NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) -- A beachside parade Sunday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the communist capture of Nha Trang, the last major domino to fall before victory in Saigon a month later ended the Vietnam War.
"The price for this glorious victory was enormous; nothing can compare," Nguyen Thi Hong Van, chief of the Khanh Hoa provincial Communist Party organization, said in a speech kicking off the nationally televised dawn celebration."Thousands of our people fell for the liberation of the province and the country. Many of their remains have not been recovered. We forever remember the sacrifices of the martyrs."
Dozens of red balloons then were released into the air, sailing out over the surf of Vietnam's best-developed beach resort as the sun broke through the clouds that had poured rain on the area an hour earlier.
It was the fourth major commemoration in a month of the former-North Vietnam's lightning-quick capture of U.S.-backed South Vietnam in spring 1975, culminating in the fall of Saigon on April 30. That ended a war that killed 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese, while leaving 300,000 listed as missing in action.
The country was reunified under the communist banner. The government, plagued recently by corruption and seeking to bolster its image, has been staging major events to mark the victory and rekindle waning national patriotism.
The fall of Hue and Danang in late March 1975 and the defeat of the Saigon army at Phoenix Pass on the highway between Buon Ma Thuot and Nha Trang on April 1 applied direct pressure at Nha Trang's doorstep. The town fell on the afternoon of April 2, followed by nearby Cam Ranh military base the next day.
The image of communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh was everywhere Sunday, looming over the viewing stands for VIPs and smiling from portraits carried by children and aging soldiers whose uniforms dripped medals.
Groups of white-gloved soldiers goose-stepped down the road that runs between the white sand and the tourist hotels, followed by groups of women in flowing white traditional ao dai dresses. Colorful papier-mache dragons and lions snaked along as brightly dressed youths beat drums.