MERIDIAN, Idaho — Operation BabyLift was a program to fly Vietnam orphans out of the country to America. Nearly 50 years later, an amazing bond has formed between a veteran and an orphan because of a teddy bear.
Wayne Smith is known as the teddy bear veteran because he hands stuffed animals out to kids and pretty much everyone he meets. This started when Wayne was in the Army and stationed in Vietnam.
"Our company commander asked me if I would like to take a jeep and go down to Saigon and pick up some stuffed animals," said Smith. "I got to Saigon, there were three of us in the jeep, and it was really scary because bullets were flying all over the place."
Meanwhile, Kim Nadon was in Vietnam as a five-year-old when her parents were killed. Somehow, Kim and her two sisters survived.
"I just remember one minute I’m playing with my siblings and the next thing I know my village got bombed," said Nadon. "We lived in the countryside near Saigon."
Kim and her sisters hid in underground tunnels until they were found by nuns and transported to a military base to fly to America as part of Operation BabyLift.
Kim and her sisters were adopted by a marine, and they grew up here in the states. Kim feels blessed to have escaped with her sisters and she is successful working in human resources. However, two years ago, something strange happened at Nick's Italian Ristorante in Meridian.
"It was a rainy day, and I was having a bad day, but my husband was like, let’s go out to eat," said Nadon. "I’m watching this guy hand out these teddy bears and it was just a total flashback, I was like 'oh my gosh what is he doing?'"
Before Kim and her sisters got on the plane, they all received teddy bears. Kim says it helped comfort her and made her feel safe during a terrifying time, so she introduced herself to Wayne Smith.
"I just started tearing up and I said I was one of those kids that received a stuffed animal," said Nadon. "Then he started tearing up and we just connected. Ever since then, we have just been really close."
Friends and family told me everyone in the restaurant was tearing up, and it created a full-circle moment for Wayne and Kim.
"We still cry when we think of it, she’s an unbelievable lady," said Smith. "I think with her, we hit the jackpot."
The wounds of war remain as Kim lost her parents and the first Operation Babylift flight crashed, killing 138 people, including 78 children. Wayne Smith lost friends, he got exposed to Agent Orange, and has had multiple heart surgeries over the years.
Operation Babylift will have its 50th anniversary on April 24, and Kim Nadon is living proof that Wayne made a difference in Vietnam.
"Just telling him thank you for what you have done goes way more than I could ever explain," said Nadon. "He was part of helping me come over and healing from it too."
Wayne Smith will continue to hand out teddy bears to children and everyone he meets. It has become his life's passion that dates all the way back to the most difficult time in his life.
"I'm absolutely proud of doing this, and I'm never going to stop because it makes me very happy," said Smith. "I don't do it for praise, I do it because every kid deserves a teddy bear."
