Viet Nam a Gathering of Ghosts

Memories of a grim war still divide an uncertain country

Ten years, almost to the minute, after a U.S. helicopter whisked the last American officials out of Viet Nam at the end of a long and bloody war, the anniversary parade began. Along appropriately named 30th of April Street, in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, there flowed last week a motley assortment of patriotic props. Goose-stepping soldiers marched in front of children waving hoops and colored handkerchiefs. Leftover U.S.-made armored personnel carriers followed rumbling Soviet-built T-54 tanks. Roller skaters mingled with medal-bedecked veterans, motorcyclists, and workers bearing a picture of Ho Chi Minh hoisting barbells above...

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