From Vietnam to Sacramento: Local woman reflects on Operation Babylift, search for birth parents

In the last few weeks of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government conducted Operation Babylift, a series of evacuation flights to bring thousands of Vietnamese children out of South Vietnam.

In total over 3,000 children, some of whom were born to American servicemen, were evacuated and adopted by families in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States.

Huyen Friedlander was one of the children aboard the last Operation Babylift flight in April 1975. Born to a Vietnamese mother and an American father, she was adopted by a family in Sacramento. 

Friedlander spoke with CapRadio’s Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about her experience reconnecting with her birth parents, and an upcoming trip to Vietnam marking the 50th anniversary of the war’s end to help other adoptees find their birth families.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

From what you can remember, what were the first few years like growing up in Vietnam?

I was born in Vietnam in 1971 during the war and I lived with my birth family until I was almost four years old. Then towards the end of the war, my birth mother became concerned for my safety because of my mixed race status. So she took me to Saigon to meet with Cherie Clark who was the director of one of the adoption agencies, the Friends of Children of Vietnam.

What I knew about myself growing up came mainly from Cherie’s affidavit that she wrote when my birth mother relinquished me. My birth mother was a Vietnamese woman, my birth father was an American serviceman, and that I was being relinquished only because of concern for my safety.

Was it always a part of you throughout your life that you wanted to find your birth parents?

I didn't think it would be possible. For most of my growing up years, we didn't have diplomatic relations with Vietnam until under the Clinton administration. The trade embargo was lifted and we had diplomatic relations again, so then that became a possibility that I could go back.

How did you find your mom?

My adopted dad, during my adoption process, had stolen a copy of my birth certificate, and so I had information that most people don't have. When I arrived in Saigon, all I had was my birth certificate which had the location of where I had been born and the name of my birth mother. 

On the first full day that we were there, we went looking for the adoption agency and we couldn't find it. The next day we hired a car, and we went to about six different police stations. By the end of the day they directed us to the church and they said your family would go to this church.

Within five minutes the witness to my birth came up, and then less than 30 minutes later, this elderly man and woman came walking up. Both of them are crying and it's my grandfather and my aunt. That was the second day where we had found my family. 

How about your birth father, how did you locate him?

When I met my birth mother, all she could tell me was that his name was “Bluesy.” I've never heard of this name. I got a little information that my birth father had been both at Long Binh and Phú Lâm and in communications. When I got back to the states, I was on message boards with Vietnam vets and this group called the “Phu Lamers” ended up being pivotal. They ended up helping me get the duty roster. 

Finally in 2000 I got a copy of that duty roster and I saw the name “Paluzzi.”  It's an Italian last name and Vietnamese does not have that hard “P” sound. So I knew that that was him when I saw the name on the roster. When I did finally call him to reach out, it was kind of shocking how easy it was because I told him, “my birth mother is Le Thi Dem, and I think you are my birth father.” And he said, "I think I am too." 

I saw him in person twice. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2020. But I did have a chance to meet him and my kids met him, and so I felt some closure in that and I think he felt closure because he knew that I had had a good life. And that was really my main objective in finding him was to let him know I was okay. 

Your birth father was an American serviceman, why didn't his family take you in or adopt you?

My parents had tried to get married. Because my birth mother had immigrated from Hanoi, she was of Northern Vietnamese descent and the Army did not allow them to get married.

He told me he did maintain contact with my birth mother for the first couple years of my life. He told me that one of his contacts in Saigon had relayed to him that I had been killed in the Babylift crash, and that my birth mother had died trying to leave for Thailand. And so he at that point had kind of given up looking for us because he thought we had died. 

In April you’re going back to Vietnam with other adoptees. Is it likely that people who were children during Operation Babylift can reconnect with their family like you were able to?

I think my story is an exception in how I found my family without DNA. But now with the advent of DNA, the possibility is very real for connecting people. That's part of why I'm going back to Vietnam in April, as a part of an organization called Vietnam Family Search. We are going to be doing a five-day bicycle tour through the Mekong Delta distributing DNA kits, and hoping to get more birth mothers in the registry so that the people over here who are taking DNA tests will get matched.

Operation Babylift was controversial for a lot of people. You’ve been able to talk with others who were touched by it, either adoptees or participants. What have you learned about them, and their experiences?

What I’ve learned is that unlike my case, which was well-documented and was voluntary, there were children who were not orphans who got kind of swept up in the chaos. People who were full Vietnamese ended up being taken out of the country as well. It is controversial and probably just like most people's experience here in adoption. Not every adoption is a great placement. So that's hard to know that people didn't have a good experience.

Finally, why do you keep going back to Vietnam?

I feel really connected to Vietnam. My family is there. I've maintained a relationship with my birth family for almost the last 30 years, and I have been able to send them money and help build a house for them. So I'm really grateful for the relationship that I have with my extended family there.