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Boston Globe
07-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
David Paton, creator of Flying Eye Hospital, dies at 94
'More eye doctors were needed,' he wrote in his memoir, 'Second Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor's Odyssey' (2011), 'but equally important was the need to beef up the existing doctors' medical education.' Advertisement But how? He considered shipping trunks of equipment — almost the way a circus would — but that presented logistical challenges. He pondered the possibility of using a medical ship like the one that Project Hope, a humanitarian group, sent around the world. That was too slow for him. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Shortly after the first moon landing in 1969, thinking big was becoming a reality,' Paton wrote. And then a moonshot idea struck him: 'Could an aircraft be the answer? A large enough aircraft could be converted into an operating theater, a teaching classroom and all the necessary facilities.' All he needed was a plane. He asked the military to donate one, but that was a nonstarter. He approached several universities for the money to buy one, but administrators turned him down, saying the idea wasn't feasible. Advertisement 'David was willing to take risks that others wouldn't,' Bruce Spivey, founding president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said in an interview. 'He was charming. He was inspiring. And he didn't quit.' Dr. Paton decided to raise funds on his own. In 1973, he founded Project Orbis with a group of wealthy, well-connected society figures such as Texas oilman Leonard F. McCollum and Betsy Trippe Wainwright, the daughter of Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe. In 1980, Trippe helped persuade United Airlines CEO Edward Carlson to donate a DC-8 jet. The U.S. Agency for International Development contributed $1.25 million to convert the plane into a hospital with an operating room, recovery area, and a classroom equipped with televisions, so that local medical workers could watch surgeries. Surgeons and nurses volunteered their services, agreeing to spend two to four weeks abroad. The first flight, in 1982, was to Panama. The plane then went to Peru, Jordan, Nepal, and beyond. Mother Teresa once visited. So did Cuban leader Fidel Castro. In 1999, The Sunday Times of London's magazine sent a reporter to Cuba to write about the plane, now known as the Flying Eye Hospital. One of the patients who arrived was a 14-year-old girl named Julia. 'In developed nations, Julia's condition would have been little more than an irritation,' The Sunday Times article said. 'It is almost certain she had uveitis, an inflammation inside the eye, which can be cleared with drops. In Britain, even cats are easily treated.' Her doctor was Edward Holland, a prominent eye surgeon. 'Holland uses tiny knives to make openings that allow him to get his instruments into the eye, and soon he is pulling at Julia's scar tissue,' The Sunday Times article said. 'As the tissue is pulled away, a dark and liquid pupil, unseen for a decade, is revealed. It is an intimate and moving moment; this is medicine's chamber music. Next, he breaks up and removes the cataract, and implants a lens so that the eye will keep its shape.' Advertisement The Cuban ophthalmologists watching in the viewing room applauded. But after the surgery, Julia still couldn't see. 'And then a minor miracle begins,' the article said. 'As the swelling begins to go down, she makes discoveries about the world around her. Minute by minute she can see something new.' David Paton was born Aug. 16, 1930, in Baltimore, and grew up in Manhattan. His father, Richard Townley Paton, specialized in corneal transplants and founded the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration. His mother, Helen (Meserve) Paton, was an interior designer. In his memoir, Dr. Paton described growing up 'among the fine, intellectually sharp, widely traveled persons of the Establishment.' His father practiced on Park Avenue. His mother threw parties at their home on the Upper East Side. Dr. Paton attended the Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pa. There, he met James Baker, a Texan who later became secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush. They were roommates at Princeton University and lifelong best friends. 'David came from a very privileged background, but he was down to earth and just a very likable guy,' Baker said in an interview. 'He had his objectives in life straight. He was a hell of a lot better student than I was.' Advertisement After graduating from Princeton in 1952, Dr. Paton earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He worked in senior positions at the Wilmer Eye Institute and served as chair of the ophthalmology department at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In 1979, while still trying to procure a plane for Project Orbis, he became the medical director of the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 'Among my duties,' he wrote in his memoir, 'was providing eye care for many of the princes and princesses of the kingdom — about 5,000 of each, I was told — and it seemed that all of them insisted on being treated exclusively by the doctor in charge, no matter how minor their complaint.' Dr. Paton's marriages to Jane Sterling Treman and Jane Franke ended in divorce. He married Diane Johnston in 1985. She died in 2022. In addition to his son, he is survived by two granddaughters. Dr. Paton left his role as medical director of Project Orbis in 1987, after a dispute with the board of directors. That year, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Although his official connection with the organization had ended, he occasionally served as an informal adviser. Now called Orbis International, the organization is on its third plane, an MD-10 donated by FedEx. From 2014-23, Orbis performed more than 621,000 surgeries and procedures, according to its most recent annual report, and offered more than 424,000 training sessions to doctors, nurses and other providers. 