But Vietnam is on the crest of an economic wave. Nowhere have the changes been more visible than in the wave of motorbikes and construction that now covers Ho Chi Minh City.
Veteran Luu Quang Dong, 68, from northern Vinh Phuc province, traveled for four days via bus to attend Saturday's ceremony.
Dressed in his olive uniform covered in red and gold medals, he said he made the trip to see the city he had stormed into three decades ago, arriving with his unit just minutes after the tanks crashed through the palace gates.
"I wanted to come and see how much the city has changed," he said.
Though the North and South reunified three decades ago, the task of reconciliation still looms large.
On Friday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai sent out a message reaching out to Vietnam's former enemies, as well as to those who fought on the side of the former South Vietnam, urging all sides to "close the past, look to the future."
Among them is the US, which has become Vietnam's single-largest trading partner. But relations with overseas Vietnamese, who sent back nearly US$4 billion in remittances last year, remain more sensitive.
Despite the government's message of reconciliation, lingering mistrust continues. Earlier this week, the government banned a book of love songs from the pre-1975 era.
"Thirty years after the war, the country is really reconciled now. Maybe some people still feel bitter about the liberation of Saigon but that number is very small," said Han Van Minh, 65, who was a sergeant in the Saigon army and now runs a small business.
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