By NOEL MURPHY
IT WAS one of the most riveting moments of the Vietnam War – hundreds of babies rescued from Saigon by airlift, many in cardboard boxes.
And Grovedale’s Tonya Beechey was right in the middle of the action as a six-month-old “Amerasian” orphan of the bloody southeast Asian conflict.
The events have resounded through her life ever since.
Tonya came to Australia on one of two Qantas jets loaded with more than 200 children of dead or desperate Vietnamese parents seeking a better life for their children.
She had two birth certificates but remains unsure whether either was correct and a mix-up between Tonya and another child left her adoptive parents without the baby they were expecting.
“They were all set to get a little girl from Cambodia but there was a mix-up and she was sent to Canada. Back in the ’70s things weren’t as tight as they are now,” Tonya told the Independent.
“My plane landed in Sydney and I was brought down to Melbourne. I came with two birth certificates – I’m not sure whether either is mine.
“There are stories and anecdotal evidence from the orphanages that babies were left there and they made up name tags for them because they didn’t have any identity.
“In the Vietnamese culture, people are very patriotic and loyal and I was probably in an orphanage because I was a half-caste. If I was full Vietnamese the relatives would probably have looked after me.
“It’s more likely my father was American, that’s what we kind of worked out. I saw the musical Miss Saigon where the American GI falls in love with a Vietnamese girl – that’s basically what happened to me.
“It’s kind of surreal what happened but I think I was lucky to be put in an orphanage – a lot of babies were killed. If I’d stayed there I can’t imagine what might have been.”
Geelong weatherman Lindsay Smail and his wife adopted Tonya, sending her to primary school in Grovedale and then Belmont High.
Tonya was unconcerned about the mystery of her natural parents. She planned to visit Vietnam some day but in the meantime was busy with her two children and three step-children.
“I’ve heard a lot of stories from other adoptees on the flights and it’s quite common when they reach adulthood that they have that the whole identity thing,” she said.
“I’ve never really felt like, though. I’ve always wanted to go back and I’m planning to go in a couple of years but as far as I’m concerned I’m pretty much an Aussie and living here with my family I’ve never really worried about it.”