'The plane is just such a unique venue,' Dr. Hunter Cherwek, the organization's vice president of clinical services and technologies, said in an interview. 'It was just an incredibly bold and visionary idea.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Newsweek
06-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Ex-NASA Official Breaks Decades-Long Silence on 'Flying Saucer'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A former NASA flight surgeon has spoken out for the first time about a classified sighting he claims to have witnessed more than 30 years ago. Dr. Gregory Rogers, who served as NASA's Chief Flight Surgeon and a U.S. Air Force major, revealed to the Daily Mail that in 1992 he viewed security footage of what he described as a 20-foot "flying saucer" inside a Cape Canaveral hangar. Rogers said he kept quiet for over three decades but decided to come forward following his recent retirement from the Department of Defense. Why It Matters Rogers' claims add to a growing number of accounts suggesting the U.S. military has secretly developed or recovered advanced aerial technology. He said the craft he observed appeared seamless, with no visible rivets or seams, and demonstrated movement capabilities beyond known human aviation technology. "I know exactly what I saw that day," Rogers told the Daily Mail. "It was in no fashion a conventional flying vehicle." He stated that his decision was motivated by ongoing testimonies from other military whistleblowers who allege the U.S. government has recovered alien craft. What To Know According to Rogers, he was shown the footage by another Air Force major who approached him unprompted while he was inspecting facilities. The major locked a room and displayed a video feed showing the saucer-shaped object levitating. The craft was surrounded by personnel in lab coats and hazmat suits. He added that the craft tilted in a way that indicated it did not rely on traditional propulsion methods, as there were no visible jets or propellers. "All of a sudden it just lifted up, as smooth as could be," Rogers said in his interview with the Daily Mail. "It rotated clockwise, then counterclockwise, and tilted 45 degrees while hovering." The vehicle bore "U.S. Air Force" markings, which Rogers found startling. "I'm thinking, this is ours? Someone had to design and manufacture the vehicle I saw on that video." The NASA logo among instruments used to measure air quality is seen aboard the NASA DC-8 flying laboratory, at Clark Air Base on February 8, 2024 in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Philippines. The NASA logo among instruments used to measure air quality is seen aboard the NASA DC-8 flying laboratory, at Clark Air Base on February 8, 2024 in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Philippines. Getty Images Rogers also claimed that astronauts he worked with during his NASA tenure confided that they too had witnessed UFOs during space missions, and that funding for such a craft should have been disclosed to Congress. However, he declined to name the other astronauts, citing stigma within the space community. Rogers' decision to speak publicly follows similar disclosures by other former officials. In 2023, former intelligence officer David Grusch testified to Congress about a secret crash retrieval and reverse engineering program. "Other whistleblowers have given their own testimony to Congress...I am simply adding my voice," Rogers said. On social media, Reddit users on r/UFOs have shared a range of reactions to Rogers' disclosure. Some expressed skepticism, questioning the timing of the revelation and the lack of corroborating evidence. Others found the account compelling, noting that Rogers' credentials as a former NASA Chief Flight Surgeon lend credibility to his claims. A few users speculated about the implications of such technology potentially being in the possession of the U.S. Air Force, while others called for more transparency and further investigation. What People Are Saying Reacting to the interview, one user said: "This is interesting! Also I find it kind of hilarious that anyone willing to break their silence would choose to do so on some weird YouTube paranormal conspiracy channel." Another viewer said: "Ask any decent intel or opsec person - the best place to get a read on the street is the gossip pages and rags. Culture is usually blindly obvious, especially in the locally published stuff. "I could put it another way - should he have gone to which major media outlet that you trust in America right now? In times of turmoil, read the graffiti." What's Next Now retired, Rogers has joined the board of the International UFO Bureau (IUFOB), a nonprofit that investigates unidentified aerial phenomena. He hopes his testimony will encourage others to come forward.
