The real story behind Art Bell's 130 rescued orphans. I thought I'd summarize it here.
We've all heard the same or similar story parroted everywhere (from Art's C2C page):
"Then he raised money in Alaska that allowed Art to charter a DC 8, fly to Vietnam and rescue 130 Vietnamese Orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually all brought to America and adopted by American families."
What really happened:
In April 1975, the Jaycees of Anchorage (a group of about 40 young men - Jaycee stands for Junior Chamber, an international club) spearheaded a fast fundraiser with the intent to charter one of Ed Daly's World Airways DC-8 planes and rescue orphans out of Saigon. The fundraiser "went viral" going statewide in Alaska and raised 130 thousand dollars. That was enough money and they had 15-20 volunteers standing by at a moment's notice to jump on the plane once they got the green light to go. They spent a lot of time talking to both US and South Vietnamese governments and orphanages in Saigon. They never got the green light so the mission to Vietnam didn't go. Instead the money went to charter an Alaskan Airlines 727 to transport Vietnamese orphans from Seattle to Philadelphia. The orphans had already been airlifted from Saigon to Seattle by government military C-141 planes. After the Philadelphia charter, and other expenses, they had only spent 1/3 of the pot of money. They pledged the rest to help children in Alaska.
It appears that Art was a DJ on radio station KENI in Anchorage at the time, so likely had a role in the fundraising. It is unclear if he was a member of the 40 strong Jaycees (Junior Chamber) club there. One of the Jaycee co-chairmen of this "Operation Airlift" ie. the guy running it was Chuck May, it is not known at this time of writing who the other chairman was.
This is all taken from the Fairbanks Daily Times-Miner. Articles on April 8, 9, 16 and May 2 and July 11, 1975