Tia Keevil, Jenna Leah Riley and Pu Lani Carlson were among the nearly 3,000 Vietnamese orphans evacuated from Saigon during the last days of the Vietnam war in April 1975 – in what was known as Operation Babylift.

As the Communist North Vietnamese army closed in on Saigon on April 3, 1975, US President Gerald Ford authorised a $2 million initiative to airlift Vietnamese orphans to safety. Despite tragic beginnings with the crash of the first flight on April 4, by the 25th of the same month nearly 3,000 orphans were evacuated from the country to safety and new adopted families around the world.

The women are here seen holding the Vietnam Babylift Quilt, made up of scraps of clothing worn by children during their evacuations, at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the operation at the New Jersey Vietnam War Memorial in Holmdel, New Jersey, the US.

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