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| Available from Beacon. Click here. |
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| References |
1. What was the name of the program?
The name of the program associated with the photo was Operation Babylift. [1]
2. Between what two dates was this picture taken?
At first blush, one could say that the parameter dates within which this photo was
taken, were the dates of the operation April 4 - 26, 1975 [2] but let's take a deeper look:
The Photograph
The photo is clearly a commercial aircraft (type and design of seats, 9 open windows
and one closed/blocked one, seat plan although additional seats seem to have been
added, etc…) Now, in the Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of
California, there are 3 relevant photos:
a) Our photo [3] is dated April 12, 1975 in the collection. On the back of the photo is
handwritten the following. "Babies
The name of the program associated with the photo was Operation Babylift. [1]
2. Between what two dates was this picture taken?
At first blush, one could say that the parameter dates within which this photo was
taken, were the dates of the operation April 4 - 26, 1975 [2] but let's take a deeper look:
The Photograph
The photo is clearly a commercial aircraft (type and design of seats, 9 open windows
and one closed/blocked one, seat plan although additional seats seem to have been
added, etc…) Now, in the Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of
California, there are 3 relevant photos:
a) Our photo [3] is dated April 12, 1975 in the collection. On the back of the photo is
handwritten the following. "Babies
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| How Ida Solved the Puzzle |
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| If you have a picture you'd like us to feature a picture in a future quiz, please email it to us at CFitzp@aol.com. If we use it, you will receive a free analysis of your picture. You will also receive a free Forensic Genealogy CD or a 10% discount towards the purchase of the Forensic Genealogy book. |
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| Quiz #417 Results |
| Answers to Quiz #417 - October 27, 2013 |
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| Congratulations to Our Winners Sharon Levy Ida Sanchez Tello Margaret Paxton Marcelle Comeau Donna Jolley Skip Murray John Thatcher Dianne Abbott Nelsen Spickard Cathy Bence Gus Marsh Cynthia Costigan Nannette Thorne Carol Farrant Brad Glover Jim Kiser Daniel Jolley Tom Collins Alma Darling W. David Samuelson Winnifred Evans Mike Dalton Nancy Nalle-Mackenzie Carol Stansell Cindy Tarsi Grace Hertz and Mary Turner Team Fletcher! Robert E. and Donald R. McKenna Quiz Poets Laureate |
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| Handwritten note by photographer, " Feet to big for the bed. Aboard 747 Jumbo Jet enroute to LAX. Five babies shown sleeping in file boxes aboard an airplane. A couple of them are bigger than the boxes, and their feet are hanging out. The file boxes are strapped into the airplane seats. At the top of the photo, a woman is seated and is holding one of the babies. Robert Stinnett ~ photographer | Oakland Tribune photograph 12-Apr-75 GELATIN SILVER PRINT 8 in HIGH x 10 in WIDE (20.32 cm HIGH x 25.40 cm WIDE) The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of ANG Newspapers 2000.1.1507 collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/200011507 |
| Handwritten on the back of the photo, "Babies strapped in seats in 747 Jumbo jet enroute Clark AB to LAX." Photo shows the interior of the plane with Vietnamese children, who appear to be all under the age of 1, sleeping in cardboard boxes. The boxes are stapped into the seats. This was part of the orphan airlift, called "Operation Babylift" from Vietnam to the US that took place in 1975, primarily by World Airways. Robert Stinnett ~ photographer | Oakland Tribune photograph 04/12/75 GELATIN SILVER PRINT 8 in HIGH x 10 in WIDE (20.32 cm HIGH x 25.40 cm WIDE) The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California Gift of ANG Newspapers H99.1.60 collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/h99160 |
| Caption on Oakland Tribune article, "Doctor on mercy flight to Los Angeles checks infant as others in row sleep in file boxes". Five babies (newborn) are shown sleeping in file boxes on airplane seats. Doctor is checking them. Robert Stinnett ~ photographer | Oakland Tribune photograph 15-Apr-75 GELATIN SILVER PRINT 10 in HIGH x 8 in WIDE (25.40 cm HIGH x 20.32 cm WIDE) The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of ANG Newspapers 2000.1.1503 collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/200011503 |
