Vietnam celebrates 50 years since war’s end with focus on peace and unity

A float commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War during a parade in Ho Chi Minh City (Hau Dinh/AP)

Vietnam has celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the war with the United States and the formation of its modern nation with a military parade and a focus on a peaceful future.

The fall of Saigon on April 30 1975 marked the end of a Vietnam divided into the communist North and US-allied South, and the country’s top official told crowds the past decades had led to ever increasing unity.