[Mb-civic] CBC News - VIETNAM MARKS 30 YEARS SINCE WAR'S END

Sun May 1 16:32:05 PDT 2005

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VIETNAM MARKS 30 YEARS SINCE WAR'S END
WebPosted Sat Apr 30 09:12:29 2005

HO CHI MINH CITY---Military bands and troops marched down the main
boulevard in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, on Saturday to mark the
30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

More than 1,000 veterans watched as soldiers made their way toward the
one-time presidential palace of South Vietnam.

People waved flags and giant pictures of Ho Chi Minh, whose leadership in
North Vietnam led to the unification of North and South Vietnam six years
after his death in 1969.

The fall of Saigon marked the official end to America's more than decade-
long attempt to halt the spread of communism in the region.

On April 29, 1975 the American Embassy in Saigon was abandoned; the next
day, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into the city.

An estimated three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans were killed
during the war.

Although the fighting ended three decades ago, almost three-quarters of
Vietnam's 80 million people are too young to remember it first-hand.

But the legacy of what the Vietnamese call the American War lingers in
unexploded ordinance, in wounded veterans and in victims of Agent Orange,
a toxic defoliant U.S. troops used to wipe out the jungle foliage that
provided cover to their opponents.

The mess left behind includes some 300,000 tons of unexploded bombs,
landmines and other explosives, dropped especially on Quang Tri province,
near the former demilitarized zone that divided North and South Vietnam.

About 35,000 Vietnamese have died from such unexploded ordnance since the
end of the war, and while casualties are fewer now, they still happen.

The Vietnamese government blames Agent Orange for the serious health
problems of at least one million people.

The Vietnam Association of Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims says more than
200,000 Vietnamese live with birth defects, deformities and disease that
can be traced to exposure to the chemicals.