| Prior to this photo, I had never heard of Operation Babylift. By looking at it I assumed it was a plane carrying orphans from the war to be adopted, but didn't know what war or what program. After a few unfruitful searches, I realized the plane was quite big. It has at least 4 seats and then another 3. Looking for that arrangement, there are only 2 planes capable of such number of seats (which of course would include another extra 3 on the other side of the hallway). One of those planes was not in existence until recently, the other was the Jumbo (boeing 747). Too late for it being in WWI, I googled boeing 747 vietnam adoption and that got me to the name of the program, which answered questions 1 and 2. Googling it with the word "lawsuit", brought the answer to question number 3. However, looking at most articles, seemed like it was cargo planes the main ones utilized, but there was at least one PanAm Jumbo on April 5 that was chartered after the April 4 crash. Thinking I had easily nailed it, I researched that flight, only to find very different seats and a handful of amateur photographs taken by a flight attendant. After a day wasted researching options outside of the US with Jumbos chartered in Australia and the UK, I was brought back to the US and found a Facebook group about the Galaxy crash on April 4, scrolled down and found this picture. In the comments, in which people were just as lost as I was, a woman said that it was "written on the back of the picture" that it was a Jumbo from the Clark base to Los Angeles. That allowed me to locate the picture in the Oakland Tribune and the flight in the Babylift report. Finally, I got an LA Times article dated April 13 with a picture from outside the plane and the same cardboard boxes, as well as several other pictures taken during that same flight. Ida Sanchez Tello |
| OPERATION BABYLIFT There was US Government Operation in 1975 To protect Orphans of the Vietnam War. Rumors of harm at the hands of the Invading Communist Army persisted. The plans for transportation to the US, And other countries such as Australia, France , And Canada. Over 2,000. South Vietnamese, Infants were airlifted out of Vietnam . If these infants had stayed in Vietnam, They would not have survived due to the Due to the circumstances of war and conflict. Robert E. and Donald R. McKenna Quiz Poets Laureate |
| Sharon M. Levy's Analysis of the Photo (Spectacular Research!) |
strapped in seats in 747 Jumbo jet en
route Clark AB to LAX" [4] that being:
enroute Clark Air Force Base to Los
Angeles International Airport / World
Airports (LAX).
b) A second similar photo [5] in the
same collection is also dated April 12,
1975 in the collection. Note the folded
blanket on the back of the seat in both
photos in the same position, not to speak
of the pattern on the upholstery of the
seats. This photo also has an inscription
on the back: "Feet to big for the bed.
Aboard 747 Jumbo Jet en route to LAX."
c) A third similar photo [6], dated April
15 in the collection, has the following
inscription on the back: "Doctor on
mercy flight to Los Angeles checks infant
as others in row sleep in file boxes."
Seemingly the same flight but ostensibly,
this could be a different flight also headed
for LA. The sleeping babies (not the same
rows as in our photo), the pattern of the
seats and the head "rests" and the carton
boxes, seem to indicate that it is the same
flight, although this alone, given the
difference in the date, isn't conclusive.
So, if the dates in the collection are
accurate then, based on the first two
photos and their inscriptions, the date of
our photo seems to be April 12, 1975, or
possibly earlier and only dated on the
12th. It is not conclusive [7] that the
photos were taken specifically on the
12th. Maybe they were taken on, say, the
10th or 11th and only listed or processed
on the 12th. And is the information
regarding the plane being a 747 Jumbo
accurate. Let's take a look.
The Plane
a) The vast majority of planes used to
airlift people out of Vietnam and
Cambodia were MAC (Military Air
Command) charted military cargo planes,
USAF C-5A, C-141, and C-130s.
b) There were 6 non-Operation Babylift
flights out of Saigon with their destination
being continental USA: 3 World Airways
unauthorized flights [8] (April 2, 22 and
26 all of which landed in Oakland [9],
California) and 3 Pan Am flights [10] that
were used during this period: 2 landed
[11] in San Francisco on the 5th and 6th
of April and one in Seattle, Washington
on the 6th.
c) Nine open windows and, it seems, one
that is closed or plugged, are visible.
This matches information regarding the
747.
d) The seat plan (configuration) is the
following pattern: 2 seats-aisle-4seats-
aisle-2 seats. Again this is a seating plan
of the 747. Additional seats have been
added in one of the aisles. This would
match the seat plan for the 747 Jumbo,
just as stated on the photo. [12]
Our photo's inscription states that the
flight was en route to Los Angeles. None
match. So where's our plane?
Let's take a closer look at the inscription
on the back of our photo: "enroute Clark
AB to LAX". So this plane departed from
Clarks Air Force base in the Philippines
not from Saigon. It isn't one of the three
unauthorized flights. So where did these
kids come from?
Looking back at the Operation Babylift
[13] Report we see that, in fact, a flight,
MAC 1965 –WA #748, with 330 kids and
30 escorts departed Clark AFB for Los
Angeles on April 12 at 11:11 a.m. and
arrived in L.A. at 8:43 a.m. [14]
Let's look again at the flight name and
number: MAC 1965 – WA #748.
"WA". Presumably [15] World Airways.