CBS News
01-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
"Operation Babylift" adoptees talk about their experience 50 years later
'Operation Babylift' adoptees talk about their lives 50 years after fall of Saigon 'Operation Babylift' adoptees talk about their lives 50 years after fall of Saigon 'Operation Babylift' adoptees talk about their lives 50 years after fall of Saigon At San Francisco's Crissy Field, an old building sits largely unnoticed. But 50 years ago, inside Harmon Hall, an event unfolded that changed the lives of thousands of people, including the lives of three little girls. "You know we all went through a lot of trauma," said Lara Price. "I find that I think about it less and less," noted Wendy Norberg. "The fall of Saigon was happening, and they had to get everyone out," remarked Tricia Houston. Leading up to the fall of Saigon, for most of April 1975, the U.S. government airlifted nearly 2,600 Vietnamese children to America for adoption. The series of 32 flights was part of "Operation Babylift." The first flight was unauthorized and occurred on a World Airways DC-8. Norberg arrived on this flight which landed late at night at Oakland International Airport. The first authorized flight crashed soon after takeoff and killed dozens of children. Lara Price survived the crash. Price was then put on the next flight, along with a very tiny baby who in the U.S. became known as Tricia Houston. Tricia was very sick and at 6 months, only weighed 9 lbs. All three babies arrived at Harmon Hall, along with hundreds of other Vietnamese children — all bearing adoption papers thanks to the Babylift. President Gerald Ford, who authorized the multi-million-dollar effort, arrived with his wife Betty at SFO, where he took a baby off the plane. Price, now a musician, was adopted by a military officer and his wife. They traveled around as his duties changed. Tricia Houston, an elementary school teacher, found a new home with a family in Orange County. And Wendy Norberg, an accomplished photographer, was embraced by Ralph and Marilyn Norberg. But the mission was not without controversy. At Harmon Hall, as the children were processed some of the volunteers spoke Vietnamese to the children. "They discovered that a significant number of them had families and that they were not orphans," remarked East Bay Attorney Thomas Miller. Miller, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, immediately filed a class action lawsuit against the US government to determine who was eligible for adoption. The lawsuit Nguyen Da Yen v Kissinger argued that the detention of the children was unconstitutional, and the lawyers sought to reunite the children with their families. Miller told CBS News Bay Area that some of the Vietnamese parents put their kids on a plane to save them, hoping to join them once the children escaped immediate danger. He likened their action to throwing a child out of a burning building and if the parent survived, they would want their child handed back to them. "All of this would have been preventable if the U.S. government had operated responsibly right from the beginning, remarked Miller. A judge denied the lawsuit and sealed the records. Years later, international family law and immigration expert Rong Kuhtz took a deeper dive. "I discovered widespread misconduct," Kuhtz said. Kultz researched federal, state, and court records involving the Babylift. Miller supplied her with everything he had on the case. She discovered nearly half the children arrived with forged or fake identities, and that there is no paper trial to find who they are or where they came from, and that their actual identities are unverifiable. "I feel a grave sadness," reacted Kuhtz. Today, many of the adoptees have turned to DNA tests to uncover their past. Houston's results had a match. Her biological father had also taken a test. "He was looking, searching for 35 years," said Tricia, amazed at his perseverance and effort in trying to locate her. Price's parents remain unknown. She had a childhood fantasy that one day they would be reunited. "I was hoping that my parents would see me singing on TV, and they would come find me and we'd live happily ever after," smiled Price. As for Norberg, she told CBS News Bay Area that he had no desire to find any biological relative. "To me, that's not important," remarked Norberg. All three clearly love their adoptive parents. Norberg remains busy at work and with her photography. Houston earned a master's degree in education, met her biological father, and adopted a child. "I've had a great life in America and a great life with my family," exclaimed Houston. Some of the adoptees suffered abuse after arriving in the U.S., including Lara Price who recounted how she was sexually abused as a young child by individuals close to the family. She now uses her music to help foster and adopted children who have similar trauma. "It's my superpower and if I can make change with music with other adoptees or foster kids or survivors, I would like that," explained Price. The end of the war was just the beginning for three very different women whose life stories are still being written.
