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Bay Area family meets Vietnam veteran who helped save thousands of babies during little-known mission

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Published  April 16, 2025 8:39pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News

A Vietnam mission that saved thousands of babies

FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers reports.

The Brief

    • "Operation Baby Lift" airlifted babies out of Vietnam in cardboard boxes during the Vietnam War.
    • A Tampa family adopted a Vietnamese baby, and they credit the daring mission for their happy life.
    • She and her family reconnected with a U.S. Air Force member responsible for her airlift to show their appreciation.

TAMPA, Fla. - With all the bullets and bombs of the Vietnam War, a rare bright spot is the story of the babies. 

"The babies were in boxes, and they would securely tie them down," says Jennifer Harkins of Tampa, one of those thousands of babies from orphanages that were put in boxes and airlifted out of Saigon.

The backstory:

Daring U.S. Air Force crews risked their lives to fly into Saigon amid threats of getting shot down.

Bob Snider piloted one of the C-141s. 

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"We came in at 10,000 feet and spiraled down for landing," says Snider. "They started bringing in all these babies in cardboard boxes." 

Jennifer was likely on his plane in one of those boxes. When they reached the U.S., Jennifer, who had a Vietnamese name then, was adopted by John and Rebecca Harkins. 

They soon found out that the baby in the box was special, and proved Jennifer was both determined and curious growing up.

"I said, ‘Mom, why do I have this color hair, and you have blonde hair? Why do you have blue eyes?’" Jennifer said.

Their answer was love. Rebecca would always tell a bedtime story to her daughter as they looked at pictures.

"'This is you,'" Rebecca would say, "‘You arrived on an airplane, not in my belly, but that doesn’t make any difference. That’s how we feel,’" the story went. 

What they're saying:

Rebecca had dreamed of a baby to love. 

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"She was mine," Rebecca said, sitting beside her now 50-year-old daughter.

Jennifer was one of more than 2,000 Vietnamese babies rescued during April and May 1975. 

The American air crews risked their lives, but the babies were worth it. Snider would never forget, even decades later. 

"I said to my wife, I have to meet at least one of those babies we brought out," Snider said.

He finally got his chance recently. 

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"I had waited 49 years," Snider told FOX 13. 

He met Jennifer and her family for brunch, and they stayed in touch. Jennifer says she felt driven to pay back her good fortune through the years. 

"I think most of my life, I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people," Jennifer said. 

Big picture view:

Jennifer went to medical school at USF and became an anesthesiologist. 

She’s also a mother of two. Everyone in her family is happy and proud of how it turned out. 

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"It’s wonderful," says Rebecca. "It’s a miracle as far as I’m concerned."

Jennifer says her appreciation runs through all the veterans who fought in Vietnam and especially the ones who risked their lives to rescue her and more than 2,000 other infants in "Operation Baby Lift."

"They knew none, but they saved so many," says Jennifer, who found her loving family as a baby in a box.

The Source: FOX 13’s Lloyd Sowers collected the information in this story.

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