Part-LA, part-Dubai: Vietnam today, five decades after the fall of Saigon

Each day at 9am sharp, the low rumble began. Russian-made Mig fighter jets screamed over Ho Chi Minh City last week, followed swiftly by Vietnamese air force helicopters. Below, soldiers in fatigues marched past artillery crews firing mock shells from canons pointed across the Saigon River.

- Oliver Marsden

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. The victory heralded the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 as North Vietnamese tanks rolled into the city and the last US helicopters fled the embassy rooftop.

Rehearsals for what is expected to be Vietnam's largest ever parade are well under way. Streets are decked with red flags bearing yellow stars. Illustrated billboards show soldiers handing flowers to children or doves soaring into a painted sky. Scooters zip past smiling veterans, bussed in from across the country.

Crowds in red shirts and caps pose for selfies beside decommissioned tanks and statues of Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam's first president.

But not everyone greets this anniversary with joy. Linh Thi Nguyen, 40, who refused to give her real name, said her parents mourn the south's defeat.