CBS News
29-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Operation Babylift child, family look back 50 years after flight out of Saigon
Bay Area family remembers adopting their daughter during Operation Baby Lift during the fall of Saig Bay Area family remembers adopting their daughter during Operation Baby Lift during the fall of Saig Bay Area family remembers adopting their daughter during Operation Baby Lift during the fall of Saig Wednesday, April 30, 2025, marks the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Early April, after the fall of Da Nang, and with Saigon under attack, then-President Gerald Ford announced "Operation Babylift" where dozens of flights brought about 26,000 Vietnamese babies and children to the U.S. for adoption. The first flight was set in action with a phone call from the late Walter Shorenstein. Ed Daley, who owned World Airways, had instructed his daughter Charlotte Behrendt to get in touch with Shorenstein. Daley wanted help in supporting these flights, which meant getting the Presidio Army Base's Commander and Letterman Hospital involved. On April 2, 1975, the first flight landed late at night at Oakland International Airport, and a crush of media was on hand to greet. Only KPIX News had the technology to go "live" from a remote location. So that night, anchor Stan Bohrman announced the breaking news that the children had arrived. He turned to the Sports Director Wayne Walker and exclaimed to him, using the nickname he reserved for Walker. "'OK, Wayno. Thank you very much. And let's check right back in with Andy Park and Lynne Joiner at the Oakland International Airport as they continue to bring those 57 children off of that plane you can see they are coming on down, and Andy if you can hear me you're back on live television again,'" Bohrman said. Viewers saw adults carrying blankets up the stairway to the plane, and returning with infants and small children wrapped in them. "I am right at the foot of the stairway now, and you probably just saw that little one just come down. The people going up again are the blanket brigade. They're taking up blankets. They wrap a child in it and bring it down," explained reporter Andy Park. "To your knowledge, are we the only people broadcasting this live or are there other live facilities there," inquired Bohrman. "No. We are the only ones bringing it live," replied Park. Onboard the World Airways DC-8 plane, dozens of young children were airlifted out of Vietnam. Among them was a baby girl promised to Ralph and Marilyn Norberg. "It was just such a defining moment in our lives because we wanted to have children, and we were having a hard time. And when she came, it was just such a gift," explained Mrs. Norberg. "It was just really amazing to meet our first child. And get to know her," chuckled her husband. From the airport, the children were loaded up on a bus and driven to the Presidio. A small number needed to be admitted for observation at Letterman Hospital. Most were processed at the Presidio Army base in a building known as Harmon Hall. The Presidio's switchboard was swamped with compassionate calls. "We're inundated. Our lines are blocked with calls offering everything from clothes and blankets in Arkansas to people from Alaska and Brooklyn who want to adopt children," said one volunteer. When the Norbergs first met Wendy, they were overjoyed. "She was actually very, very easy going," recollected Mr. Norberg. "She was adorable, and still is," smiled her mother. As for Wendy, she's celebrating her 51st birthday. "I view myself definitely as being American," explained the daughter. She went back to Vietnam 10 years ago and saw her orphanage. But Wendy Norberg said the Bay Area is home. As for Operation Babylift, she doesn't dwell on it. "I find that I think about it less and less. And I don't know if that's because I'm just so, I don't want to say busy but just kind of there is so much more goes on in my life that defines me more than that," she explained. Wendy is an accomplished photographer. Most recently, she's captured images of Bay Area activism, people striving to change the world. "I'm not necessarily picking a side. I'm documenting a moment in history," remarked Norberg. Her historic journey was captured by KPIX News Channel 5. Now, 50 years later, she is on the other side of the lens.
