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Babies airlifted by the Daily Mail

Mercy mission or cynical journalism? The debate still rages about the airlifting of orphans from South Vietnam in April 1975, just weeks before the country fell to the North Vietnam army. Daily Mail editor David English certainly overcame formidable bureaucratic and logistical obstacles in bringing 99 children to the West, but for many his motives were more about self-publicity and snatching a morsel of moral victory from bitter military defeat. The programme talked to those involved in the airlift.

For many of the babies a new life began with an adoptive family, but among the older children some were found not to be orphans at all and are haunted by their feeling of loss, and many have had problems adjusting to an alien culture. Despite a return visit to their country of birth, only two of the children have re-established contact with their families.

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