This Vietnam War memorial was built by Vietnamese immigrants. (Flickr user InSapphoWeTrust)

Today, people remember the 58,000 United States deaths and the one to two million deaths of the Vietnamese. Every year, Vietnam celebrates Reunification Day (a public holiday) on April 30. 

Morgan Lam, whose family is from Vietnam, says that mostly the military in South Vietnam celebrates today.

"It's a lot like the Fourth of July," she says. "There are parades, fireworks, and lots of food. It's very family oriented and everyone invites their friends over for a big dinner."

Lam's father was part of the U.S. troops and met her mother while he was fighting in the war. 

"My family is a little bit different in those terms. Because we live in America, we celebrate it and recognize today, but no one has work off or anything," says Lam.

Lam also states that the Viet Cong commemorates today in a very interesting way: they will protest in front of government buildings with signs saying Vietnam should've been a communist country. She mentions that this is their way of showing their disapproval with what happened. 

Many commemorate their family members that had fought in the war by lighting incense in front of old photographs.

According to Vietnam Breaking News, a book titled ‘History of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee’ was unveiled at a ceremony on April 29 in Ho Chi Minh City, chronicling the establishment and development of the city Party Committee. 

The Saigoneer wrote that a fireworks show will be held on the Saigon River to commemorate the end of the war. Alongside that, there will be an art illumination on Le Duan Street, three photography exhibits at Lam Son, Chi Lang Parks and on Dong Khoi Street, and special arts and music performances. 

Moreover, the city’s Labor Union is holding an exchange with more than 200 male workers who suffered industrial accidents at the Labor Culture House, according to Tuoitrenews.vn. 

According to Digital History, the Vietnamese were waging a war against imperialism from France from 1945 to 1954. This received a $2.6 billion funding from the United States. When the French were defeated at the famous battle at Dien Bien Phu, a peace conference in Geneva granted Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam their independence. However, Vietnam was divided into Communist North Vietnam and anti-Communist South Vietnam. In 1956, South Vietnam refused to hold unification elections for fear that the whole country would be ruled by Communism. The political organization and army in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, began to fight the South Vietnamese government and the United States. 

The United States sent in 2,000 troops to aid the South in the battle against the Viet Cong. Many times, the situation escalated as attacks such as the Tet Offensive and air strikes began to occur. When Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States, he advocated ‘Vietnamization,’ which aimed to withdraw American troops from Vietnam and train the South Vietnamese to fight for themselves. In January, 1973, U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam and in 1975, North Vietnamese troops invaded Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City today) and the South Vietnamese surrendered. Vietnam was reunited. 

Although Vietnam is unified, Lam states that she feels like it's still very separated: "If you go from South Vietnam to North, they are two very different places. When I go north, I can barely understand what they are saying. Their political views are different in the north as well. So even though we have that reunification, there's still separation."

Reach Executive Producer Beatrice Verhoeven here. Follow her on Twitter.