Now the MAC (Military Airlift Command)
Monograph [16] details further: "Depart:
Clark, Destination: Los Angeles; Mission
Number: 1965-01; Number Type Aircraft:
WOA B•747; Date: 12 Apr; Orphans: 329"
"Mission number 1965" in the MAC
Monograph confirms the Report's "MAC
1965 ". and "WOA" is definitely [17]
World Airways. "B•747" = Boeing 747.
route Clark AB to LAX" [4] that being:
enroute Clark Air Force Base to Los
Angeles International Airport / World
Airports (LAX).
b) A second similar photo [5] in the
same collection is also dated April 12,
1975 in the collection. Note the folded
blanket on the back of the seat in both
photos in the same position, not to speak
of the pattern on the upholstery of the
seats. This photo also has an inscription
on the back: "Feet to big for the bed.
Aboard 747 Jumbo Jet en route to LAX."
c) A third similar photo [6], dated April
15 in the collection, has the following
inscription on the back: "Doctor on
mercy flight to Los Angeles checks infant
as others in row sleep in file boxes."
Seemingly the same flight but ostensibly,
this could be a different flight also headed
for LA. The sleeping babies (not the same
rows as in our photo), the pattern of the
seats and the head "rests" and the carton
boxes, seem to indicate that it is the same
flight, although this alone, given the
difference in the date, isn't conclusive.
So, if the dates in the collection are
accurate then, based on the first two
photos and their inscriptions, the date of
our photo seems to be April 12, 1975, or
possibly earlier and only dated on the
12th. It is not conclusive [7] that the
photos were taken specifically on the
12th. Maybe they were taken on, say, the
10th or 11th and only listed or processed
on the 12th. And is the information
regarding the plane being a 747 Jumbo
accurate. Let's take a look.
The Plane
a) The vast majority of planes used to
airlift people out of Vietnam and
Cambodia were MAC (Military Air
Command) charted military cargo planes,
USAF C-5A, C-141, and C-130s.
b) There were 6 non-Operation Babylift
flights out of Saigon with their destination
being continental USA: 3 World Airways
unauthorized flights [8] (April 2, 22 and
26 all of which landed in Oakland [9],
California) and 3 Pan Am flights [10] that
were used during this period: 2 landed
[11] in San Francisco on the 5th and 6th
of April and one in Seattle, Washington
on the 6th.
c) Nine open windows and, it seems, one
that is closed or plugged, are visible.
This matches information regarding the
747.
d) The seat plan (configuration) is the
following pattern: 2 seats-aisle-4seats-
aisle-2 seats. Again this is a seating plan
of the 747. Additional seats have been
added in one of the aisles. This would
match the seat plan for the 747 Jumbo,
just as stated on the photo. [12]
Our photo's inscription states that the
flight was en route to Los Angeles. None
match. So where's our plane?
Let's take a closer look at the inscription
on the back of our photo: "enroute Clark
AB to LAX". So this plane departed from
Clarks Air Force base in the Philippines
not from Saigon. It isn't one of the three
unauthorized flights. So where did these
kids come from?
Looking back at the Operation Babylift
[13] Report we see that, in fact, a flight,
MAC 1965 –WA #748, with 330 kids and
30 escorts departed Clark AFB for Los
Angeles on April 12 at 11:11 a.m. and
arrived in L.A. at 8:43 a.m. [14]
Let's look again at the flight name and
number: MAC 1965 – WA #748.
"WA". Presumably [15] World Airways.
Now the MAC (Military Airlift Command)
Monograph [16] details further: "Depart:
Clark, Destination: Los Angeles; Mission
Number: 1965-01; Number Type Aircraft:
WOA B•747; Date: 12 Apr; Orphans: 329"
"Mission number 1965" in the MAC
Monograph confirms the Report's "MAC
1965 ". and "WOA" is definitely [17]
World Airways. "B•747" = Boeing 747.
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What's the story with MAC – World Airways being hyphenated? "MAC 1965 –WA
#748" in the Report and "MAC 1965 – WA #748" in the Monograph.
As it turns out, World Airways [18] had a government contract working with MAC
[19] and operated charter airline operations during the Vietnam era. [20]
So now we have corroborating evidence that the flight that left Clark was a World
Airways Boeing 747, destination Los Angeles - with 330 orphans, according to the
Report, and 329 orphans, according to the MAC monograph. We alos have
confirmation of the date: April 12.
So we've got our plane. As the photo inscription said: "Babies strapped in seats in 747
Jumbo jet enroute Clark AB to LAX."
So how did 330, or is it 329, orphans get to Clark AFB?
Again the Report [21] shows that two planes left Saigon on the 11th within minutes of
each other- with their destination being Clark AFB with a total of 253 [22] orphans
onboard. 52 orphans arrive at Clarks AFB [23] on the 9th to Clark AFB . Another plane
[24] that departed Saigon on the 10th carried 22 kids to Clark AFB.
The total of 330 orphans [25] that departed Clarks AFB for LAX is reached by adding
these 52 and 22 orphans to our 253. this brings us to 327 kids. Off by 3 [6]
#748" in the Report and "MAC 1965 – WA #748" in the Monograph.
