April 30 is Reunification Day in Vietnam, and 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. Ho Chi Minh City held a grand military parade to mark the historic anniversary.
The day is known in Vietnam as the liberation of southern Vietnam and national reunification. For overseas Vietnamese who escaped it is known as the fall of Saigon and Black April.
My social media newsfeed was filled with the perspective of Vietnamese from both sides on this day. This article covers what it was like in Ho Chi Minh City in lead-up to the day and on April 30.
Propaganda posters
The previous big parade was for the 40th anniversary in 2015. The city was covered with propaganda posters for the 40th, and it was the same for the 50th. Any spare billboard space was taken over by anniversary posters.
The city now has more electronic billboards than it did in 2015, so those were also put to use.
Parade rehearsals
April 30 is one of the major national holidays of the year as it is a double holiday with the Labour Day holiday on May 1. Usually people leave HCMC, but this year there were more people who where visiting. The weeks leading up April 30 had a pre-holiday spirit like the lead up to Tet (the lunar new year holiday in Vietnam). There was a buzz in the air that was enhanced by the parade rehearsals that were held in the city.
Helicopters provided a literal buzz in the air by doing flyovers with the national flag around the city.
There were also fighter jets that practiced with the helicopters.
I went to a rehearsal on the night of the 25th of April.
It had rained that night, which might have thinned the crowd out. I somehow found myself standing in a spot that offered a good view of the parade.
The parade went along Le Duan (the road leading towards the former Presidential Palace where the tanks busted through the gates). After Le Duan, the parade split into four sections. This allowed the parade to be seen by more people by being on more roads.
The parade section I saw included the Chinese, Laotian, and Cambodian armed forces. The three neighbouring countries of Vietnam were invited to join the parade. Some people were questioning why China was invited when China invaded Vietnam in 1979. China was an ally during the American war, and Vietnam are adept at being diplomatic with their gigantic neighbour to the north who they are still having territorial disputes with.
The Chinese treated this as a charm offensive, singing ‘Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’ while they marched. I never thought I would see the day that I would see Chinese troops marching through the streets of Saigon. No doubt Xi Jinping watched the march and dreamed of Chinese troops marching down Taipei for his own reunification parade.
The last rehearsal was on the morning of 27 April. After the good view I had on the 25th, I got lazy on this day and turned up an hour before the parade began. There was already a big crowd here, so I wasn’t able to be near the road.
Once the parade began, everyone stood up and I couldn’t see anything.
This was the view that I eventually had of the march.
At least I could see the jets and helicopters doing rehearsals overhead.
30 April Parade
After trying to see the last rehearsal before the big day, it was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to see the parade in person. Walking around town the night before, there were people who were setting up camp along the parade routes to get the best spots.
[Campers on the parade route the night before the parade.]
I was content that I saw part of the parade at the rehearsal, so I spent the morning of the parade walking around the city among the crowd. I have never seen such a large part of the city closed off for traffic, so it was a delight to walk around so many streets that had been pedestrianised.
The streets nearest the parade route were too crowded at this point.
I walked around looking for an opening where I might be able to see something, but it was a sea of people everywhere I went.
Many of the electronic advertising billboards were being used for live streaming of the parade, so I watched the parade from that.
[Electronic billboards live broadcasting the parade.]
After the parade finished I saw a convoy of open-top buses going through a road that wasn’t part of the parade.
The buses were being used for veterans, with each bus representing a region of Vietnam.
When I saw the 40th parade it occurred to me that the 50th will probably be the last big parade as more veterans pass away. Veterans marched on the 40th, and now they are taken care of in the bus.
Fireworks and drone show
The night of the 30th was topped off with a fireworks show over the Saigon River. I was lucky to know a friend who has an apartment overlooking the riverfront in the direction of the fireworks. The view of the Ba Son Bridge framed the show perfectly.
[Reunification Day fireworks over the Saigon River.]
After the fireworks there was a 10,500-drone show, depicting famous symbols of reunification.
[Drone show celebrating Reunification Day.]
Terrific post. So interesting. Thanks.
Entertaining. I think in SE Asia they like ANY kind of celebration!