Marching troops paraded down the same route taken by North Vietnamese tanks when they rolled into the city 30 years ago, as Vietnam yesterday celebrated the communist victory over a US-backed government.
Watched by the country's top leaders and legendary figures such as war hero General Vo Nguyen Giap, soldiers, government workers and performers marched with red flags waving toward the palace gates. Hundreds of aging veterans, their chests decked with medals, watched from the sidelines.
Giant billboards of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's revolutionary leader, dominated the parade ground and adjoining streets, which had been blocked off to the public due to security concerns.
On April 30, 1975, Communist tanks barreled through the gates of the Presidential Palace, the heart of the US-backed Saigon government. The fall of Saigon marked the official end to the Vietnam War, and the US' more than decade-long attempt to halt the spread of communism in the region. The war claimed an estimated 3 million Vietnamese and some 58,000 American lives.
"I was listening to the radio with my family and heard that Saigon had been liberated. I was very happy because for many years we weren't free. After 30 years we have rebuilt our country. Our land is safe and secure and I think the future will be better for my children," said To Thanh Nghia, 51, a government worker marching in the parade.
The atmosphere in the country three decades later has been mostly festive, focusing on Vietnam's recent economic rejuvenation. Memories of the war and its aftermath are little more than anecdotes in history books for most Vietnamese who were born after it ended.
"My father and grandfather fought in the war but I was too young. I think my future will be good because they created opportunities for my generation," said Nguyen Thanh Tung, an 18-year-old student.
Down the grand boulevard where communist tanks once rolled, capitalism has taken solid root. Some parade floats, sponsored by Vietnamese banks, sported the logo of US credit card companies. One float featured women pushing shopping carts loaded with supermarket goods.
These days, Le Duan Street is home to Diamond Plaza, a glittering, upscale department store where French perfumes and Italian shoes are sold to an emerging urban, middle class. Along the same strip, a French-owned five-star hotel sits across the street from the US consulate.
While Vietnam proudly recalled its victories over both the US and colonial France, the focus was clearly on the future.
"Through our two resistance [wars] against foreign aggressors, the historical clashes in Saigon will always be in the forefront," said President Tran Duc Luong to cheers from the crowd. He called Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, the country's "economic locomotive."
With the president on the giant reviewing platform was a guest of honor, Raul Castro, the brother and successor to Cuba's longtime leader Fidel Castro who stood by Vietnam's communist regime for decades. Also flanking the leader was Giap, the military mastermind behind the defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu and later, ousting the US.
Despite Vietnam's remarkable recovery from the devastation of war, most of its largely agrarian population of 82 million remains poor with per capita income hovering around US$550 a year.
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