As it turns out, World Airways [18] had a government contract working with MAC
[19] and operated charter airline operations during the Vietnam era. [20]
So now we have corroborating evidence that the flight that left Clark was a World
Airways Boeing 747, destination Los Angeles - with 330 orphans, according to the
Report, and 329 orphans, according to the MAC monograph. We alos have
confirmation of the date: April 12.
So we've got our plane. As the photo inscription said: "Babies strapped in seats in 747
Jumbo jet enroute Clark AB to LAX."
So how did 330, or is it 329, orphans get to Clark AFB?
Again the Report [21] shows that two planes left Saigon on the 11th within minutes of
each other- with their destination being Clark AFB with a total of 253 [22] orphans
onboard. 52 orphans arrive at Clarks AFB [23] on the 9th to Clark AFB . Another plane
[24] that departed Saigon on the 10th carried 22 kids to Clark AFB.
The total of 330 orphans [25] that departed Clarks AFB for LAX is reached by adding
these 52 and 22 orphans to our 253. this brings us to 327 kids. Off by 3 [6]
| 1. www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0122/1252273. pdf "April 3, 1975 - Opening Statement at Press Conference at San Diego, California” of the President's Speeches and Statements: Reading Copies at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library; see also: "Operation Babylift Report: Emergency Movement of Vietnamese and Cambodian Orphans for Intercountry Adoption, April - June 1975. Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C., page 1: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdaaq604.pdf . This source is herein referred to as the Report. See also Operation New Life. There were unofficial flights prior to April 3rd but that is another story. 2. "The final flight of Operation Babylift, a MAC c-141 Medevac aircraft, with 42 children, who had been hospitalized at Pacific locations enroute to the U.S., arrived at McCord Air Force Base in Washington State on May 7." Source: Operation Baby Lift Report: Emergency Movement of Vietnamese and Cambodian Orphans for Intercountry Adoption, April - June 1975. Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C., page 1 "Summary"; page 22, see: pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdaaq604.pdf. This source is herein referred to as the Report. 3. collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/h99160 4. collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/h99160 5. collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/200011507 6. collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/200011503 7. In communication on Thursday, October 31, the Nathan Kerr, the coordinator of Intellectual Property at the Collections and Information Access Center at the Oakland Museum in California communicated the following: "Likely the dates that are associated with the photos on the website are the dates that they were published, very often the photos from the Tribune collection are marked with the dates they were published as opposed to the dates they were created. All of the information in our database is there on the website, so it's hard to say more without taking a look at the photos themselves, which are at an offsite storage facility." 8. The Report, 25: "It should be noted that three unauthorized flights by World Airways, Inc., which transported orphans and other children, were not a part of Operation Babylift… The first flight on April 2 carried 45 FCVN orphans; the second on April 22 with approximately 104 children sponsored by Father Crawford; and the third on April 26 with 210 Montagnard children…. Also, this report does not cover those orphans who may have departed under the normal procedures on scheduled commercial flights." 9. Ibid, 16, 20. 10. Ibid, pages 3, 16. 11. Ibid, 16. 12. www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/747family/background. page? Our plane was probably in the family of 747-200. 13. Ibid, 19. 14. Departure time is after arrival time on the same day. Makes sense as flying east across the International Date Line results in time being subtracted. 15. The IATA, International Air Transport Association, two-letter airline designator codes are non-unique per airline. [from Wikipedia – find source] 16. MAC and Operation Babylift Monograph: Air Transport in Support of Noncombatant Evacuation Operations, Military Airlift Command, Office of History, Monograph. Coy F. Cross II, Military Airlift Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, November 1989, page 58: www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120831- 032.pdf 17. The ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization, three-letter designator codes are unique by airline. "WOA" is World Airways designator code. See: www.emfa. pt/infoaero/conteudos/galeria/ICAO/Docs_Pagos/8585.pdf, Doc 8585/164, Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services, page 1-107, International Civil Aviation Organization, April 2013. 