Photos: Vietnam Readies For Reunification Day

April 29, 2015

WBUR Newsroom

Daily work and life goes on as preparations are made for a large parade to celebrate 40 years since the fall of Saigon. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

All this week we've been reporting "40 Years Later: A Return To Vietnam," on the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the final evacuation of U.S. troops. But in Vietnam, April 30 is Reunification Day, marking the day the last Americans left.

On Thursday, Ho Chi Minh City (as Saigon is now known) hosts a big parade for the holiday. Here are some photos from around the city.

Vietnamese youth play around on one of the floats that will be used on April 30 in a large parade in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate 40 years since the Communist victory. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR) — Vietnamese youth play around on one of the floats that will be used on April 30 in the parade in Ho Chi Minh City. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

A worker prepares candle lit flowers for the parade. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

Soldiers take a photo in the 30/4 Park, which will be the center of a large parade in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate Reunification Day. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR) — Soldiers take a photo in the 30/4 Park, which will be the center of the Reunification Day parade in Ho Chi Minh City. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

A tourist walks in front of the Reunification Palace, now a museum, but formerly the presidential palace of the South Vietnamese government until April 30, 1975. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

A replica of the tank 390 that was the first to crash the gates of the South Vietnam Presidential Palace 40 years ago. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly for WBUR)

40 Years Later: A Return To Vietnam