Operation Babylift child, family look back 50 years after flight out of Saigon
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, marks the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War.
Early April, after the fall of Da Nang, and with Saigon under attack, then-President Gerald Ford announced "Operation Babylift" where dozens of flights brought about 26,000 Vietnamese babies and children to the U.S. for adoption.
The first flight was set in action with a phone call from the late Walter Shorenstein. Ed Daley, who owned World Airways, had instructed his daughter Charlotte Behrendt to get in touch with Shorenstein.
Daley wanted help in supporting these flights, which meant getting the Presidio Army Base's Commander and Letterman Hospital involved.
On April 2, 1975, the first flight landed late at night at Oakland International Airport, and a crush of media was on hand to greet.
Only KPIX News had the technology to go "live" from a remote location. So that night, anchor Stan Bohrman announced the breaking news that the children had arrived. He turned to the Sports Director Wayne Walker and exclaimed to him, using the nickname he reserved for Walker.
"'OK, Wayno. Thank you very much. And let's check right back in with Andy Park and Lynne Joiner at the Oakland International Airport as they continue to bring those 57 children off of that plane you can see they are coming on down, and Andy if you can hear me you're back on live television again,'" Bohrman said.
Viewers saw adults carrying blankets up the stairway to the plane, and returning with infants and small children wrapped in them.
"I am right at the foot of the stairway now, and you probably just saw that little one just come down. The people going up again are the blanket brigade. They're taking up blankets. They wrap a child in it and bring it down," explained reporter Andy Park.
"To your knowledge, are we the only people broadcasting this live or are there other live facilities there," inquired Bohrman.
"No. We are the only ones bringing it live," replied Park.
Onboard the World Airways DC-8 plane, dozens of young children were airlifted out of Vietnam.
Among them was a baby girl promised to Ralph and Marilyn Norberg.
"It was just such a defining moment in our lives because we wanted to have children, and we were having a hard time. And when she came, it was just such a gift," explained Mrs. Norberg.
"It was just really amazing to meet our first child. And get to know her," chuckled her husband.
From the airport, the children were loaded up on a bus and driven to the Presidio. A small number needed to be admitted for observation at Letterman Hospital. Most were processed at the Presidio Army base in a building known as Harmon Hall.
The Presidio's switchboard was swamped with compassionate calls.
"We're inundated. Our lines are blocked with calls offering everything from clothes and blankets in Arkansas to people from Alaska and Brooklyn who want to adopt children," said one volunteer.
When the Norbergs first met Wendy, they were overjoyed.
"She was actually very, very easy going," recollected Mr. Norberg.
"She was adorable, and still is," smiled her mother.
As for Wendy, she's celebrating her 51st birthday.
"I view myself definitely as being American," explained the daughter.
She went back to Vietnam 10 years ago and saw her orphanage. But Wendy Norberg said the Bay Area is home. As for Operation Babylift, she doesn't dwell on it.
"I find that I think about it less and less. And I don't know if that's because I'm just so, I don't want to say busy but just kind of there is so much more goes on in my life that defines me more than that," she explained.
Wendy is an accomplished photographer. Most recently, she's captured images of Bay Area activism, people striving to change the world.
"I'm not necessarily picking a side. I'm documenting a moment in history," remarked Norberg.
Her historic journey was captured by KPIX News Channel 5. Now, 50 years later, she is on the other side of the lens.
