Devaki Murch never set out to become an archivist. As a child, she dreamed of being a librarian—carefully organizing her books with a self-made Dewey Decimal System and handwritten catalog cards. That early love of order and detail eventually led to a career as a Tradeshow and Conference Director, where systems, processes and attention to detail were her superpower.

Operation Babylift has been the common thread running through Devaki’s life since she arrived in the United States. As one of the children aboard the first flight—the C-5A Galaxy that crashed during the evacuation from Vietnam in April 1975—she grew up hearing her story told by others: through newspaper headlines, documentaries, and books. Over time, with the support of her family, she began to gather these fragments, weaving them into a fuller, more personal narrative—one that moved beyond the media version to a story rooted in individual connections, complex relationships, and the essence of humanity.
But Invisible Threads is not her story alone.

It is a story about all of us—about individual histories bound by a shared past. It carries the intertwined legacies of adoptees, caregivers, veterans, volunteers, and families who lived through the war and the layered realities of adoption, identity, and belonging.

Today, Devaki’s work has become a mission: to preserve and protect this history by creating a comprehensive archival collection that will be housed in an accessible public repository. In collaboration with Friends for All Children and a growing network of adoptees and organizations, she now works to reunite adoptees with their personal records—individually, privately, and with deep respect. Each meeting is held in person, allowing time, space, and care for adoptees to encounter their histories on their own terms.
Yet this project extends beyond adoptees. It encompasses everyone connected by Operation Babylift and the broader story of the Vietnam War.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Invisible Threads: Stories Connected by Operation Babylift offers a reflection on what it means to belong—to a country, to a community, to one another. It honors the veterans who have carried these memories quietly for decades, many of whom are only now finding the courage to share what they witnessed.

This is not a single story. It is a collective act of remembering—a history that, at last, is finding its way home.