Vietnam Babylift Personal Stories

Victoria Andres

My husband and I are long time residents of upstate New York. The Babylift affected and continues to affect our lives because it brought our daughter to us.

We made up our minds to adopt a child shortly after we decided to marry. Perhaps because we knew we would never want to be childless, perhaps because Vietnam was raging and nightly we saw the plight of our soldiers and the Vietnamese people.

Shortly after our second son was born we put the wheels into motion. We went through the Pearl Buck Foundation and it was three years before we received our daughter's photograph. Our oldest son began to refer to his baby sister as Leisy so we named her Elissa Jade (Jade being the English translation of her Vietnamese name) and have always called her Leisy. She was ours. By this time, though, all hell was breaking loose in Vietnam. It was obvious that we would be pulling out soon. We prayed that she would be able to leave, we contacted our legislator, we walked miles in our house, all the while trying to lovingly parent our two little boys.

I remember vividly the day Gerald Ford announced the babylift and just as horrifyingly vividly, the first plane crashing. I knew that Leisy was not aboard that plane. I don't know how I knew, I just did. We were called within the next few days and told to await a call from the PB Foundation letting us know if she would be arriving in NYC the next day. We did not wait. We packed up the boys and drove to Waterloo NY, meeting another family who was awaiting their daughter. We took a leap of faith and drove to Perkasie PA where the children who were slated for the east coast would be taken after first stopping in Seattle and NYC. I knew she was going to arrive! We stayed overnight in a motel and we called the agency again who told us not to come to the arrival spot until we heard from them. We didn't hear from them and the next morning we raced to Perkasie anyway. We found a huge crowd of reporters and volunteers and when we went inside we found that our baby girl was there. Of course she was, as well as our friend's daughter, Sarah.

I remember when they brought her down the hall to meet us. One end of the hall was crammed with reporters and our oldest son, who was only five at the time, covered his head with his jacket, as all the people and the lights and cameras upset him. My husband told him, "It's not that kind of a meeting, buddy" because our little guy looked like a person trying to hide his identity after an arrest! I remember thinking "She's too small; it can't be Leisy; she's five months old and this baby, from the back, looks like a newborn! They turned her around and there was our daughter's face looking exactly like her photograph. Miracles do happen. She was only 10 pounds but perfectly healthy. No crying but a somber face, who could blame her?! Such a long trip, so many people, such different sounds. We lost no time and after a diaper change (our two year old son was quite concerned as he had never seen a little girl before) and picking up some dry formula (I remember distinctly hoping there wouldn't be a problem with the water change) we headed home. Things went pretty smoothly for a couple of days and she started to smile and babble at us. Then she developed diarrhea and we were in for two months of frantic worry. She came to us at five months weighing ten pounds. By seven months she had dropped to eight pounds. Our dr was great, and we saw him practically every day as he tried different formulas. In desperation I told him I was going to try donated breast milk. He told me I had one day to see if it worked or he was putting her in the hospital. Through all this she never got dehydrated but she was weak and she stopped smiling. I called the local LeLeche League and in an hour a total stranger brought four 4oz bottles of breast milk to the house. I gave her a bottle and she slept for six hours and her diarrhea stopped cold! She was on donated breast milk for two months and gained back all her lost weight plus more. Over forty women donated milk. My husband drove his milk runs every day. Soon a local church took over the monumental task (over eighty miles per day) of pick up and delivery. God was truly working in our lives. I was a little worried about weaning her from breast milk but I did it slowly and she had no problem at all. Soon she was eating spaghetti and drinking koolaid! Of our three children, she was the best eater with the most wide ranging tastes.

Elissa is a bright, beautiful young woman. She received her Master's in Art Eduction and is currently teaching at the high school where she graduated. She has never, to our knowledge, suffered any racial issues. She has always had many friends, from the time she was a tiny child. She is confident and secure in herself and she owns our hearts. We do not think of her as adopted - she is simply our daughter - so completely that we often remind each other of this or that trait that she got from one of our ancestors! She and her wonderful husband, Mark, are expecting their first child in early May. I can't wait!!!

Email: vandres0@naz.edu