ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Sunday Morning News

Mass Celebration in Ho Chi Minh City Marks Anniversary of End of Vietnam War

Aired April 30, 2000 - 9:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning with an anniversary, today marking the 25th anniversary of the end of the U.S. military conflict in Vietnam. It was a long, drawn out and very deadly affair, with the United States having little to celebrate in the end.

Not so in Ho Chi Minh City, known as Saigon throughout all the years that American soldiers were fighting there.

CNN's Richard Blystone joins us with the mood there on this historic anniversary.

Hello, Richard.

RICHARD BLYSTONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, behind me I'm going to show you the center of Saigon. I hope you can see now throngs of -- literally thousands of motor bikes and searchlights scanning the sky, all in front of what used to be the briefing building for MACFEE (ph), the American command in Vietnam, now turned into the Rex Hotel, and just like the rest of this city, glittering and gleaming tonight as the celebration goes on.

Down below us, a rock concert is in progress, the words Vietnamese, but the music clearly international. CNN cameraman Alfredo DeLaro (ph) was down there just a few minutes ago. We can show you what it was like on the ground there.

The Communist Party clearly isn't calling the tune tonight. Half the population of this country now is under the age of 25, and they are the X factor in the Communist Party's formula for the future of this country.

Richard Blystone, CNN, live in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

O'BRIEN: Richard, before you get away, a quick question, if I could. I'm just curious if there's much lingering resentment focused toward Americans. Have you encountered much of that as you've gone about your business there?

BLYSTONE: Virtually none, Miles. Everybody has been extremely polite to both us, who worked here during the war, and to returning veterans who've come back for a whole constellation of reasons, and to tourists. And they're curious about us. The United States having lost what really is 62,000 people here is an object of interest to this country, and an object, in some ways, for emulation. So not any resentment among these people, especially those who weren't even born when the war ended -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, good point. Richard Blystone reporting to us from Ho Chi Minh City, thanks much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.