The Pan Am Museum Foundation and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation are proud to present Operation BabyLift, a special reception on April 24, 2025 at 6:00 pm EDT to mark the 50^th Anniversary of the evacuation of Vietnamese war orphans. 

In attendance will be adoptees, adoptive parents, and veteran Pan Am flight attendants who were a part of the evacuation 50 years ago. 

Adoptees and airline personnel, as well as representatives of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library will be in attendance. 

Also, in attendance and available for interview will be Al Topping, Pan Am’s Director of South Vietnam & Cambodia. He helped organized the evacuation flights as North Vietnamese troops were closing in, including another evacuation of almost 400 families soon after Operation BabyLift was completed. 

“I am most honored and privileged to be a part of this event. I cannot wait to see the Vietnamese babies again after all these years…all grown up as adults,” said Topping. “The work that Pan Am, Holt International, and others did to rescue these kids is the truest example of the good within the human spirit. We changed lives for the better and I will always cherish that.”

The 1990 movie “Last Flight Out” was based on his dramatic and harrowing story with James Earl Jones starring as Topping. The evening will serve as an important touchstone for the many parents and adoptees whose lives were changed forever by Pan Am’s contribution to the BabyLift.