Tran Van Thanh, 75, a veteran living in Vinh City, Nghe An Province, decided to ride his motorbike from his hometown to HCMC, crossing nearly 1,300km to watch the civilian and military parades to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the south and the reunification of the nation (April 30, 1975-April 30, 2025).
Departing from Vinh City at 10 a.m. on April 17 without informing his wife and his daughter about his trip, Thanh rode his motorbike through several cities and provinces. On April 23, the old veteran arrived at his daughter’s house in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, to the surprise of his daughter.
Thanh told tienphong.vn that he made this motorbike trip not only to watch the civilian and military parades in HCMC but also to visit the old battlefields he used to fight in the old days, visit local households that once protected him, and burn incense sticks for his late comrades buried at the Truong Son Martyrs’ Cemetery in Quang Tri Province.
After watching the ceremony in HCMC, Thanh decided to continue riding his motorbike to the southernmost province of Ca Mau. The old veteran said given his age, this might be the last motorbike trip of his life.
Small act of kindness eases the heat in HCMC
As temperatures soar, a roadside ice-tea stand outside Mac Ty Nho Church on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in District 1 is offering free drinks to delivery persons, lottery ticket sellers, and waste collectors.
The effort has become a small but vital relief for workers braving the city’s midday heat. Every day, dozens of people pull over near Mac Ty Nho Church to pour cold tea from large stainless steel containers into personal bottles or drink on-site.
“I cannot bear the heat without water. The iced tea here is really good,” said Tran Ngoc Lam, a delivery driver, wiping sweat from his face after stopping for a drink. Others, like fruit vendor Nguyen Cuong, praised the tea for being both refreshing and clean.
The initiative began over two years ago, led by local parishioners at the suggestion of the church priest. Volunteers prepare and refill 500–600 liters of tea daily during hot weather and around 300–400 liters on cooler days. “We just want to help,” volunteer Nguyen Thi Nguyet told the Tuoi Tre news site.
The reunion of father and daughter after 57 years
Chu Nghiem, 84, who lives in Hanoi, has just been reunited with his daughter, Chu Thi Tuyet Mai, who was lost near Hanoi Railroad Station 57 years ago when she was a 20-month-old child, thanks to the national population database.
Nghiem still remembers the winter day in 1968 when his daughter disappeared near Hanoi Railroad Station. Without any photo of the lost child, the father and all members of his family had looked for her for many years in vain. Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Thuy, 58, who was named by her adoptive parents in Bac Giang Province, has cherished the hope of finding her birth parents over the past 57 years.
In March this year, Thuy happened to learn from social media that a man, Chu Nghiem, has been looking for his lost daughter. On March 24, she went to the neighborhood of Hanoi Railroad Station to ask for related information, but no one could help her. Fortunately, she met some police officers of Cua Nam Ward on duty at the station. Learning her story, they guided her to the police office and with the help of the police officers of the Hanoi Police Department on Administrative Management of Social Order, they invited Nghiem to the police office to meet Thuy.
On April 25, Nghiem received a DNA test result certifying that Nguyen Thi Thuy is Chu Thi Tuyet Mai and is his birth daughter, tuoitre.vn reported.
Piggyback ride for centenarian mother
The video clip featuring Pham Thi Oanh, 55, carrying Dang Thi Gai, her 100-year-old mother, on her back at 2 a.m. on April 27 to watch the civilian and military parade rehearsal to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the south and the reunification of the nation (April 30, 1975-April 30, 2025) went viral on social media lately.
On April 26, from their house in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, Oanh and her centenarian mother booked a hotel room on Tran Cao Van Street, District 1, HCMC, to watch the rehearsal the following day. At 1 a.m. on April 27, seeing crowds of people rushing to the city center waiting for the event, Oanh decided to walk her mom in a wheelchair toward Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street where they would watch the rehearsal.
However, Oanh could not walk the wheelchair with her mom in it to the chosen place because of huge crowds, so she had to carry her mom on her back to the site. Such an image received several rounds of applause from people along the street. One of them made the video clip and posted it on social media, vnexpress.net reported.