18. Air Mobility Command Fact Sheet: Civil Reserve Air Fleet: "A unique and significant part of the nation's air mobility resources is the Civil Reserve Air Fleet or CRAF. Selected aircraft from U.S. airlines, contractually committed to CRAF, augment Department of Defense airlift requirements in emergencies when the need for airlift exceeds the capability of military aircraft." World Airways is presently listed as being part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. www.amc.af. mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=234 19. Air Mobility Command document. See Chapter 6 Evolution and Expansion, 1973-1981, page 153.: "Between 6 April and 6 May 1975, MAC and contract carriers airlifted 1,794 Southeast Asian orphans to their new American families in the United States. The C-141s transported 949 orphans in 24 missions, while commercial carriers airlifted another 845 orphans in four missions. The aircraft transporting the orphans landed in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Los Alamitos Naval Air Station, El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in California, and at McChord Air Force Base, Washington." www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-131018- 048.pdf 20. Ibid, page 222, chapter 6, note 7. "For example, between April 1973 and April 1975, the United States conducted an airlift resupply operation into Cambodia. … During the later stages of the airlift, five commercial carriers - Airlift International, Flying Tigers, Seaboard World, Trans International, and World Airways - augmented the airlift, … See: History of the Military Airlift Command, 1 July 1974- 31 December 1975. pp 192. 197. 198." 21. Idid., page 19: MAC C-141 Y5A7MX Departed Saigon on April 11, 1975 at 15:15 with 120 orphans; MAC C_141 3613-10 departed Saigon at 15:30 with 133 orphans. 22. Ibid., page 27. The same report lists how many kids each agency was responsible for. On Friday, April 11th, the An Loc Orphanage and the FCVN (Friends of Children of Vietnam) accounted for 212 and 38 kids, respectively, for a total of 250. Off by 3 from what is listed in the airline boarding section on page 19. 23. Ibid, page 19. In the "Remarks" section associated with our flight from Clark AFB to LAX we find the following note: Includes 22 orphans destined for Norway, 52 Khmer to U.S. 24. Ibid. 25. For how many of these were in cardboard box/bassinets, see news article #2 from the Los Angeles Times, below. 26. See note 22, above. 27. Ibid, page 60. 28. Another source says that she was 3 months old. See the following newspaper article. 29. The Long Beach operation began with the arrival of the first flight at the Los Angeles International Airport on April 12 with 328 orphans aboard, including 196 from An Lac Orphanage in Saigon, sponsored by Mrs. Betty Tisdale in cooperation with the PBF. There was some initial confusion due to the pressure of dignitaries, the press and the curious as well as with the insistence of Mrs. Tisdale that her orphans move immediately onward to Fort Benning, Georgia. 30. www.newspapers.com/newspage/602280/ 31. See note 33 below; see: oaklandwiki.org/Fred_Garretson 32. Framework is the official photography and video blog of the Los Angeles Times. This blog, quoting the LA Times was posted on October 15, 2013 by Scott Harrison who runs the blog framework. latimes.com/2013/10/15/330-orphans-arrive-in-los-angeles/ 33. www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=514 34. In an email from me to Robert Stinnett on Thursday, October 31, I wrote: The Oakland Tribune site has you listed as the photographer for 3 photos of infants taken on April 12, 1975 aboard a 747 enroute from Clark AFB to Los Angeles. I was wondering if you could confirm that you are indeed the photographer and that they were taken on Saturday the 12th. 35. See The Des Moines Register news article, page 4, note 30, above. 36. Information merged from not primary sources: www.vietnambabylift.org/Timeline.html; adoption.about.com/od/international/f/babylift.htm; www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/daughter/peopleevents/e_babylift.html 37. See Report, Pages 9 – 11. 38. For more on the lives of Adoptees from Vietnam and Cambodia see www.adoptedvietnamese.org/ and www.adoptvietnam.org/ 39. Report, pages 7 and 8. 40. See note 25 above. 41. See note 23 above. See Los Angeles Times news article #2 above. |
including one infant who died en route from Clark Air
Base in the Philippines, arrived at Los Angeles
International Airport Saturday morning.
Thirty-nine children aboard the plane were taken to
local hospitals with a variety of ailments, including
dehydration, pneumonia, measles and one case of
chicken pox.
Their conditions ranged from fair to serious …
The orphans, accompanied on the plane by 154 adults,
included eight doctors and 20 nurses, had been flown
to Clark by about a dozen military transport flights
during the last week from Saigon and Phnom Penh,
according to World Airways pilot Ken Healy.
Base in the Philippines, arrived at Los Angeles
International Airport Saturday morning.
Thirty-nine children aboard the plane were taken to
local hospitals with a variety of ailments, including
dehydration, pneumonia, measles and one case of
chicken pox.
Their conditions ranged from fair to serious …
The orphans, accompanied on the plane by 154 adults,
included eight doctors and 20 nurses, had been flown
to Clark by about a dozen military transport flights
during the last week from Saigon and Phnom Penh,
according to World Airways pilot Ken Healy.
An Air Force spokesman said the Cambodian children, reportedly numbered about 50,
were the first orphans flown out of that country.
The red-and-white 747 was met by a team of doctors and nurses from the county’s
Medical Alert Center, which coordinated the local agencies meeting the nonstop mercy
flight.
Eight Navy doctors assisted in determining which children needed immediate
hospitalization.
Mayor Tom Bradley and his wife Ethel, and Supervisor James Hayes, whose district
includes the airport, greeted the first children off the plane.
