Bui Doi: the children of the Vietnam War

The chapter traces military-civilian relations during the Vietnam War and the challenges faced by Vietnamericans who remained in Vietnam compared with those who were evacuated in Operation Babylift of left Vietnam for the United States after the Amerasian Homecoming Act. Using historical and sociological approaches as well as psychological and psychiatric analyses, the investigation shines a light on how the three distinct groups experienced their upbringing and lifecourses in very different ways, depending on where geopolitical circumstances and foreign intervention placed them.The analysis zooms in on international and interracial adoption as one chosen avenue to ‘rescue’ children left behind by foreign troops – a policy found in the aftermath of many conflicts, but first practiced on a large scale in the aftermath of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.