Guest post by Patricia Smith, public relations specialist, Daughters of Charity Province of the West, Los Altos Hills, CA

On April 22, 1975, forty-two polio-stricken orphans, aged five to young adult, were airlifted out of war torn Saigon on an unofficial flight under the supervision of four Daughters of Charity and Father Robert Crawford, a Vincentian Priest. Father Crawford arranged for the rescue mission through Edward Daly, president and owner of World Airways, a commercial charter airline. It was a harrowing flight out of war torn Saigon to the safety of the United States.
The United States had airlifted all military personnel out of Saigon. Panic overtook those still living in the war-torn city. As Saigon fell around them, a small group of Daughters of Charity and Father Robert Crawford, a Vincentian priest, did what they could in their sparse surroundings to bring security to the crippled children in their care. At the time, fifty handicapped boys were under Father Crawford’s care. Another one hundred girls, mostly polio victims, were under the care of the Sisters.
Fearful the Communists would see these disabled children as useless to their cause, decisions were made. After much prayer, it was decided that children with parents would be returned to their families. Father Crawford laid plans with Mr. Edward Daly, president of World Airways, and Mr. Frank Reidy, a financial donor, to transport the remaining polio-stricken orphans, four Daughters of Charity and several orphanage workers out of the country. Mr. Daly then sanctioned use of a DC9 to airlift refugees out of Saigon. To avoid any bureaucratic red tape, a covert mission was organized. The Daughters were told to secretly prepare the children for departure – day or night.
Sister William Quyen, Sister Thérèse Marie Pham, and Sister Michael Truong would accompany the children. Sister Marie Antoinette Yen-Bui would also be aboard the flight. On April 22, after receiving word, the Daughters collected the children and told them they were going on a picnic. The group was bused through the unsafe streets of Saigon to the Tan Son Nhut Airport where a World Airways DC9 flight #803 awaited. Fr. Crawford and the Sisters of Charity quickly and quietly boarded all of the children. It was nightfall when the plane departed.
Fearing the unauthorized plane might be detected, the pilot kept all lights off during take-off. The plane left Saigon just before the Viet-Cong overran the city. Following stops in Okinawa and Tokyo, the refugees arrived at Travis Air Force Base outside of Oakland. They were then transferred to the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco for immigration processing.
Many people were involved in helping the children and other Vietnamese refugees who accompanied them on Flight #803 to learn English and adjust to a new culture. Under the direction of Sr. Mary Elizabeth Reed at Maryvale, the girls received excellent care and eventually were sponsored or placed in loving homes. All of the children airlifted out of Saigon that fateful night survived and thrived.
Acknowledgement
This account of the escape from Saigon was written by Patricia Smith, Public Relations Specialist, for the 2012 LCWR Exhibit at the California Museum of History, Women & the Arts in Sacramento, California. Four Sisters who escaped from Saigon on April 22, 1975 became members of the Province of the West in Los Altos Hills, California that same year. Three of the Sisters are still living and one is deceased.
One of the children rescued from Saigon, Lyly Mendez, recently died of cancer. She lived outside of St. Louis, Mo. Her adoptive parents recall their first night with their new child. More here from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/festus-family-mourns-woman-who-was-part-of-operation-baby/article_325b65c6-2f5f-5dea-9e14-77ee1c474cb0.html
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Belinda, thanks for sharing that with us. Will take a look at the Post-Dispatch article.
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My wife and I were married by Father Crawford in Saigon in April of 1974. Can you tell me the name of the church where Father Crawford was assigned?
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We do not have that information. If Fr. Crawford was a Vincentian, the community has two archival repositories, one in Chicago at DePaul University and one in Philadelphia.
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I knew Father Crawford from February, 1965, until I departed Vietnam in November, 1965. I was a draftee with the US Army and together with other servicemen entertained the children and were part of a weekend food distribution program the nuns set up under the direction of Sister Martine. I also taught the nuns English two evenings a week. The name of the parish was Queen of Peace located at 42 Tu Xuong Street. I admired Father Crawford and quite a few times we would get together in the rectory and cover a wide spectrum of topics. My wife was a Vietnamese school teacher but we were married at her parish church in Khanh Hoi. She knew Father Crawford and Sister Martine. They were my heroes.
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How can I find other refugees that came from Saigon on flight #803. I’m trying to reconnect a woman from that flight to others.
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Hmm. You may want to start with Immigration Records with the National Archives. Here is the page related to Ship and passenger lists: https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/passenger-arrival.html. It doesn’t quite touch on air travel, as that method of immigration would largely be within the time period that is restricted (75 years). You may want to contact an archivist for them directly: https://www.archives.gov/contact to see if a FOIA request might be appropriate (https://www.archives.gov/foia).
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