New York Times
25-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
David Paton, Creator of Flying Eye Hospital, Dies at 94
David Paton, an idealistic and innovative ophthalmologist who started Project Orbis, converting a United Airlines jet into a flying hospital that took surgeons to developing countries to operate on patients and educate local doctors, died on April 3 at his home in Reno, Nev. He was 94. His death was confirmed by his son, Townley. The son of a prominent New York eye surgeon whose patients included the Shah of Iran and the financier J. Pierpont Morgan's horse, Dr. Paton (pronounced PAY-ton) was teaching at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in the early 1970s when he became discouraged by increasing cases of preventable blindness in far-flung places. 'More eye doctors were needed,' he wrote in his memoir, 'Second Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor's Odyssey' (2011), 'but equally important was the need to beef up the existing doctors' medical education.' But how? He considered shipping trunks of equipment — almost the way a circus would — but that presented logistical challenges. He pondered the possibility of using a medical ship like the one that Project Hope, a humanitarian group, sent around the world. That was too slow for him. 'Shortly after the first moon landing in 1969, thinking big was becoming a reality,' Dr. Paton wrote. And then a moonshot idea struck him: 'Could an aircraft be the answer? A large enough aircraft could be converted into an operating theater, a teaching classroom and all the necessary facilities.' All he needed was a plane. He asked the military to donate one, but that was a nonstarter. He approached several universities for the money to buy one, but administrators turned him down, saying the idea wasn't feasible. 'David was willing to take risks that others wouldn't,' Bruce Spivey, the founding president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said in an interview. 'He was charming. He was inspiring. And he didn't quit.' Dr. Paton decided to raise funds on his own. In 1973, he founded Project Orbis with a group of wealthy, well-connected society figures like the Texas oilman Leonard F. McCollum and Betsy Trippe Wainwright, the daughter of the Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe. In 1980, Mr. Trippe helped persuade the United Airlines chief executive Edward Carlson to donate a DC-8 jet. The United States Agency for International Development contributed $1.25 million to convert the plane into a hospital with an operating room, recovery area and a classroom equipped with televisions, so local medical workers could watch surgeries. Surgeons and nurses volunteered their services, agreeing to spend two to four weeks abroad. The first flight, in 1982, was to Panama. The plane then went to Peru, Jordan, Nepal and beyond. Mother Teresa once visited. So did the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. In 1999, The Sunday Times of London's magazine sent a reporter to Cuba to write about the plane, now known as the Flying Eye Hospital. One of the patients who arrived was a 14-year-old girl named Julia. 'In developed nations, Julia's condition would have been little more than an irritation,' The Sunday Times article said. 'It is almost certain she had uveitis, an inflammation inside the eye, which can be cleared with drops. In Britain, even cats are easily treated.' Her doctor was Edward Holland, a prominent eye surgeon. 'Holland uses tiny knives to make openings that allow him to get his instruments into the eye, and soon he is pulling at Julia's scar tissue,' The Sunday Times article said. 'As the tissue is pulled away, a dark and liquid pupil, unseen for a decade, is revealed. It is an intimate and moving moment; this is medicine's chamber music. Next, he breaks up and removes the cataract, and implants a lens so that the eye will keep its shape.' The Cuban ophthalmologists watching in the viewing room applauded. But after the surgery, Julia still couldn't see. 'And then a minor miracle begins,' the article said. 'As the swelling begins to go down, she makes discoveries about the world around her. Minute by minute she can see something new.' David Paton was born on Aug. 16, 1930, in Baltimore, and grew up in Manhattan. His father, Richard Townley Paton, specialized in corneal transplants and founded the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration. His mother, Helen (Meserve) Paton, was an interior designer. In his memoir, he described growing up 'among the fine, intellectually sharp, widely traveled persons of the Establishment.' His father practiced on Park Avenue. His mother threw parties at their home on the Upper East Side. David attended the Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pa. There, he met James A. Baker III, a Texan who later became secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan. They were roommates at Princeton University and lifelong best friends. 'David came from a very privileged background, but he was down to earth and just a very likable guy,' Mr. Baker said in an interview. 'He had his objectives in life straight. He was a hell of a lot better student than I was.' After graduating from Princeton in 1952, David earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He worked in senior positions at the Wilmer Eye Institute and served as chairman of the ophthalmology department at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In 1979, while still trying to procure a plane for Project Orbis, he became the medical director of the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 'Among my duties,' he wrote in his memoir, 'was providing eye care for many of the princes and princesses of the kingdom — about 5,000 of each, I was told — and it seemed that all of them insisted on being treated exclusively by the doctor in charge, no matter how minor their complaint.' Dr. Paton's marriages to Jane Sterling Treman and Jane Franke ended in divorce. He married Diane Johnston in 1985. She died in 2022. In addition to his son, he is survived by two granddaughters. Dr. Paton left his role as medical director of Project Orbis in 1987, after a dispute with the board of directors. That year, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Although his official connection with the organization had ended, he occasionally served as an informal adviser. Now called Orbis International, the organization is on its third plane, an MD-10 donated by Federal Express. From 2014 to 2023, Orbis performed more than 621,000 surgeries and procedures, according to its most recent annual report, and offered more than 424,000 training sessions to doctors, nurses and other providers. 'The plane is just such a unique venue,' Dr. Hunter Cherwek, the organization's vice president of clinical services and technologies, said in an interview. 'It was just an incredibly bold and visionary idea.'