The sick orphans, most of them infants, were brought down the stairway in some of
the 160 white cardboard boxes which served as bassinets aboard the plane…
Photographer:
I was perplexed by the tilde symbol (~) on the Oakland Tribune collection preceding the
word photographer: " Robert Stinnett ~ photographer", wondering if it possibly
indicated doubt as to who took the photograph. In an email on Thursday, October 31,
with Nathan Kerr, the coordinator of Intellectual Property at the Collections and
Information Access Center at the Oakland Museum in California communicated the
following:
the "~" is a symbol used in our database to separate terms that modify one another, in
this case it is used to separate "Robert Stinnet" from "photographer" in the "made"
field. This is done to indicate that the photo was made by Robert Stinnet in the capacity
of the photographer. This perhaps makes more sense when there are multiple creators
with different roles like in the case of a poster or print where there is a designer/artist
and a printer, so you can indicate that one person designed the poster while another
printed it but they both contributed to it's production.
Robert Stinnet [33], the photographer of our photo, was on a journalist and
photographer on staff with the Oakland Tribune from 1950 – 1986. On Friday,
November 1, he confirmed to me [34], that he indeed was the photographer:
Yes. You have found the correct guy. I was assigned to cover the Vietnam baby lift in
April 1975 along with reporter Skip Garretson [35] . We flew from Oakland to Clark
Air Force Base in the Philippines aboard a World Airways 747 jet. Our return jet flight
landed first in Los Angeles where the passengers were taken by ambulance and other
transportation. The Oakland Tribune published a series of babylift stories in the week
of April 12, 1975 and are available in the Newspaper History Room of the Oakland
Public Library.
Best regards,
Robert Stinnett
So to answer question #2: The photo was taken on Saturday, April 12th, 1975
somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, en route from the Clarks Air Force Base in the
Philippines, sometime after departure at 11:11 a.m. because the kids are all asleep but
prior to arrival, at LAX at 8:43 a.m.
3. What was the nature of the related lawsuit?
Well it would depend on which question this is referring to.
[What I write next is merged from a number of non-primary sources].
If it is to question #1 "What was the name of the operation?", then the most likely
were the first orphans flown out of that country.
The red-and-white 747 was met by a team of doctors and nurses from the county’s
Medical Alert Center, which coordinated the local agencies meeting the nonstop mercy
flight.
Eight Navy doctors assisted in determining which children needed immediate
hospitalization.
Mayor Tom Bradley and his wife Ethel, and Supervisor James Hayes, whose district
includes the airport, greeted the first children off the plane.
The sick orphans, most of them infants, were brought down the stairway in some of
the 160 white cardboard boxes which served as bassinets aboard the plane…
Photographer:
I was perplexed by the tilde symbol (~) on the Oakland Tribune collection preceding the
word photographer: " Robert Stinnett ~ photographer", wondering if it possibly
indicated doubt as to who took the photograph. In an email on Thursday, October 31,
with Nathan Kerr, the coordinator of Intellectual Property at the Collections and
Information Access Center at the Oakland Museum in California communicated the
following:
the "~" is a symbol used in our database to separate terms that modify one another, in
this case it is used to separate "Robert Stinnet" from "photographer" in the "made"
field. This is done to indicate that the photo was made by Robert Stinnet in the capacity
of the photographer. This perhaps makes more sense when there are multiple creators
with different roles like in the case of a poster or print where there is a designer/artist
and a printer, so you can indicate that one person designed the poster while another
printed it but they both contributed to it's production.
Robert Stinnet [33], the photographer of our photo, was on a journalist and
photographer on staff with the Oakland Tribune from 1950 – 1986. On Friday,
November 1, he confirmed to me [34], that he indeed was the photographer:
Yes. You have found the correct guy. I was assigned to cover the Vietnam baby lift in
April 1975 along with reporter Skip Garretson [35] . We flew from Oakland to Clark
Air Force Base in the Philippines aboard a World Airways 747 jet. Our return jet flight
landed first in Los Angeles where the passengers were taken by ambulance and other
transportation. The Oakland Tribune published a series of babylift stories in the week
of April 12, 1975 and are available in the Newspaper History Room of the Oakland
Public Library.
Best regards,
Robert Stinnett
So to answer question #2: The photo was taken on Saturday, April 12th, 1975
somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, en route from the Clarks Air Force Base in the
Philippines, sometime after departure at 11:11 a.m. because the kids are all asleep but
prior to arrival, at LAX at 8:43 a.m.
3. What was the nature of the related lawsuit?
Well it would depend on which question this is referring to.
[What I write next is merged from a number of non-primary sources].
If it is to question #1 "What was the name of the operation?", then the most likely
| Click on thumbnail to read report. |
Is there significance to the difference in the
head-count of the orphans, 330 or 329?
The report [27] list the death of "<…>rhi Thuy
Binh, female, 3 weeks [28] (died on) April 12,
"Tressler/An Loc" (responsible agency [29]),
(while) enroute to Long Beach, California." Long
Beach is a city situated within Greater Los
Angeles Area in Southern California. So the
variant in the numbers 330 to 329 is most
significant. A baby girl died while en route from
Clark AFB to Los Angeles.
