“I was born in Vietnam to an African American service member - he was a Marine - and a Vietnamese mom.”
Thuy Williams was five years old in 1975, when she became part of Operation Babylift, a controversial mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam.
“To save my life, my mom gave me up for adoption. She actually walked me up the steps of the plane on the 4th and then left the airport. At the last minute, the plane was full and so they pulled me off and then that plane crashed. My mom was told I died on that plane, but I left on the 5th and was adopted in Portland, Oregon, which is where I grew up.”
The rescues were ordered by President Gerald Ford as North Vietnamese forces marched into Saigon.
“I think the most important thing is that what President Ford did saved lives. I know for a fact; I would've been killed if I'd stayed and so you know for me what he did absolutely saved my life and so I think that kind of thing gets lost in in the memories of time. Something good happened from a really bad war. For most of us adoptees life was absolutely better than we could've had.”
On Friday, Williams visited Grand Rapids for events at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum commemorating the Fall of Saigon.
She met with Steven Ford to thank him for his father’s actions and toured the current exhibit about the Vietnam War which runs through mid-December.
