Operation Babylift: Mission Accomplished: A memoir of Hope and Healing

by Regina Aune, Aryn Lockhart

Operation Mission Accomplished tells the inspiring story of two survivors and the relationship they forged from the tragic events of April 4, 1975. During the final days before the fall of Saigon, Gerald Ford initiated Operation Babylift. This humanitarian mission was a mass evacuation of orphans from South Vietnam. Approximately 3,000 children were evacuated during this mission. In a horrible twist of fate, the inaugural flight ended in tragedy as the Galaxy C5A experienced a rapid decompression and crash landed in the rice fields just outside of Tan Son Nhut airport. 138 children and adults perished in the crash. It was only through the amazing efforts of the pilot, Bud Traynor, and co-pilot, Til Harp, there were any survivors. In this story an Operation Babylift orphan and surviving crew member tell their own story about how their lives intersected as a result of that fateful day and years later how their paths came together as one.

263 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2021

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Operation Babylift, Regina Aune and Aryn Lockheart.

At the end of the Vietnam war, the government made the decision to remove the orphans and bring them to several different countries around the world. When the C-5 left on the 4th of April, 1975, it decompressed at 25,000 ft. It immediately dropped in altitude and returned to Vietnam, crashing in a rice paddy. Read this book about the crash and two of the people that were onboard: one a nurse and the other an infant.
(Aryn is a neighbor of mine. She did an amazing job telling her story at a recent event)

[Brian Laslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profoundly moving personal story that not only adds to the historiography of Vietnam, but human connection.