Now let's see two news article from April 14th
regarding our flight.
News article #1
The Des Moines Register [30], April 14th, 1975, Page 6 (OCR text)
"Headline: Medical personnel clash as ailing orphans arrive"
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (AP) — Doctors aboard a babylift flight and Los Angeles
County medical officials who met the jammed plane angrily blamed each other Sunday
for airport confusion that delayed treatment of 32 ailing war orphans. The infants, from
"hastily evacuated orphanages in the Indochina war zone, were suffering from
malnutrition, dehydration, pneumonia, tuberculosis, lice and various other war-spawned
afflictions. A 3-month-old girl died before the World Airways 747 with 329 orphans
and 150 adults aboard arrived here Saturday morning. On board were 12 doctors,
including several emergency treatment specialists, 13 nurses and 25 specially trained
flight attendants. Local volunteers waiting anxiously at Los Angeles International
Airport were several hundred local volunteers led by a team of doctors and nurses from
the Los Medical Alert Angeles County Center. But when the craft touched down after
its 7,000-mile flight from Saigon, those at the scene said confusion reigned. The only
reporter aboard, Skip Garretson [31] of the Oakland Tribune, said Los Angeles Mayor
Tom Bradley, county officials and a number of police officers blocked doctors and
nurses from immediately carrying the most seriously ill infants off the plane. It was not
on the airport runway and covered red with blankets. He noted that just a few yards
away, a fleet of empty ambulances sat waiting. Another newsman at the scene said it
took at least 20 minutes for the first child to get into an ambulance. Eventually the
orphans were taken to nine hospitals. Three were in serious condition Sunday with
malnutrition, skin disease, diarrhea, and possible tuberculosis. The rest were reported
progressing well. 'Had It Organized" Dr. Bert Sabo, organizer of the mission said "We
had it all organized but they weren't interested in our organization." But Dr. Richard
Scott, director of the county's Medical Alert Center, placed the blame or the airport
confusion and delay on personnel aboard the plane. 'Nobody was trying to screw up the
system, but even if they <> I don't know how they could," Scott said. Scott said the
confusion was impounded by "a lot of political and social greetings." Many of those
aboard "were so jealous and distraught they <>ould hardly let us look at the kids," he
said….
News article #2
Los Angeles Times [Framework [32]], April 13, 1975
Reported by Kathy Burke and Kay Cooperman
"A World Airways jumbo jet carrying 330 Vietnamese and Cambodian orphans,
The Des Moines Register [30], April 14th, 1975, Page 6 (OCR text)
"Headline: Medical personnel clash as ailing orphans arrive"
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (AP) — Doctors aboard a babylift flight and Los Angeles
County medical officials who met the jammed plane angrily blamed each other Sunday
for airport confusion that delayed treatment of 32 ailing war orphans. The infants, from
"hastily evacuated orphanages in the Indochina war zone, were suffering from
malnutrition, dehydration, pneumonia, tuberculosis, lice and various other war-spawned
afflictions. A 3-month-old girl died before the World Airways 747 with 329 orphans
and 150 adults aboard arrived here Saturday morning. On board were 12 doctors,
including several emergency treatment specialists, 13 nurses and 25 specially trained
flight attendants. Local volunteers waiting anxiously at Los Angeles International
Airport were several hundred local volunteers led by a team of doctors and nurses from
the Los Medical Alert Angeles County Center. But when the craft touched down after
its 7,000-mile flight from Saigon, those at the scene said confusion reigned. The only
reporter aboard, Skip Garretson [31] of the Oakland Tribune, said Los Angeles Mayor
Tom Bradley, county officials and a number of police officers blocked doctors and
nurses from immediately carrying the most seriously ill infants off the plane. It was not
on the airport runway and covered red with blankets. He noted that just a few yards
away, a fleet of empty ambulances sat waiting. Another newsman at the scene said it
took at least 20 minutes for the first child to get into an ambulance. Eventually the
orphans were taken to nine hospitals. Three were in serious condition Sunday with
malnutrition, skin disease, diarrhea, and possible tuberculosis. The rest were reported
progressing well. 'Had It Organized" Dr. Bert Sabo, organizer of the mission said "We
had it all organized but they weren't interested in our organization." But Dr. Richard
Scott, director of the county's Medical Alert Center, placed the blame or the airport
confusion and delay on personnel aboard the plane. 'Nobody was trying to screw up the
system, but even if they <> I don't know how they could," Scott said. Scott said the
confusion was impounded by "a lot of political and social greetings." Many of those
aboard "were so jealous and distraught they <>ould hardly let us look at the kids," he
said….
News article #2
Los Angeles Times [Framework [32]], April 13, 1975
Reported by Kathy Burke and Kay Cooperman
"A World Airways jumbo jet carrying 330 Vietnamese and Cambodian orphans,
answer is that there seem to have been a
number of lawsuits [36] (against Ed Daly ,
President of World Airways, against the
plane manufacturer [Lockheed], against
President Ford, Secretary of State
Kissinger) as a result of Operation Babylift.
