A half century ago an unprecedented evacuation of orphans took place when the U.S. Military airlifted the infants from Vietnam. Many ended up in Wisconsin… including Tim Hoye, who was four months old when he was flown to the United States.
In 1975 as the Vietnam war ended, Operation Babylift began. President Gerald Ford announced the United States would bring Vietnamese orphans to America to avert a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Vietnam. It was an epic undertaking with specially outfitted military cargo planes began bringing the children to the United States.
Tim Hoye was a baby when he was rescued from a communist orphanage and brought to Wisconsin. He recently brought his parents Tom and Letty to our studios and the four of us sat down to look back at Operation Babylift fifty years later.
“The people involved; the military, the governments of multiple countries, civilians around the world make this almost impossible to comprehend. It’s difficult to fathom bringing bring children like me form Vietnam to America,” Tim told me.
Tim’s mom Letty remembers that April day 50 years ago, like it was yesterday.
Through her tears, Letty told me “It was the making of a miracle.”
Letty and her husband Tom were unable to have children and were trying to come up with a gameplan to start their family.
She saw an article on Operation Babylift in a magazine.
“I told Tom, this is what we are going to do,” Letty explained.
Tom was all in.
”Before we got married, we had discussed what we would do if we were unable to have kids. This fit that plan,” Tom explained.
Then the waiting began. They registered and waited, and waited, and waited. As other families received babies, the Hoyes heard nothing. Plane after plane of precious cargo arrived in America. Eventually the flights slowed to a trickle. Letty and Tm began to lose hope.
On a warm, spring afternoon, Letty nervously went to meet with her case worker for what she feared might be the last time. She described the meeting.
“With one finger, she slid a small piece of paper across the desk to me. I opened it and Timmy’s name was written down. It said, ‘Your baby will arrive in Milwaukee tomorrow at 3:30 pm”
Letty floated out of the office, excited and nervous. The Hoyes had no baby supplies at home. They hadn’t wanted to jink their chances.
Less than 24 hours later little Timmy arrived from Vietnam.
Tim grew up in a loving home with other adopted siblings. He has never taken for granted the gift of life he was given.
“Who knows where I could have ended up. I think it guides me today. It was an amazing operation that had never been done.”
Eventually Tim returned to Vietnam and visited his orphanage. Which is now home to the local newspaper.
“As I was there, I wondered, “Could I have been a farmer? Would I have been successful at all? It was powerful to be back there,” he told me.
Tim says Operation Babylift was more than life changing. He says the mission gave him life.
“There are no winners in war. There is a ray of sunshine that can come from war. This is one of those rays. I am just very thankful.”
A few years ago, Tim and his wife adopted a daughter, Eva. Tim says that completes the circle that began 50 years ago in Saigon.
Wisconsin’s Afternoon News with Julia Fello and John Mercure airs on weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m. CST.
