On the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, it's a sea of red. The streets are filled with national flags and thousands of troops and civilians smiling widely in patriotic dress. Some people have camped out overnight to make sure they get the early morning display of military might-fighter jets and helicopters decorating the skies above. Image: Vietnamese performers participate in a parade in Ho Chi Minh City. Pic: AP Image: Celebrations in Ho Chi Minh City. Pic: AP 50 years after the unification of Vietnam, this is a celebration of national pride, revolutionary heroism and victory against the odds. At the statue of former North Vietnam president Ho Chi Minh, we meet Nguyen Ngoc Xuan Mai. She's beaming. "We have so much joy," she tells me. "We celebrate it together. I feel so grateful because [of] what my ancestors did in the past. So that we can have today." Image: Nguyen Ngoc Xuan Mai at the celebrations Image: Vietnamese performers in Ho Chi Minh City participate in a parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. Pic: AP The legacy of the Vietnam war - a bloody battle between communist North and US-backed South Vietnam - is a complex one. Around three million Vietnamese lost their lives and about 58,000 Americans. It exposed the limits of American military power and in the US there was huge backlash. Image: A US navy helicopter prepares to evacuate the last remaining staff at the US embassy in Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City) as America pulls out of South Vietnam on 30 April 1975. Pic: AP The psychological scars on both sides were profound and it altered the political landscape. The impact of Agent Orange, a notorious chemical defoliant used by US forces over Vietnam to destroy jungles is still being deeply felt. Image: A US Air Force C-123 sprays defoliants on dense jungle in south Vietnam in 1966. Pic: AP It was a hugely toxic defoliant and from the 1960s onwards, doctors saw a sharp rise in birth defects and cancers. Decades later, those victims are still suffering and now they have the added worry of a possible cut in US funding to help with their medical needs. And yet, on the streets of the city that was renamed from Saigon after the US departed, it is not an anti-American feeling you sense. Image: Female soldiers in North Vietnamese Army costumes march during a parade in Ho Chi Minh City. Pic; AP Image: Vietnamese female police officers march during a parade in Ho Chi Minh City. Pic: AP Far from it in fact. Despite their history, many Vietnamese have a positive view of Americans - they see them as forward-looking. Part of that is the cultural exchange and economic benefits they have felt from normalised relationships and the high number of products Vietnam exports to America. Image: Vietnamese troops march during a parade in Ho Chi Minh City to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Pic: AP Image: A boy with a Vietnamese flag while wearing a US army hat was among those at the parade A defining and iconic image of the Vietnam War was taken by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Nick Ut. It shows a nine-year-old girl running naked on a road after being severely burned in a napalm attack by the South Vietnamese Air Force. Mr Ut has returned to Ho Chi Minh City. He tells me he stills speaks to that girl, now a woman, every week. Spreaker Spreaker , which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the This content is provided by, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enablecookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once 👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 Image: Donald Trump holds the famous photograph while standing with Nick Ut She's called Kim and she lives in Toronto. "I feel like I took that picture yesterday," he tells me. "I always think about that day in the village and the victim, the little girl. She's like a daughter to me." In his first term, Donald Trump invited Mr Ut to the White House. He tells me the president held up a framed copy of the photograph to a packed room and said: "This man's image stopped the war." It certainly became a powerful symbol of the war, influencing global public opinion and anti-war movements. Now in his second term, Mr Trump is threatening Vietnam with 46% tariffs - which would be ruinous to the Vietnamese economy. But Mr Ut says he's hopeful the relationship will endure. He believes the US remains a "good friend".