There was a class action lawsuit filed on
April 29, 1975, in the Federal District
Court in San Francisco, California on
behalf of Vietnamese children brought to
the United States for adoption.
The class action suit was brought by Muoi
McConnell, a former Vietnamese nurse.
The suit was supported by an ad hoc
group called The Committee to Protect the
Rights of Vietnamese Children. Spokesmen
for the Committee are Thomas R. Miller, a
Bay area lawyer, and his wife, Tran Tuong
Nhu, a Vietnamese American journalist,
who is the head of an organization known
as the International Children's Fund". [37]
The suit was filed against President Ford,
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and
others, regarding improper procedures.
number of lawsuits [36] (against Ed Daly ,
President of World Airways, against the
plane manufacturer [Lockheed], against
President Ford, Secretary of State
Kissinger) as a result of Operation Babylift.
There was a class action lawsuit filed on
April 29, 1975, in the Federal District
Court in San Francisco, California on
behalf of Vietnamese children brought to
the United States for adoption.
The class action suit was brought by Muoi
McConnell, a former Vietnamese nurse.
The suit was supported by an ad hoc
group called The Committee to Protect the
Rights of Vietnamese Children. Spokesmen
for the Committee are Thomas R. Miller, a
Bay area lawyer, and his wife, Tran Tuong
Nhu, a Vietnamese American journalist,
who is the head of an organization known
as the International Children's Fund". [37]
The suit was filed against President Ford,
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and
others, regarding improper procedures.
| The Oregonian Portland, OR Monday, April 7, 1975 submitted by Mike Dalton |
The children had been allowed to legally enter the U.S. via a parolee visa signed by
President Ford, in which their adoptive parents had 90 days in which to complete the
paperwork for their individual visas.
The class action suit alleged that several of the Vietnamese orphans brought to the
United States under Operation Babylift had stated that they were not orphans and that
they wished to return to Vietnam. The suit wanted to halt adoption proceedings until it
would be determined whether the parents or appropriate relatives in Vietnam have
consented to their adoption or that these parents or relatives could not be found. The
hope was to reunite these children with their living families.
Judge Spencer Williams, after many months of depositions, interviews and footprinting
of the adoptees by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, dismissed
the case, stating that is was not a class action suit but rather 2,000 separate cases.
As reported on the pbs.org site sited above, Miller stated that the Judge "sealed the
records, and told us we could not contact any of the Vietnamese families and let them
know where their children were."
"Only in cases where parents had found their children independently could Miller's
group represent them. Eventually only twelve children were reunited with their
Vietnamese parents, but only after many years and lawsuits. Many children were
caught in court battles between their birth parents and their adoptive parents. For a
number of Babylift adoptees, finding their birth parents is essentially impossible,
because no records exist. In recent years, many have established connections with each
other based on their shared experiences." [38]
Now if the question regarding which lawsuit was brought more in relationship to this
picture, then the answer might well be of the lawsuit [39] that was brought by Dr.
Richard Scott. Remember him. As reported by the Des Moines Register [40], he was
a doctor on board the flight from Clark AFB to Los Angeles. Recall that it was on this
flight that there were Cambodian [41] orphans.
President Ford, in which their adoptive parents had 90 days in which to complete the
paperwork for their individual visas.
The class action suit alleged that several of the Vietnamese orphans brought to the
United States under Operation Babylift had stated that they were not orphans and that
they wished to return to Vietnam. The suit wanted to halt adoption proceedings until it
would be determined whether the parents or appropriate relatives in Vietnam have
consented to their adoption or that these parents or relatives could not be found. The
hope was to reunite these children with their living families.
Judge Spencer Williams, after many months of depositions, interviews and footprinting
of the adoptees by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, dismissed
the case, stating that is was not a class action suit but rather 2,000 separate cases.
As reported on the pbs.org site sited above, Miller stated that the Judge "sealed the
records, and told us we could not contact any of the Vietnamese families and let them
know where their children were."
"Only in cases where parents had found their children independently could Miller's
group represent them. Eventually only twelve children were reunited with their
Vietnamese parents, but only after many years and lawsuits. Many children were
caught in court battles between their birth parents and their adoptive parents. For a
number of Babylift adoptees, finding their birth parents is essentially impossible,
because no records exist. In recent years, many have established connections with each
other based on their shared experiences." [38]
Now if the question regarding which lawsuit was brought more in relationship to this
picture, then the answer might well be of the lawsuit [39] that was brought by Dr.
Richard Scott. Remember him. As reported by the Des Moines Register [40], he was
a doctor on board the flight from Clark AFB to Los Angeles. Recall that it was on this
flight that there were Cambodian [41] orphans.
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