"not something you go bragging about"

[topaz]

On Morning Edition today NPR reported on the USS Kirk, which led up to 30,000 Vietnamese refugees to safety in 1975.

"I obviously don't remember anything just because I was still a baby in diapers, but what my mom tells me, my parents tell me, is that they dropped me off," she says.

That's not the same as drop off the baby at day care or drop off the baby at Grandma's house. What Nguyen-Driver means is that her mother literally dropped her — from a moving helicopter. She's heard her parents tell the story.

"And she just was like, '1-2-3, hallelujah: Drop her,' " Nguyen-Driver says. "And just going for Hail Mary and not really quite being sure as to if the folks below were going to catch me or not."

The full text of the story is at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129554870, but listen to the audio if you possibly can.

Comments

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

I know you're just quoting, but having been told about the story, I have a quibble with the reporter's word choice.

literally dropped her — from a moving helicopter

The helicopter was hovering - so the rotors were moving but the helicopter was stationary. The reporter should have said 'airborne' or 'flying' instead of 'moving'.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I posit that even when a helicopter is hovering it is not perfectly stationary! Thus, "moving."

[naiad.livejournal.com]

I heard the USS Kirk reunion story on NPR this morning (although not this particular bit, maybe I missed the beginning) and got so choked up I cried. What a shame the story wasn't shared widely back in the day.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

These were Army pilots, not Navy ones. I'd say it's an open question, whether they could hold a helicopter stationary as compared to a moving ship's deck.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

There are quotes in audio version (either in the article or the "voices" section) that aren't in the written version.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

As the NPR piece notes, I don't think it's a story people really wanted to hear in 1975.

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

and even when my stationery is stationary, it is orbiting the sun.