In April 1975, shortly before the end of the Vietnam War, several thousand Vietnamese children were brought to the US to be adopted.

The “Operation Babylift” adoption program was controversial: antiwar protesters demonstrated at the airport against the program, a group of Seattle leaders described it as reminiscent of removing Indigenous children from their parents, Catholic relief agencies described the program as "mass expatriation" and a "deplorable and unjustified mistake," and a spokesman for the North Vietnamese condemned the adoptions as part of a "forced evacuation." In addition, some of the children were not orphans at all but had been placed temporarily in orphanages by their parents, who had planned to come back for them.

The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, marked the end of the Vietnam War. One of the last “Operation Babylift" flights from Saigon landed at McChord Air Force Base (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord) the day before. Here, two people hold Vietnamese children who have just arrived at McChord.