Vietnam was conquered by France in the 19th century.

The World War II brought enormous changes in the world order.Vietnam wanted independence,but France would not give up what they thought was rightfully theirs,they thought their troops and fighting prowess was  far too superior and  in their arrogance underestimated the Vietnamese.In 1954 they suffered humiliating defeat. In 1954 Geneva Accord divides Vietnam  at 17th parallel into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.Elections pending.
But the French  would still  not take "non" for an answer.Through fraudulent referendum they installed their puppet,Ngo Dinh Diem,who had been away from Vietnam for two decades,as the head of the South Vietnamese Government.In 1963 Diem  was assassinated by his own officials, together with his brother,who was the head of the security.The coup was US backed.
In 1965  the American involvement in Vietnam escalated,by 1967  Lyndon Johnson had sent  to Vietnam 500 000 American troops and 100 000 Allied troops [ mainly Korean, Australian, New Zealanders}.

On March 16,1968  in My Lai  in 3 hours  more than 500  Vietnamese civilians, mainly women and children,were killed in cold blood.Not a single shot fired at the American soldiers.
And the young Americans had enough of this senseless war.The public opinion had turned against any further American involvement.On 30th April 1975 the last American troops  and diplomats fled by helicopter from the American Embassy.In 1976 Vietnam was officially reunited.The war was over.The nightmare began. 

The poverty the Vietnamese people had  suffered in the 80's is unimaginable.There was no food,many people  starved to death.There was no medicine.The children died in thousands.In 1993  the American Administration  led by Bill Clinton allowed  the release  of International Monetary Fund  loans to Hanoi.How magnanimous of America.First you bring a country to its knees and then you "allow" help for  the starving millions.
I have seen  poverty that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I have seen beautiful houses and wealthy neighbourhoods. 

Life is getting better.

But it is a slow,slow progress.
An American  had said to  the tour guide-the Vietnamese are  so slim,it  must be their good diet. 

No, replied  he, we often cannot afford to buy food.