The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) brought history into sharp focus with a visit from Devaki Murch, a Vietnam War adoptee whose life now shapes how that history is remembered.

As a baby, Murch was part of Operation Babylift, a U.S.-led effort to evacuate children from Vietnam at the end of the war. The first flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Saigon on April 4, 1975. Of the 314 people aboard, 150 survived. Murch was one of them.

At UH Mānoa, students, alumni and community members gathered on March 3 in Moore Hall to hear her story. But the talk went beyond survival. It asked a deeper question, who gets to tell history, and how?

Tien Nguyen, a master’s student in theatre and dance, said the lecture connected personal memory with lived experience.

“The fact that Devaki Murch boarded the first babylift flight and survived the fateful plane crash makes her journey even more magical,” Nguyen said. “One thing prevails, as we are all humans who have survived thus far despite the odds, we should feel empowered to do the things we love, regardless of our backgrounds.”

Active participation in the historical record

Murch drew from her work building the Operation Babylift Collection. She urged students to see themselves as active participants in shaping the historical record. Today’s research and digital footprints, she said, will become tomorrow’s archives, often without context or consent.

“Traditional archives ask people to trust systems that have already failed them,” Murch said. “Sealed records, classified documentation, institutional protection over individual truth. We needed a different approach.”

Raised in Hawaiʻi, Murch’s story resonated locally. Her lecture tied global conflict to familiar questions about memory, military presence and accountability.