Vietnamese actors dressed as soldiers prepare backstage prior to performing in a play highlighting the country's war victory at a park in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, April 29. A series of celebrations have been under way across the country for weeks as Vietnam commemorates the 25th anniversary of the 'fall of Saigon' and the end of the Vietnam War on April 30. Raw nerves have already been touched in Vietnam by U.S. Senator and ex-POW John McCain, who said on Friday that the wrong side won the conflict, remarks that have sharpened a war of words with the government and shocked ordinary Vietnamese.

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