CHERIE CLARK: Cherie Clark was the 27-year old director of Friends of the Children of Vietnam. She and husband Tom moved to Vietnam in 1973 with their seven children to help oversee the operation of a handful of orphanages in South Vietnam. Cherie was a volunteer with Friends For All Children and after adopting three Vietnamese children, she decided to return permanently to help orphaned and abandoned children find loving homes all around the world.
Cherie is the author of "After Sorrow Comes Joy", which is a firsthand account of the harrowing evacuation of thousands of Vietnamese orphans just one month before the fall of Saigon. After the war, Cherie traveled to India and worked alongside Mother Theresa. In the early 1990's, Cherie persuaded Vietnam to reopen adoptions to the United States and currently works as the director of International Mission of Hope.
EDWARD J. DALY: Ed Daly was the President and owner of World Airways, the principal charter airline for the US Military during the Vietnam War. Under his command, World had flown hundreds of humanitarian missions in Southeast Asia, including rice lifts in Cambodia and South Vietnam.
Daly made headlines worldwide for his infamous "Last Flight from DaNang", a disastrous attempt to rescue refugees from DaNang as the city fell to Communist troops. Daly also was responsible for airliftig 57 of Cherie's orphans out of Saigon for adoption in the United States, effectively kick-starting what later became known as Operation Babylift.
Meet The Cast:
ROSS MEADER: Ross traveled to Vietnam in 1973 at the age of 19 to help Cherie oversee the operation of Friends of the Children of Vietnam. He worked with orphans and helped to expand FCVN in South Vietnam.
Ross was able to get their children aboard Daly's first unofficial Babylift flight from Saigon and despite he and Cherie being evacuated in early April, both returned and helped rescue more children under dangerous conditions while the country crumbled around them.
Ross was among the last to be evacuated by helicopter from a rooftop with remaining US military and diplomats on April 30, 1974...the day Saigon officially fell.
