · Digital updates from the collection
Storekeepers make the deeper work possible. At this level, your support directly funds digitization hours, oral history recording, and the capacity to respond to adoptees who come forward after the April findings are shared. You will receive early access to what we discover before it goes public.
Includes: All Witness benefits · Early access to findings · Invitation to virtual archive tour
Archivist Circle members are anchor supporters who make the institutional work possible: the professional archival processing, the transfer to a permanent repository, the infrastructure that ensures these records outlast all of us. Your name becomes part of what we preserve.
Includes: All prior benefits · Named in the permanent collection record · Private gathering with Devaki and Sr. Mary Nelle · Project credit
Legacy Stewards are the foundation of this campaign. At this level, your investment funds a named portion of the collection's preservation, a specific body of records that will carry your stewardship designation into the permanent institutional record. You are not funding an archive. You are becoming part of the history it holds.
Includes: All prior benefits · Named stewardship of a collection section · Presence at the institutional transfer · Co-authorship of the finding aid
A generation is searching right now,
help us bridge the records of the past to the voices of the future
before the window closes and the boxes go dark again.