April 30, 2016 Vietnam Liberation Day/Reunification Day

Reunification Day (Ngày Thống nhất), Victory Day (Ngày Chiến thắng) or Liberation Day (Ngày Giải phóng or Ngày Giải phóng miền Nam) is a public holiday in Vietnam that marks the event when Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon on April 30, 1975. This signaled the end of the Vietnam War.  It was the start of the transition period toward reunification, which occurred July 2, 1976, when the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam and North Vietnam merged to form the modern-day Vietnam or the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  There are festivals, speeches, fireworks, and it is a government holiday so we cannot teach.